Native Florida Lizards
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Photos of Skink, Glass Lizard, Racerunner, Eastern Fence Lizard, and
Florida Scrub Lizard.
Anoles are on a separate page. Introduced lizards (not native to the USA) are on a separate page. All animals free and unrestrained. All photos taken by me. |
This website written by Tom Spinker see home page for e-mail address This page last updated on 2 June 2007 Home Snakes Lizards Copyright © 2000 - 2007 All rights reserved I make no warranties as to the accuracy of any of the information on this website |
| All information about lizards (other than my own observations) is taken from either Bartlett and Bartlett A Field Guide to Florida Reptiles and Amphibians or from Conant and Collins Peterson Field Guides Reptiles and Amphibians Eastern/Central North America. (Or as indicated). |
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This is the only species of skink which is found in the Everglades.
There are six other skink species in Florida -- Five-lined Skink, Broad-headed Skink, Mole Skink, Coal Skink, Ground Skink, and Sand Skink. All of these except the Sand Skink are also found in Georgia. Photo taken 3 May 2001 about 10:00am. Just outside Everglades National Park along US41. 135mm lens on helicoid with flash. |
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It is called a Five-lined Skink because it has five lines. Two on each side (which
are visible in the photo) and one line down the center of its back.
Young skinks have bright blue tails. The five lines fade as the skink ages.
Male skinks have red faces during mating season (as in photo).
The Five-lined Skink, Southeastern Five-lined Skink, and Broad-headed Skink are very similar in appearance. Ground Skinks and Sand Skinks are smaller than the other species. The Coal Skink is a four-lined skink -- it does not have a line on the center of its back. |
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Juvenile skinks have bright blue tails.
This is one of three species which are nearly indistinguishable --
All three of these species can be found in north Florida, where I took the photo on the right. The Southeastern Five-lined Skink is the most common within the state of Florida; the Five-lined Skink is the least common. The Broad-headed Skink grows to 12 inches; the other two only to 8 inches. The Broad-headed Skink is the only one of the three which climbs high into trees. The Five-lined Skink has wider stripes than the other two. |
27 July 2004 -- 10:54am -- Hamilton County in extreme N FL
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Fully mature skinks lose their stripes.
This is probably a Broad-headed Skink, but is hard to distinguish from a Five-lined Skink or a
Southeastern Five-lined Skink.
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This skink has four legs -- they're hidden in the photo.
There is only one species (and only one subspecies) of Ground Skink.
It is found in the SE USA from SE Kansas to all points south or east of there.
It grows typically to 5.5 inches in total length.
These skinks dart in and out of leaf cover. If you see one out of the
corner of your eye, you probably think it is an insect. They are
common in Georgia and Florida, but hard to photograph.
I finally found one that would stay still for me in Texas.
This photo is from Brazos Bend State Park, which is south of Houston.
Photo taken 16 May 2007 11:58am. |
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Glass lizards are legless lizards which
are found in the southeast quadrant of the United States -- from central
Texas to the Atlantic Ocean and north into Illinois.
Juveniles have stripes which change to speckles (as in this photo) as the lizard matures. |
28 March 2002 -- 7:06pm -- Everglades near Chekika
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This glass lizard has matured to the point where it is beginning to take on
a greenish tint.
Photo taken 22 May 2004 9:45am at eastern edge of Valdosta, Georgia using 100mm lens and flash. |
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There are four species of Glass Lizard in the eastern USA:
I started seeing numerous glass lizards on this particular road outside Everglades National Park on 12 March 2002. At first I saw one or two a night. By 28 March I was seeing 4, 5 or 6 per night. Then after the first week of April, there were no longer any there. |
This photo was taken at 7:13pm on 5 April 2002 on road outside Everglades Nat Park. |
28 April 2002 -- 10:06 am -- SW Georgia
The lizard has six stripes -- three on each side.
In some ways it resembles a skink, but its habits are different.
It is a completely terrestrial lizard -- it never climbs anything.
If you approach a racerunner, it will run away from you. If you follow it, it
will run farther. You can keep following it all afternoon, it will continue to
move away from you. Skinks, on the other hand, like to stay in the same place.
You often find skinks on logs. If you approach the skink, it will hide on the
other side of the log or within the log. If you wait, it might come back out.
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This lizard is found throughout the state of Florida, but
does not live in the wetlands of the Everglades or Big Cypress Swamp.
I do not think that I have ever seen one in south Florida.
There are two other subspecies of Cnemidophorus sexlineatus -- the Texas Yellowhead Racerunner and the Praire Racerunner. Lizards of this family are found throughout the southern United States and in Mexico. The family, which is called teiid, also includes ameivas. The Six-lined Racerunner is the only teiid found east of the Mississippi River in the USA. |
Photo taken near the
Alapaha River just west of Statenville, Georgia28 May 2004 11:00am with 100mm lens and flash. |
There are 22 species of Fence Lizards (genus Sceloperus) found in North America. Many of these species are similar in appearance. This genus of lizard can be found as far north as Washington State. The Eastern Fence Lizard is found from east Texas to the Atlantic Ocean and as far north as southern sections of the states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. At one time Sceloperous undulatus was divided into seven sub-species. The sub-species found in Georgia and north Florida was called the Southern Fence Lizard. The current thinking is that there is no basis for sub-species. |
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These lizards are found in a few locations in central Florida and
along part of the Atlantic coast of Florida.
They are not found in the Everglades or Big Cypress area.
12 Feb 2002. 3:55pm |
The Eastern Fence Lizard and the Florida Scrub Lizard are very similar in appearance. The Florida Scub Lizard can be identified by the dark area on each side. (per Ray Hunziker Swifts and Spiny Lizards). Also the Eastern Fence Lizard is not found as far south as the Archbold Biological Station, where I took this photo. |
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