Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

East­ern fence lizards range from mid New York south to mid Florida and north­ern part Texas and as far west as Col­orado.

Sub­species in­clude: south­ern fence lizards, S. u. un­du­la­tus, south­ern prairie lizards, S. u. con­so­bri­nus, White Sands prairie lizards, S. u. cowlesi, north­ern plateau lizards, S. u. elon­ga­tus, red-lipped prairie lizards, S. u. ery­throcheilus, north­ern prairie lizards, S. u. gar­mani, north­ern fence lizards, S. u. hy­acinthi­nus, and south­ern plateau lizards, S. u. tris­tichus. (Bishop, 1941)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native

Habi­tat

East­ern fence lizards are found in grass­lands, shrub­lands, and the edges of pine or hard­wood forests. East­ern fence lizards live under wood piles, logs, and rocks where they can be pro­tected dur­ing the evening hours. Dur­ing day­light hours east­ern fence lizards can be found bask­ing in the same areas in which they rest: on fences, logs, rock, and tree trunks. (Behler, 1979; Bishop, 1941; Kennedy, 1958)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland
• forest

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

East­ern fence lizards vary in color ge­o­graph­i­cally, but are usu­ally gray, brown or a rusty color. Males and fe­males are sim­i­lar in size. In­di­vid­u­als in north­ern pop­u­la­tions (north­ern New York south to Mary­land) are gen­er­ally smaller than in­di­vid­u­als in south­ern pop­u­la­tions (north­ern Vir­ginia south to north­ern Florida). This may be be­cause south­ern pop­u­la­tions have a longer warm sea­son in which to eat and grow.

Males have a blue patch on the belly and throat. Av­er­age adult mass is 15 g, while adult total lengths range from 9 to 19 cm. (Angilletta, 2001; Behler, 1979; John­son, 1966; "Hor­mones, Brain, and Be­hav­ior", 1992)

• Other Physical Features
• heterothermic

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes colored or patterned differently
• male more colorful

• Average mass

  15 g

  0.53 oz

• Range length

  9 to 19 cm

  3.54 to 7.48 in

De­vel­op­ment

After being laid, eggs dou­ble in size dur­ing em­bry­onic de­vel­op­ment. Eggs hatch from June to Sep­tem­ber. Upon hatch­ing, in­di­vid­u­als are about half the size of adults. They tend to grow quickly in the first two months of life and are fully ma­ture at 1 year. (Bishop, 1941; Fer­gu­son, et al., 1980; Smith, 1946)

Re­pro­duc­tion

Dur­ing the mat­ing sea­son, be­gin­ning in April, males flash their blue patches to at­tract fe­males. Males also have anal glands that se­crete a pheromone dur­ing and after breed­ing sea­son to at­tract fe­males. After mat­ing males and fe­males no longer as­so­ci­ate. Males may seek other mat­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties. (Behler, 1979; Fer­gu­son, et al., 1980; "Lizard Ecol­ogy", 1983; "Hor­mones, Brain, and Be­hav­ior", 1992)

• Mating System
• polygynous

Mat­ing oc­curs from April to Au­gust. Young fe­males lay one clutch of 3 to 13 eggs. Older fe­males lay 2 to 4 clutches per year. Eggs hatch from June to Sep­tem­ber. The eggs are laid below 3 to 7 cm of soil so that the mois­ture and tem­per­a­ture re­main con­stant. It may take 10 weeks for the eggs to hatch after they have been de­posited. The off­spring reach ma­tu­rity at 1 year of age. (Behler, 1979; "Lizard Ecol­ogy", 1983; Smith, 1946; "Hor­mones, Brain, and Be­hav­ior", 1992)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• sexual
• fertilization
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Young eastern fence lizards lay one clutch per year while older females can lay 2 to 4 clutches per year.

• Breeding season

  Breeding occurs from April to August.

• Range number of offspring

  3 to 13

• Average gestation period

  8 weeks

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  1 to 2 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  1 to 2 years

Fe­male east­ern fence lizards in­crease body size if food is avail­able, which is di­rectly cor­re­lated to an in­creased clutch size. After lay­ing her eggs fe­males leave their young to fend for them­selves. (Fer­gu­son, et al., 1980)

• Parental Investment
• no parental involvement
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Lifes­pans of east­ern fence lizards are not well un­der­stood, but re­searchers be­lieve that they can live for more than 5 years, pos­si­bly av­er­ag­ing ages of 4 years. How­ever, the ma­jor­ity of east­ern fence lizards prob­a­bly die soon after hatch­ing. (Haenel and John-Alder, 2002; Smith, 1946)

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  5 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  4 years

Be­hav­ior

Fence lizards are ac­tive dur­ing the day, from 0600h - 2000h, bask­ing in the sun on wood piles, fence posts and trees. Dur­ing the sum­mer months the use of rock perches de­creased while the use of tree trunks and branches in­creased. This al­lows them to main­tain their tem­per­a­ture as the sea­son gets hot­ter. They tend to choose more closed sur­round­ings than other lizards.

Their sleep­ing lo­ca­tion is very close to, if not at, their bask­ing lo­cale. This site is usu­ally se­lected based on tem­per­a­ture and rel­a­tive pro­tec­tion from preda­tors.

Males flash their blue patch, as well as ex­hibit head-bobs and push-ups, in order to let other males know that this is his ter­ri­tory. Ter­ri­tory seems to be cor­re­lated di­rectly to the avail­abil­ity to food as well as the pres­ence and va­ra­tions of other lizard species in the area. (Angert, et al., 2002; Angilletta, 2001; Kennedy, 1958; Mitchell, 1994; "Lizard Ecol­ogy", 1983; "Hor­mones, Brain, and Be­hav­ior", 1992)

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• terricolous
• diurnal
• sedentary
• territorial

• Range territory size

  47 to 61 m^2

Home Range

Fence lizards have a very de­fined home range, rang­ing from 47 - 61 square me­ters. Dur­ing years when food is plen­ti­ful, their home range in­creases. (Kennedy, 1958; "Lizard Ecol­ogy", 1983)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

To at­tract mates and warn off other in­di­vid­u­als, male east­ern fence lizards do head bob dis­plays, push ups, and puff them­selves up. Head-bobs and push-ups are done in 4 to 5 sec­ond du­ra­tions. (Mitchell, 1994)

• Communication Channels
• visual

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• vibrations
• chemical

Food Habits

East­ern fence lizards eat pri­mar­ily in­sects and other arthro­pods, in­clud­ing ants (Formi­ci­dae), bee­tles (Coleoptera), wee­vils (Cur­culion­idae), lady bugs Coc­cinel­l­i­dae), spi­ders (Araneae), and cen­tipedes (Chilopoda). They also some­times eat snails (Gas­tropoda). Some plant mat­ter like cheat­grass (Bro­mus tec­to­rum) and needle­grass (Caproni stipa) is some­times con­sumed. Fe­males tend to eat more in­sects dur­ing the spring months, in order to save en­ergy for egg-lay­ing. Lizards gen­er­ally for­age twice daily. (Behler, 1979; John­son, 1966)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • insectivore
  • eats non-insect arthropods

• Animal Foods
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods
• mollusks

• Plant Foods
• leaves

Pre­da­tion

Males with larger blue patches are more likely to be preyed on by birds. As a re­sult, males have a high mor­tal­ity rate dur­ing early spring when they are es­tab­lish­ing mat­ing ter­ri­to­ries. Fe­males have a higher mor­tal­ity rate dur­ing the pe­riod of egg-lay­ing, be­cause they are pro­tect­ing their ter­ri­tory, mak­ing them more sus­cep­ti­ble to preda­tors. Larger lizard species, snakes, and do­mes­tic cats and dogs also eat east­ern fence lizards. East­ern fence lizards are slower than other lizards, often giv­ing preda­tors. East­ern fence lizards are cryp­ti­cally col­ored and can move quite rapidly when they are warm. (Angert, et al., 2002; Mitchell, 1994; "Lizard Ecol­ogy", 1983; "Hor­mones, Brain, and Be­hav­ior", 1992)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • predatory birds (Aves)
  • blue racers (Coluber constrictor)
  • rat snakes (Pantherophis obsoletus)
  • prairie kingsnakes (Lampropeltis calligaster)
  • cottonmouths (Agkistrodon contortrix)
  • domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)
  • domestic cats (Felis domesticus)
  • larger lizard species (Squamata)

Ecosys­tem Roles

East­ern fence lizards mainly feed on in­sects and are them­selves prey for birds and other larger preda­tors. They com­pete with other lizard species for their in­sect prey. Com­mon par­a­sites in­clude chig­gers and bot­flies. (Angert, et al., 2002)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

East­ern fence lizards are used to help ed­u­cate peo­ple about con­ser­va­tion and rep­tiles. East­ern fence lizards de­crease in­sect and arach­nid pop­u­la­tions, which can be pest species in some areas. (Mitchell, 1994)

• Positive Impacts
• research and education
• controls pest population

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

East­ern fence lizards are not pests and do not have a neg­a­tive ef­fect on the human pop­u­la­tion. If in­di­vid­ual lizards are ha­rassed, they may bite. (Angilletta, 2001)

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

East­ern fence lizards are thriv­ing due to the avail­abil­ity edge habi­tats and sec­ondary growth around pine forests, their pre­ferred habi­tat. (Mitchell, 1994)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Other Com­ments

Flood­ing can have a dis­as­trous ef­fect on east­ern fence lizard hatch­ling pop­u­la­tions. (Behler, 1979; Pinch and Claussen, 2003)

Con­trib­u­tors

Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Jen­nifer Largett (au­thor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Karen Pow­ers (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity.

Ref­er­ences

The Uni­ver­sity of Chicago. 1992. Hor­mones, Brain, and Be­hav­ior. Chicago: The Uni­ver­sity of Chicago Press.

Pres­i­dents and Fel­lows of Har­vard Col­lege. 1983. Lizard Ecol­ogy. Cam­bridge, Mass­a­chu­setts: Har­vard Uni­ver­sity Press.

Adolph, S., W. Porter. 1996. Growth, Sea­son­al­ity, and Lizard Life His­to­ries: Age and Size at Ma­tu­rity. Oikos, 77: 267-278. Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 05, 2007 at http://​links.​jstor.​org/​sici?​sici=0030-1299%28199611%2977%3A2%3C267%3AGSALLH%3E2.​0.​CO%3B2-V.

Angert, A., D. Hutchi­son, D. Glos­sip, J. Losos. 2002. Mi­cro­hab­i­tat Use and Ther­mal Bi­ol­ogy of the Col­lared Lizard (Cro­ta­phy­tus col­laris col­laris) and the Fence Lizard (Scelo­porus un­du­la­tus hy­acinthi­nus) in Mis­souri Glades. Jour­nal of Her­petol­ogy, 36: 23-29. Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 18, 2007 at http://​www.​bioone.​org/​perlserv/?​request=get-document&​doi=10.​1670%2F0022-1511%282002%29036%5B0023%3AMUATBO%5D2.​0.​CO%3B2.

Angilletta, M. 2001. Ther­mal and Phys­i­o­log­i­cal Con­straints on En­ergy As­sim­i­la­tion in a Wide­spread Lizard. Ecol­ogy, 82: 3044-3056. Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 05, 2007 at http://​links.​jstor.​org/​sici?​sici=0012-9658%28200111%2982%3A11%3C3044%3ATAPCOE%3E2.​0.​CO%3B2-A.

Behler, J. 1979. The Audubon So­ci­ety Feild Guide to North Amer­i­can Rep­tiles and Am­phib­ians. New York: Al­fred A. Knopf, Inc.

Bishop, M. 1941. New Lo­cal­ity for Scelo­porus un­du­la­tus un­du­la­tus. Copeia, 1941: 54. Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 05, 2007 at http://​links.​jstor.​org/​sici?​sici=0045-8511%2819410325%293%3A1941%3A1%3C54%3ANLFSUU%3E2.​0.​CO%3B2-Q.

Fer­gu­son, G., C. Bohlen, P. Wool­ley. 1980. Scelo­porus Un­du­la­tus: Com­par­a­tive Life His­tory and Reg­u­la­tion of a Kansas Pop­u­la­tion. Ecol­ogy, 61: 313-322. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 01, 2007 at http://​links.​jstor.​org/​sici?​sici=0012-9658%28198004%2961%3A2%3C313%3ASUCLHA%3E2.​0.​CO%3B2-I.

Haenel, G., H. John-Alder. 2002. Ex­per­i­men­tal and de­mo­graphic analy­ses of growth rate and sex­ual size di­mor­phism in a lizard, Scelo­porus un­du­la­tus. OIKOS, 96: 70-81.

John­son, D. 1966. Diet and Es­ti­mated En­ergy As­sim­i­la­tion of Three Col­orado Lizards. Amer­i­can Mid­land Nat­u­ral­ist, 76: 504-509. Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 05, 2007 at http://​links.​jstor.​org/​sici?​sici=0003-0031%28196610%2976%3A2%3C504%3ADAEEAO%3E2.​0.​CO%3B2-Y.

Kennedy, J. 1958. Sleep­ing Habits of the East­ern Fence Lizard, Scelo­porus Un­du­la­tus Hy­acinthi­nus. The South­west­ern Nat­u­ral­ist, 3: 90-93. Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 05, 2007 at http://​links.​jstor.​org/​sici?​sici=0038-4909%281958%293%3A1%2F4%3C90%3ASHOTEF%3E2.​0.​CO%3B2-J.

Mitchell, J. 1994. The Rep­tiles of Vir­ginia. Wash­ing­ton: Smith­son­ian In­sti­tu­tion Press.

Pinch, F., D. Claussen. 2003. Ef­fects of Tem­per­a­ture and Slope on the Sprint Speed and Sta­mina of the East­ern Fence Lizard, Scelo­porus un­du­la­tus. Jour­nal of Her­petol­ogy, 37: 671–679. Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 13, 2007 at http://​www.​bioone.​org/​perlserv/?​request=get-document&​doi=10.​1670%2F183-02.

Smith, H. 1946. Hand­book to Lizards. Bing­ham­tom., NY: Com­stock Pub­lish­ing Com­pany, Inc..