Excerpts from Jim Conrad's
Naturalist Newsletter

Entry dated July 13, 2003, from the woods near Natchez, Mississippi, USA
SOUTHERN FENCE LIZARD
Southern Fence Lizard, SCELOPORUS UNDULATUS Fence Lizards here don't look like the ones I grew up with in Kentucky. That's because either they are a different subspecies, or maybe an entirely different species. According to the Audubon Field Guide, what we have here is SCELOPORUS UNDULATUS UNDULATUS, while what we had in Kentucky was SCELOPORUS UNDULATUS HYACINTHINUS -- different subspecies. However, recent studies using genetic sequencing suggest the population may be a confused mixture of about four distinct species and numerous local, environment- influenced "ecomorphs." In other words, the best information at the moment is that we're not aways sure what's what.

What is indeed for sure is that our local Fence Lizard, historically known as the Southern Fence Lizard, is a gray lizard with wavy, dark crossbars on its back, and shockingly powder-blue patches on its belly and throat. The other day neighbor and Newsletter subscriber Karen Wise was here with her digital camera and took a picture of one on the barn door, and you can see that impressive image above. Though the individual in that picture looks like a self-satisfied Komodo Dragon, he's only about 6 inches long (15 cm).

If I deposit a pile of lumber in one place for more than a day or two, a couple of Fence Lizards will take up residence there. In late afternoon they range the barn's concrete floor eating one large carpenter ant after another. They'll also eat almost any insect, spider, centipede or snail. Books claim that their favorite food is beetles.

I'm glad to have these lizards around for more than the usual reasons. You may recall that three or four years ago I contracted Lyme Disease after a tremendous spring outbreak of ticks. Our area seems to be a hotspot for Lyme Disease, or at least it was then. Well, ticks also infest Fence Lizards, and that's great because a protein recently discovered in the Fence Lizard's blood kills the bacteria causing Lyme Disease. I've even read that a tick infected with the Lyme bacteria, Borrelia birgdorferi, will be cleansed of that bacteria if it sucks lizard's blood.