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Spanish Lizard
Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 4:25 pm
by Tom
These chaps were common around the Costa del Sol during a holiday this September. It looked a lot like our Zootoca vivipara to me, except it was a bit more greeny in colouration.
Any ideas on identification?
Thanks,
Tom
Re: Spanish Lizard
Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 4:36 pm
by anno
A can of worms is thus opened...
What you have is a wall lizard species - a Lacertid, however it isn't that easy to identify to species level, as:
A) they are very variable
B) they hybridise cross species/races
I need more info Tom - exactly where was it? (there is an Iberian race) and a good close up shot showing the scalation of the head patterning, with the current shot it may be impossible!
If its any consolation I spend a great deal of time on Reptile sites and Forums trying to give accurate ID's on these and it is a minefield 
Re: Spanish Lizard
Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 4:37 pm
by anno
P.S.: it's a female...
Re: Spanish Lizard
Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 9:51 am
by Tom
That's great Anno. It'd be boring if identifications were always easy.
If by "where exactly was it" you mean geographically, we are talking about 10 miles to the west of Marbella and a couple of miles inland. In terms of habitat; it was absorbing some rays on a manhole cover. The surrounding habitat is garden basically; the kind of almost semi-arid garden that you get around the Mediterranean that doesn't really take much tending. Lost of bare earth.
I might struggle to get a closer photo. I've tried zooming in on this one, but the definition is lost quite quickly. I'll see if I can get a higher resolution photo.
Wiki describes the Lacertids as "a diverse family with hundreds of species in 37 genera", so I won't be upset if we can't go any further with the id.
Tom
Re: Spanish Lizard
Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 8:37 pm
by anno
Right - some more info would tell us that as suspected it IS Iberian Wall Lizard (
Podarcis hispanica),and just to add to confusion the nominate race also has a subspecies (
P.h. vaucherrii) which is treated as a separate species by some Herp fans
Its a minefield but, at the end of the day - what a fantastic little critter to have in your backyard!
A relative, Santurtzi a month ago;
