Eastern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus)

Adult Size: 3½" to 7½"

Description: A dark band along the rear of the thigh. Coloration varies geprgaphically: gray to brown or rusty, dark or light stripes down the back, sometimes vague crossbars or spots. The back and underside scales are about the same size. Males are usually marked by black-bordered blue patches on the underside and a blue throat patch.

Habitat: Generally sunny locations: favors rotting logs, open woodlands, open grassy dunes, and prairies.

Breeding: Mates April to August. Yearlings lay 1 clutch of 3 to 13 eggs in June to September; older females lay 2 to 4 cllutches. The eggs hatch in June to September.

Range: Delaware to Florida and west to New Mexico and Arizona.

Diet: It will eat almost any insect, spider, centipede, or snail, but beetles seem to be a favorite food.

Behavior: Diurnal. In the east this lizard is primarily arboreal, seldom far from a tree of wall up which it will flee to avoid capture. In the prairie states it is more terrestrial, sheltering under brush or in burrows.

Video

Conservation Status:

Additonal Notes:

Subspecies: Eight in our range.

Southern Fence Lizard (S.u. undulatus) - wavy dark crossbars on the back and blue patches on the underside and throat. SOund in southern South Carolina to central Florida, west to eastern Louisiana. Photo...

Southern Prairie Lizard (S.u. coonsobrinus) - weak dorsolateral light stripes, with the throat patches often being fused; females lack the underside patches. Found in southeastern Arizona to extreme southern Oklahoma, through central Texas into Mexico. Photo...

White Sands Prairie Lizard (S.u. cowlesi) - pale, with the back pattern being faint of absent. FOund in White Sands, New Mexico. Photo...

Northern Plateau Lizard (S.u. elongatus) - wavy dark crossbars on the back and blue patches on the belly and throat. FOund in southwestern Wyoming to northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico. Photo...

Red-Lipped Plateau Lizard (S.u. erythrocheilus) - dorsolateral stripes indistinct or absent, blue throat patches meet at midline, chin is yellow, lips are orange during breeding season. Found in extreme northeastern New Mexico and western Oklahoma through eastern Colorado to southeastern Wyoming. Photo...

Northern Prairie Lizard (S.u. garmani) - prominent dorsolateral light stripes and the throaat patches are reduced or absent. Females lack the underside patch. Found in southeastern Wyoming and south South Dakota through eastern Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma to extreme northern portion of the Texas panhandle. Photo...

Northern Fence Lizard (S.u. hyacinthinus) - wavy dark crossbars on the back with the belly and throat patches being black bordered. Found in eastern Kansas to New Jersey, south to central South Carolina, southwest to eastern Texas, and north through eastern Oklahoma. Photo...

Southern Plateau Lizard (S.u. tristichus) - faint dorsolateral light stripes with blue throat and belly patches. Found in central Arizona to central New Mexico. Photo...