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six-lined racerunner

Cnemidophorus sexlineatus

1 Species ID Suggestions

six-lined racerunner
Cnemidophorus sexlineatus Six-lined Racerunner


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8 Comments

AshleyT
AshleyT 10 years ago

Brown Anoles don't have such a straight, clean line down the back. And on this lizard you see lines coming from the side of the face, and Anoles don't have that either.

jamiewgoodspeed
jamiewgoodspeed 10 years ago

lots of times anoles get to be out of there range because of plants being shipped from place to place or people buying them as pets so there is a possibility

Scott Frazier
Scott Frazier 10 years ago

Hmmm, I don't know if I'd almost swear, but I can see some similarities. I was looking at the faint banding on the rear legs, but then I found something similar on a preserved specimen of Cnemidophorus sexlineatus. Of course some brown anoles have anterior-posterior "lines" too, but of those that do, the vast majority are not as "clean" as on this specimen -- I'm referring to the dorsal mid-line more than the lateral lines...

jamiewgoodspeed
jamiewgoodspeed 10 years ago

wow would almost swear its a brown anole but its so far out of its range that would be crazy unlikely... possibly an escaped pet maybe? it just looks so much like a brown anole.

Scott Frazier
Scott Frazier 10 years ago

I also checked the distribution on the Michigan Herp Atlas. There were only 3 records in a single county (Tuscola County), which is two counties away from the county of the spotting. http://miherpatlas.org/taxon.php?taxon=8... I agree, this represents a known range extension (although that is probably due to its rarity and under-reporting).

AshleyT
AshleyT 10 years ago

Six-lined Racerunners are only found in one county in Michigan and are considered a threatened species in the state. Although the county they are found in is way east of where you found this, I agree with Scott that that's what it is. How on earth it's still alive I have no idea, it looks almost mummified. The only other lizard even found in Michigan is a Five-lined Skink, and that's definitely not what this is. The characters that I can actually see look good for Six-lined Racerunner, but you might want to show this to a biologist in the area so that if it can be confirmed it is a Six-lined, it will be good info for them to have since this is NW of the area of the state they are in, especially since they are threatened.

CodyBoyer
CodyBoyer 10 years ago

This one is still alive. It jumped into my mother's car from the woods in mid-Michigan, of all places. As you can see, there was some pre-existing damage to the reptile's feet and skin.

Scott Frazier
Scott Frazier 10 years ago

I suppose this is dead? Can you please add something in "Habitat about where you found this? Thanks

CodyBoyer
Spotted by
CodyBoyer

Gladwin, Michigan, USA

Spotted on Sep 25, 2013
Submitted on Sep 26, 2013

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