lizardry

From the tapering, almost dainty tip, forward along the serrated battlements of Blighty's quickly fattening tail, to the splayed rear legs and the belly so broad it lay flattened against the ground beneath it, to the awkwardly placed forelegs with their fat and pointed claws, the thing was too long for mere lizardry, too predatory in its watchfulness, its complete lack of fear before a human, to be nothing more than a reptile.

1994, Greg Matthews, The Wisdom of Stones, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 112

And if you happen to turn one of them over, you'd discover not the single row of belly scales characteristic of snakes but several rows of small scales indicative of lizardry.

2008, Diane Morgan, Snakes in Myth, Magic, and History: The Story of a Human Obsession, Praeger Frederick, →ISBN, page 11