Types of Lizards in the World

Let’s discover some of the amazing types of lizards around the world.

Different Types of Lizards

Common Collared Lizard

The common collared lizard (Crotaphytus collaris) is a North American species and it attains a length of 30 cm including tail. Its striking appearance is marked by beautiful colors wrapping around its chest and goes to the end of the mouth. Besides, there is a prominent black band around the neck that seems like a collar.

It is also called eastern collared lizard. The lizard is largely known for its rapid speed which it attains while running on its hind legs. While running they seem more like theropod dinosaurs.

The collard lizards inhabit western states, Missouri, Oklahoma, and some parts of Kansas. Some people may refer to it as mountain boomer.

These lizards respond well in captivity as they behave passively while interacting with humans. However, they are deemed to be active predators and they need a reasonable space to move around.

Learn more about the diet of lizards!

Green Iguana

The green iguana (Iguana iguana), is fairly large lizard and is a resident of Central and South America. It is also called simply iguana. The iguana is herbivorous and it predominantly feeds on flowers, leaves, fruits, and roots. They consume around 100 different types of plants and are very fond of eating wild plum.

Iguana is found in the lands of Caribbean Islands, Southern Brazil, Puerto Rico, South Florida, Texas, and Mexico. It averages 4.9 feet in length including tail, with few specimens have attained a length of 6.6 feet. The weight of iguana is around 20 pounds.

Iguanas offer striking appearance and calm disposition and because of this, they appear to do well in captivity but it can be too demanding at times.

Iguanas will disappear if it senses any threat or perhaps dive down into the water (if there is one) and escapes. If cornered, however and if there is no run-away-situation, iguanas may surprise their predators with its powerful claws and bite. They are often killed by the birds of prey.

Credit: www.flickr.com
Credit: www.flickr.com

Mediterranean Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus)

(Types of Lizards)

The Mediterranean gecko is an Old World gekkonid lizard and is found all along the coastal sides of Egypt, Spain, and ranging from western India to Somaliland. They were introduced in the United States.

The mean length of geckos measures around 4 – 5 inches (10.2 – 12.7 cm). They are lucky enough to have few natural predators. Geckos are almost entirely nocturnal and their vision is imperative for foraging. They are highly territorial and will actively defend their feeding spots. They are likely to wander around in the initial hours of darkness, gently tapering off their activity after midnight.

These geckos have a firm grip and can climb rough and smooth walls with ease.

Geckos tend to clean their eyes by moving their tongue across eyes. Geckos primarily eat ants, cockroaches, caterpillars, moths, small beetles, and sometimes mosquitos.

They are readily found in man-made habitats such as in small holes of abandoned houses, in rock dwellings, window ledges, earwigs, and behind storm drains.

Green Anole

(Types of Lizards)

The green anole is a conspicuous arboreal lizard and is primarily known for changing its colors within minutes; it is found in South Central Texas. It typically presents bright to pale green outlook and because of its quick-change talent, it is often known as ‘chameleon’. The chameleons inhabit North America, southern Virginia, and southwestern Texas.

It assumes its length from 5 – 8 inches (12.7 – 20.3 inches) with male is fairly larger than the female. The green anole consumes a wide variety of insects including beetles, mealworms, mayflies, damselflies, cockroaches, crickets, caterpillars, moths, lacewings, soft-bodied insects, insect larvae, and certain types of spiders.

These lizards fancy living in areas dominated by heavy vegetation and those areas must be in close proximity to chosen streams and ponds. They are often found in abandoned buildings, woodland edges, and shrubbery along roadsides. Like geckos, green anole is also a good climber of low trees, rubbish piles, low vegetation, shrubs, vines, fences, and some closed shades.

The anoles are believed to live no more than 5 years in captivity with the longevity record at over 7 years.

credit: www.flickr.com
credit: www.flickr.com

Texas Earless Lizard

True to its name, these lizards lack any obvious external ear membranes. However, these diurnal lizards are fast-moving species. They are characterized by black crossbars and which is visible in both males and females.

The average length of earless lizards measured around 2.7 to 7.1 inches (7.0 to 18.4 cm), with the snout-vent averaging 7.0 to 8.3 cm.

How often you see these lizards sleeping, resting, or even hibernating in the loose shades and shelters of human habitats. When disturbed, it may sprint to a tree hole or rock crevice. They do not, however, like to live in permanent burrows and they seem to be active in between 9:00 A.M. and 11:00 A.M.

Seldom do they engage in confrontations with the other species crossing its territory.

Texas earless lizard largely relies on its rapid speed to escape its predators, and has been clocked at a little under 5 feet (1.52 meters) per second.

It consumes grasshoppers, crickets, winged termites, spiders, and small beetles including their larvae.

Texas Horned Lizard

The texas horned lizard is found in South Central Texas, Kansas, to as far as northern Mexico. The genus phrynosoma comprises 14 recognized species inhabiting Southern Canada and extending towards Guatemala. As the name indicates, the horned lizard appears to have dagger-like spines, with sharp fringe scales covering both sides of the abdomen, and pointed ridges above the eyes.

It exhibits an unmistakable appearance with colors varying from light yellowish-brown to gray or reddish-brown. The neck is marked by two elongated spots together with the prominent middorsal stripe reaching from the nape of the neck and ends in tail.

The average length of an adult measures around 4 to 8.1 inches (10.2 to 13.2 cm), with one specimen has attained a record length of 18.1 cm and was found in the Big Bend National Park, June 1969.

The horned lizard seems to be active in the late hours of morning and in late afternoon. By doing so, it avoids the hottest part of the day. It may bury itself in extreme hot temperatures by pushing its snout into the sand while moving its body side by side. In order to protect itself, the lizard camouflages its dull color with respect to the color of its habitat. Apart from camouflage, they are blessed with horns which can stand vertically on its head when the lizard feels threatened. Besides, they possess an unusual ability to increase the blood pressure in the head while forcing the blood from exterior corner of each eye. This distinct behavior takes place as a result of stress-related situations, or probably as a part of its skin-shedding process.

Although these lizards are not typically any-eaters, they generally rely on harvester ant alongside other large ants. It also consumes other insects such as weevils, true bugs, ground beetles, crickets, and grasshoppers. Thanks to its specialized diet, they are least likely to face confrontation with other species for food items.

The horned lizard’s habitats are found in broad, open, semiarid terrain

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