Beaver Creek Connection: Wisconsin Has Lizards?!!

by Ruth Forsgren

Northern Prairie Skink (image by A.B. Sheldon - WDNR)

Many times when I am talking to groups about reptiles, people are surprised that Wisconsin has lizards that make their homes here. Generally speaking, most lizards prefer warmer, drier habitats than other reptiles. But there are four species that can be found in Wisconsin. Now compared to hot, dry Arizona with at least 45 species it doesn’t seem like much; but, also consider that Phoenix, Arizona has an average yearly temperature of about 74°F and Wisconsin’s yearly average temperature is about 47°F.

There are over 4600 species of lizards in the world and they come in all sizes; ranging from the smallest, the Dwarf Gecko measuring in at .6 inches to the massive Komodo Dragon that can reach ten feet long and weigh over 200 pounds. Characteristics shared by most lizards include: smooth, dry skin, moveable eyelids, external ear openings and if they have toes then they have claws. (Salamanders, who are amphibians and are often mistaken for lizards, do not have nails on their toes.)

Photo from WDNR - By A.B. Sheldon

Many lizards have a cool trick to escape predators called autotomy. This means that they can lose part of their body. And, in the case of lizards it is their tail. If grabbed by the tail the lizard can break off

part of the tail, this piece has special muscles that allow it to wiggle and twitch after it comes off of the body. Hopefully this wiggling piece of tail distracts the predator long enough that the lizard can escape. Most lizards can regrow the tail but it is never as long or useful as the original one. Scientists have been busy studying how this works in hopes of unlocking the key to tissue regrowth.

The four species of lizards that call Wisconsin home have some traits in common. All of them require habitats with sandy soils that allow them to make burrows for homes, escape routes and hibernation. They have the shortest active season of any of Wisconsin’s Herptiles (group name that includes amphibians and reptiles). Typically, they are dormant for seven to eight months of the year becoming active in very late April or early May and many leaving the scene in early September. Our lizards are mostly insectivores, which

Six-lined Racerunner hatchling
(from WDNR by A.B. sheldon)

means they eat insect-like things, for example crickets, beetles, spiders and slugs. All four species of lizards are oviparous, meaning that they lay eggs outside of the mother’s body. The three species with legs all are born with blue tails. So let’s learn a bit more about each species.

Five-lined Skink (image from WDNR by A.B. Sheldon)

Common Five-lined Skink (Plestiodon fasciatus), like almost all skinks have shiny, smooth scales covering the body. Adults average five to eight inches in length and that includes the tail. The juveniles and young females usually have black bodies with five yellow stripes. In all ages the middle dorsal (back or upper-side) stripe continues onto the head where it branches making a “Y”. As females age the background color fades from black to brown, the stripes become more tannish and the tail becomes a more muted blue/gray color. Adult males are a tan or olive color with the stripes continuing to fade as they age. Adults males have no blue in their tail and this is used as a signal to breeding males to chase away other skinks that lack blue tail color. During breeding season, the males head will become a reddish-orange color. Their habitats include oak/pine barrens, edges of dry hardwood forests or grassy openings in these woods. They tend to search out damp microhabitats, like rotting logs and stumps. The five-lined skink can also climb into lower branches of trees to hunt their prey. I personally think it would be cool to find a lizard up a tree during one of my nature hikes.

Prairie Skink
(image from WDNR by A.B. Sheldon)

The second of our skinks is the Prairie Skink (Plestiodon septentrionalis). Prairie Skinks are a species of special concern in WI. They are found in just a few counties in the NW part of the state; however, they become more common as you move westward into the Great Plains. Prairie Skinks are found in areas with sandy soil in bracken grasslands or pine barrens. They are also found in open sandy banks along rivers and streams. They create burrow systems for quick escape from predators like hawks, owls, raccoons and snakes. The dorsal side of Prairie Skinks have three tan or light brown stripes separated by two narrow black lines, while the sides have three dark lines separated by two narrow white stripes. During the breeding season males have bright orange chins, lips and throats.

Six-lined Racerunner
(from WDNR by Heather Kaarakka)

Our third lizard is Wisconsin’s representative member of the whiptail lizards, the Six-lined Racerunner (Aspidoscelis sexlineatus). They are also a species of special concern in the state. The The racerunners have earned their name being fast runners clocked at 18 m.p.h.

racerunner measures about 9.5 inches including the tail, has a pointed snout and a long slender tail. They have six narrow, pale yellow to greenish-yellow stripes that run from the head to base of the tail. They have fine scales on the body and are not shiny like a skink. Their heads have enlarged plate-like scales that are brown to greenish-blue. They are found in dry and bluff prairie habitats with sandy or loose soil and scattered vegetation.

Slender Glass Lizard
(image from WDNR by A.B. Sheldon)

Our last lizard, the Slender Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus attenuatus), is listed as endangered in WI. Although glass lizards do not have legs they are still lizards not snakes; they have moveable eyelids, external ear openings and the body is more rigid than a snake. Slender Glass Lizards can reach 30 inches in length and about 2/3 of that is tail. The color can vary from tan, to buff or even bronze with dark stripes on the top and sides. Slender Glass Lizards live in oak savannas, sand prairies and old fields with loose sandy soils that allow them to force their way into and create burrows for overwintering. They can be found in south central to some of the western counties in the state.

So while Wisconsin may not have a lot of lizards it is still really cool that we have habitats that will support these four!