A very valid concern as the intent of the legislation rarely reconciles with the biological reality. In the case of lizards, many more species are venomous other than the heloderms, however this is venom from an evolutionary perspective not from an medically important standpoing. The other anguimorph lizards (e.g. alligator lizards, anguids, european legless lizards, galliwasps, varanids etc.) all possess the same compound mandibular venom gland as the heloderms and produce very similar venoms. However, the medical implications are trivial. So from a practical (e.g. legislative) perspective they should be placed along side the truly non-venomous lizards (e.g. skinks, geckos) and not in the same category as heloderms. The iguanids are even less 'venomous' in that they possess a very very primative form of the gland on both the maxillary and mandibular jawbones but the glands are absolutely inconsequential. So they too should be legislatively considered as 'non-vennomous'.



Below is the link to download the PDF of our recent paper in 'Nature' on this subject.



Cheers

Bryan
Early evolution of venom in reptiles


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Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry

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Australian Venom Research Unit,

University of Melbourne

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Population and Evolutionary Genetics Unit,

Museum Victoria

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http://www.venomdoc.com

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