Field Guide

The six-lined racerunner is a fast, alert ground dweller that don’t usually climb trees. Also called field-streaks and sand lappers, racerunners are close kin to the whiptail lizards you might know from the western United States.

The prairie lizard is a small, gray to brown, rough-scaled lizard common in open forests. It often lives around country homes and rock gardens and on stacks of firewood and split rail fences.

The eastern collared lizard is colorful and has a long tail. If surprised in an open area with no rock crevices nearby to dart into, it often runs on its hind limbs with the forward part of the body held upright.

The broad-headed skink is a large, harmless, smooth-scaled lizard that lives along the edge of forests and woodlots. It often makes its home in a large dead tree, sometimes using abandoned woodpecker holes or other cavities.

The southern coal skink is secretive and few people know about it. This lizard has a wide, coal-black line along its sides. During the breeding season males have an orange head.

The common five-lined skink is Missouri's most common skink. Adults are olive or tan with lengthwise stripes. It is often called the blue-tailed skink for the coloration of juveniles.