Florida Scrub Lizards, male foreground, female rear.
The state of Florida has a fair number of endemic herp species. There are Florida sand skinks, Crowned snakes of not one but of 2 species, Florida worm lizard (that, with an example having been found in south Georgia just became non-endemic) and several others. But one that we don’t hear much about is the Florida Scrub Lizard, Sceloporus woodi. Once fairly common in 4 well defined but well separated locales, this little member of the spiny lizard (also known as “swifts”) clan now seems reduced in numbers and may even have been extirpated in some regions.

Having a body length of less than 3 inches (the tail will add another couple of inches), the Scrub Lizard is one of the smaller members of the genus. The Scrub Lizard’s dark lateral stripe makes differentiating it from the Fence Lizard, Sceloporus undulatus, that lacks the stripe, a simple task. This Scrub Lizard, agile and alert, is sexually dimorphic. Adult males lack most dorsal markings between the dark lateral stripes while females have rather prominent dark, wavy, dorsal crossbands.

If startled while basking or foraging on the ground the Scrub Lizard usually darts for the nearest tree and puts a trunk or limb between it and the interloper. Small, alert, and fast—3 requisites for survival in what can be a hostile home range.