Hmmmmm...

the big one looks like some sort of iguana

i like the little guys!

Keep them coming. You probably have some juvies running around the yard. When you walk around the house in the morning listen to notice whether they are scurrying around the leaf litter. They will likely be near a tree or something they can climb in a hurry. If you catch an adult, flip it over and look at it's belly. The male's have a brilliant display of colors underneath.

These are Sceloporus occidentalis bocourti, the Western Fence Lizard in Mid California's coastal region. Basically, the same lizard, but the west coast's version.

Pope1,

If you teach biology, attended UTA, and are interested in herpetology it is likely that we have met. However, I have never attended a THS field meeting so it would have been at some other venue.

I couldn't find any location information on the original post, so that clue is missing. To me the scales look too large to be S. undulatus, but without the animal in hand (or more pictures) it is very difficult to tell.

Cheers,
Kelly McCoy
West Texas

Kelly,

You may be right. It could very well be a S. olivaceous, in which case fwbret is a lucky man! I made another inference on the location because he said he found it outside his front door and he tagged his post with "fortworthbret."

On a side note, a friend of mine just paid a visit to Mike Price in San Angelo. He just came back from a collecting trip and found a Coleonyx reticulatus. Of course, he left it there.

I may have read something you published and thought we met. I know your work involves sexual dimorphism. I will be going to Barnhart this spring to collect Sonora this spring. I will look you up if would like to come along with us. Since it is the spring, I may fish Ivie for crappie while I am at it.

Here is a close up from last year.


My little guy (or gal) is growing up so fast!

Wow, I thought us fish nerds were bad, now we're being inundated by herp nerds.


I'm in Irving, I fully expected it to be Sceloporus olivaceus, simply due location.

Obviously it is a juvenile, right now my front porch has about 7 or 8 of the juveniles that size, a few mid-sized (I suspect were last year's) and 1 or 2 full sized adults one of which is closing in on 10 inches.

When I was a kid, (and the harvester ants were still all over the property) we had a lot of Texas Horned Lizards as well, but I (as expected) haven't seen one here in 20 years or more.

I'm not a reptile guy (I like them in my yard, and I have learned the (likely) ID of most of them in the yard) so if I'm wrong of that species let me know.

This little 1.25 acre plot in the middle of town does a pretty good job of providing for the reptiles......

In the past couple years I've seen the aforementioned Texas Spiny Lizards, a Texas Rat Snake that made 70" easily, a Western Box turtle, countless Green Anoles, some small skinks I haven't ID'd, some Brown Snakes, and I'm sure plenty of little guys I've forgotten about.

Not bad for the 'burbs'.









That last one is on the Texas State Tree.

Cool pics!

Not bad for thre burbs at all.

In my yard in Grapevine



Baby


Adult

eastern fence swift. used to catch the western version in Ca. but the only difference is the eastern is darker & more pronounced in coloration. If I remember there is actually a sub-species called the Texas swift, but I couldn't identify if you paid me.
used to call 'em bluebellies, but that's just the boy model.
Listen to Brandon, He's a master herp'er
-B

top photo is actually a mature mediterranian(turkish) gecko, bottom shot is a mature fence swift
both common species, but I like gecko's better......

It's about time someone did studies on those wierdos out in San Francisco. Sometimes I wonder about their "sexual dimorphism's" myself.

Brian-

Speaking of herping. We need to go this fall. The spring was great, but we will get a nice shot of activity this fall. If nothing else, you need to hit the crappie with me on Lewisville.