Field Guide

Reptiles and Amphibians

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Media
Image of a six-lined racerunner lizard
Species Types
Scientific Name
Aspidoscelis sexlineata viridis
Description
Prairie racerunners are fast, alert, ground-dwelling lizards. They live in open areas like fields, grasslands, and rocky, south-facing hillsides, including Ozark glades. They are related to the whiptail lizards that live in the western United States.
See Also

About Reptiles and Amphibians in Missouri

Missouri’s herptiles comprise 43 amphibians and 75 reptiles. Amphibians, including salamanders, toads, and frogs, are vertebrate animals that spend at least part of their life cycle in water. They usually have moist skin, lack scales or claws, and are ectothermal (cold-blooded), so they do not produce their own body heat the way birds and mammals do. Reptiles, including turtles, lizards, and snakes, are also vertebrates, and most are ectothermal, but unlike amphibians, reptiles have dry skin with scales, the ones with legs have claws, and they do not have to live part of their lives in water.