The tail remains mobile, distracting the predator, while the lizard becomes motionless, allowing eventual escape.

Although most species have no legs, their head shapes, movable eyelids, and external ear openings identify them as lizards.

Their diets consist primarily of arthropods, with larger animals eating snails and small mammals.

Hyalosaurus from North Africa has also been included within the concept of Ophisaurus sensu lato, but genetic evidence has shown them to be more closely related to Anguis and Pseudopus.

The youngest records of Ophisaurus in Europe are from southern Spain, dating to the Early-Mid Pleistocene transition around 800,000 years ago.