Ophisops

a genus of reptiles of the family Lacertidae. The eyelids are connate, like those of snakes, and there is a large transparent disk in the middle of the lower lid. Ophisops are distributed in northern Africa, southeastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Near East, and southern Asia (Hindustan).

There are five species; in the USSR there is one species, Ophisops elegans. It reaches 60 cm in length, is colored olive brown above and white below, and has a ridge along a longitudinal light band on the sides. The reptile lives mainly in the clay and stony semideserts of Transcaucasia, but it is also found in sandy soils and on the wormwood steppes. It feeds on insects and their larvae, as well as spiders. Each breeding season there are two to three clutches containing four to six eggs.