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Prairie Lined Racerunner
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- Order: Squamata (scaled reptiles)
- Suborder: Lacertilia (=Sauria) (lizards)
- Family: Teiidae (ameivas and whiptails)
- Genus: Cnemidophorus (whiptails)
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| Also Known As:
six-lined racerunner (all C. sexlineatus subspecies);
fieldstreak, sandlapper |
Scientific Name: Cnemidophorus
sexlineatus viridis Lowe, 1966 |
| Habitat: A variety of
environments; prefers open areas such as floodplains and
grasslands. |
Knemidos="greaves" (armor), phoros="wearing"
(referring to large scales on the arms), sex="six,"
lineatus="lined," viridis="green"
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| Length: Up to 10.5 inches
total length. |
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| Food: Insects and
arachnids. |
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| I found these lizards during a
trip to Aransas
National Wildlife Refuge in May 2002. The prairie lined
racerunners are a subspecies of six-lined racerunner, the range of
which is depicted on the map above. These lizards are
sexually dimorphic--the male (top picture) exhibits more green, as
well as a blue tinge on the anterior of the body. |
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| Like all whiptails (see other
examples on my New Mexico and
California pages), racerunners
move in a halting, "jerky" fashion which is amusing to
watch. The picture to the right is of a female.
See also the racerunner I found in Arkansas.
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