Southern Italian Wall Lizard (Podarcis siculus siculus)
Description: The snout–vent length of P. siculus is 5.9–9.8 inches on average. P. siculus is characterized by a green or brown back with a white or green belly. There is variation in length and color diversity due to the many subspecies and populations of P. siculus. For example, some subspecies are melanic, meaning that parts of the back and belly have hints of blue. Such coloration is found on island populations of P. siculus rather than continental populations.
Habitat: P. siculus is a habitat generalist and thrives in many natural and human-modified environments. Habitats of P. siculus include forests, grasslands, shrublands, rocky areas, and farmland. It is able to live in such open habitats due to biological characteristics, such as high thermophily, which is the ability to thrive in high temperatures.
Range: P. siculus is native to Italy and is one of the most common lizards found in the nation. Its range also includes Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Switzerland. P. siculus has also been introduced to Spain, Turkey, and multiple sites in the United States.
Found in these States:
CA
Diet: Its diet consists of a wide variety of invertebrates, mainly arthropods.
Reproduction: P. siculus is oviparous. Females can lay 3 or 4 clutches of 4-7 eggs per year. The number of eggs laid per clutch does vary by population.
Status: he Italian wall lizard is listed as being of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on the IUCN Red List. Its current population numbers are increasing.
»» Kingdom: Animalia - Animals
»» Phylum: Chordata - Chordates
»» Subphylum: Vertebrata - Vertebrates
»» Class: Reptilia - Reptiles
»» Order: Squamata - Lizards
»» Family: Lacertidae - Rock or Wall Lizards
»» Genus: Podarcis
»» Species: Podarcis siculus - Italian Wall Lizard
»» Subspecies: Podarcis siculus siculus - Southern Italian Wall Lizard
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Italian Wall Lizard", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Content may have been omitted from the original, but no content has been changed or extended.
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