Striped lizard - Lactrta strigata.
Young lizards of this top view are brownish-olive in color with 5 narrow light stripes along the back and sides. With age, the stripes are gradually lost against the general greenish-brown background, they persist especially for a long time in females. During the breeding season, the entire head, throat, and neck flanks of males are usually blue, and the overall green background is brighter. The striped lizard is up to 25 cm long, noticeably inferior in size to the green and medium lizards. The striped lizard is relatively rare in forests. Its number in some places reaches 400 or more individuals per hectare. In Derbent and Magaramkent districts, these animals have two clutches per season (5-9 eggs each). Young lizards, 75-80 mm long, appear in August. Their number is quite stable.
Meadow lizard - Lacerta praticola.
Reaches 12-15 cm in length. Lives in deciduous forests, where it keeps on forest edges, along the edges of forest roads and clearings, in thickets of bushes, on the slopes of river gorges, as well as on areas of non-flooded meadows bordering forests. In the Derbent region, the number of meadow lizards in especially favorable conditions reaches 300-400 individuals per 1 hectare. Rodent burrows, spaces under peeled bark on stumps and trees serve as shelters for it, and minks of large meadow crickets in meadows. Often, especially in case of danger, a meadow lizard climbs trees and then jumps from a small height to the ground. In late June - early July, the female lays 4-6 eggs in the forest litter, of which juveniles hatch at the end of August. This species was observed in all three areas, the number of several thousand individuals.
The lizard is larger than the nimble one, with a relatively longer tail. The total body length sometimes exceeds 25 cm, while the tail can be twice as long as the body.
In a striped lizard, color and pattern change with age. Young lizards are brownish-olive with five narrow longitudinal light stripes; as it grows, dark brown or black spots and specks gradually appear between the stripes, which become distinct in adults. In old individuals, the light dorsal stripes are gradually lost against the general motley background of the body, but in females they persist longer. In adult lizards, the front third of the body is usually green; the back of it, including the legs and tail, is olive brown. The body of males is covered with numerous black and irregular specks, the head is monochromatic. During the breeding season, the head, throat and sides of the neck of the males acquire a rich blue color. In females, the throat is usually greenish-yellow. The belly of the males is greenish or greenish-yellow, the females are usually white.
Range of the striped lizard
The striped lizard is common in the eastern half of the Caucasus, southwestern Turkmenistan and northern Iran. On the territory of Russia, it is found in Dagestan and adjacent regions, in the north it reaches the latitude of Armavir and Stavropol.
Lives on the plain and in the mountains, often next to a quick lizard; rises to a height of 2500 meters. It adheres to areas covered with grassy, steppe, upland-steppe or semi-desert vegetation, settling in various thickets along the banks of rivers and streams, on the outskirts of swamps, the edges of steppe forests, and shelter belts.
On the mown fields, he willingly settles in stacks of hay. It rarely occurs in forests and only occasionally penetrates the forest zone along river valleys. She avoids bare rocky areas or places with very low grass cover.
Lifestyle
The striped lizard is more nimble than the agile, it climbs well over bushes and tree trunks, escaping the heat among branches and leaves. Able to dive into the water and stay under water for one and a half to two minutes. In case of danger, it tries to hide in the nearest shelter - in the voids under the roots of trees or between stones, in the holes of rodents. It digs its own burrows 50-70 centimeters long in soft ground. It happens that large striped lizards drive out the owners - murine rodents - from the hole and behave aggressively at the same time. Thus, young common voles, which were in the same cage with a lizard, died from its bites, and adults were seriously injured.
The striped lizard appears in the spring from mid-March to mid-April; in warm winters, for example in Georgia, it is active in February. Leaves for wintering in October-November; the first to leave are adults, much later - immature and recently hatched individuals.
What does the striped lizard eat?
The striped lizard feeds exclusively on animal food: various insects and their larvae, spiders, molluscs. Sometimes adult lizards eat newborns of their own species (the phenomenon of cannibalism has been noted for other species of lizards as well). Apparently, the striped lizard lacks food selectivity, and its diet is mainly determined by its habitat and food availability.
Despite its rather large size, the striped lizard often becomes prey for various types of non-venomous snakes - colorful, red-bellied and olive snakes, cat snakes, as well as birds of prey and mammals. The number of individuals with torn off and regenerated tails observed in the vicinity of Tbilisi was 44 percent, which indicates a frequent attack by predators.
Breeding striped lizards
During the summer, the female lays eggs twice: in late May-early June and in late June-mid July. In a clutch of 6-11 white eggs of an ellipsoid shape, covered with a parchment shell, of which, after about two months, young lizards appear with a total length of about 75-80 millimeters. Lizards become sexually mature in the second year of life, at the age of 22-23 months.
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Conservation status IUCN 3.1 Least Concern: |
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Literature
- Eichwald, 1831: Zoologia specialis, quam expositis animalibus tum vivis, tum fossilibus potissimuni rossiae in universum, et poloniae in specie, in usum lectionum publicarum in Universitate Caesarea Vilnensi. Zawadski, Vilnae, vol. 3, p. 1-404 ().
- Bernhard Grzimek, Het Leven Der Dieren Deel VI: Reptielen, Kindler Verlag AG, 1971 ISBN 90 274 8626 3
Links
- The Reptile Database: (eng.)
Excerpt from the Striped Lizard
It was a shock for me. I did not understand what happened and why Grishka suddenly disliked me, although before that we were very good friends. I chased him almost all day, but, unfortunately, I could not beg for forgiveness ... His strange behavior lasted four days, and then our adventure, most likely, was forgotten and again everything was fine. But it made me think, because I realized that, without wanting it, with the same unusual "abilities" I can sometimes harm someone.After this incident, I became much more serious about everything that suddenly manifested itself in me and "experimented" much more carefully. All the following days, of course, I just fell ill with a mania for "movement". I mentally tried to move everything that only caught my eye ... and in some cases, again, I got very deplorable results ...
So, for example, I watched in horror how the shelves of my father's neatly folded, very expensive, books fell on the floor in an "organized" before you take them - you had to earn them. But, fortunately for me, my dad was not at home at that moment and, as they say, this time it was "carried away" ...
Another very funny and at the same time sad incident happened with my father's aquarium. My father, as far as I can remember, always loved fish very much and dreamed one day to build a large aquarium at home (which he later did). But at that moment, for not having the best, we just had a small round aquarium that could hold only a few colorful fish. And since even such a small "living corner" brought daddy spiritual joy, everyone in the house looked after him with pleasure, including me.
The intermaxillary shield at striped lizard touches the nostril or, but less often (in 30-40% of cases), is separated from it by a very narrow bridge. Posterior nasal scutes 2. Zygomatic - 2t rarely 3 or 1. Anterior infraorbital 4, 3 or 5 upper labial. Between the dorsal and supraorbital scutes, there is usually an interrupted row of 2-11 grains (individuals without grains are extremely rare).
The central temporal and tympanic plates are almost always present. The collar, consisting of 7-13 scales, is serrated. Mandibular shields 5 pairs. The dorsal scales are elongated hexagonal, ribbed. The abdominal scutes are arranged in 6 longitudinal and 27-35 transverse rows. Anal scutellum of moderate size, in front of it a semicircle of 7-10 preanal scutes, of which 2 middle scutes are slightly enlarged. The femoral pores extend to the knee fold. The hind foot is usually slightly longer than the top of the head.
Young striped lizards are brownish-olive dorsally with 5 narrow light longitudinal stripes, the middle of which starts from the occipital plate, 2 neighboring ones from the posterior superior temporal ones, and 2 lateral ones from the posterior edge of the ear openings. As the animal grows, dark brown or black spots and specks begin to appear between the stripes, which are clearly pronounced in adults.
In old individuals (at the age of 3 or more years), the light dorsal stripes are gradually lost against the general variegated background of the body, and in females they persist longer. In adults, the front third of the body is usually green; the back of it, including the legs and tail, is olive brown. On the body of males, numerous irregularly shaped black specks and specks are clearly visible, which are absent on the head. During the breeding season, the head, throat and sides of the neck of the males acquire a deep blue color. In females, the throat is usually greenish-yellow. The belly of the males is greenish or greenish-yellow, the females are usually white.
The striped lizard is widespread in the northeast of Asia Minor, the Caucasus, in Western, Central and Northeastern Iran and in the extreme southwest of Central Asia. In the USSR, it is found in the eastern half of the Caucasus, at least up to the latitude of Armavir and Stavropol, in Dagestan, in the Eastern Transcaucasia (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia) and in the south-west of Turkmenistan.
It adheres to areas covered with grassy, steppe, mountain-steppe or semi-desert vegetation, settling in various thickets along the banks of rivers and streams, on the outskirts of swamps and flood-free meadows, the edges of steppe forests and shelter belts, embankments along canals and roads, in thorn hedges along the outskirts vineyards and orchards. In some places it penetrates the forest zone along the river valleys. In the mountains, it is known up to an altitude of 2500 m.
It finds shelters in rodent holes, in piles of stones, and also digs its own holes up to 50-70 cm long in soft soil. In case of danger, it often hides into the water and escapes by swimming. In the Stavropol Territory, the number reaches 460 individuals per hectare; in Eastern Georgia - up to 400 individuals per hectare; on the shore of the lake. Sevan on the 1 km route in May - June counted 27-34 individuals.
After wintering, the striped lizard appears in mid-March - mid-April. During warm winters in Georgia it is active in February. Leaves for wintering in October - November. It feeds on beetles (from 20 to 60% of occurrence), spiders (12-30%), wood lice (up to 25%), molluscs (13-22%), locusts (13-25%), butterflies and caterpillars (9-33% ), ants (up to 26%), dipterans (4-18%), bedbugs (up to 11%).
In Transcaucasia and, apparently, in Dagestan, the striped lizard has 2 clutches per season: in late May - early June and late June - mid-July. There are 6-11 eggs in a clutch, 8-10X15-18 mm in size. Juveniles of the first hatching 30-32 mm long (without tail) appear in Transcaucasia in late July - early August, the second hatching in mid-September. Sexual maturity occurs, apparently, at the age of 2 years.
Literature: Keys to amphibians and reptiles of the fauna of the USSR. Textbook. textbook for students of biol. specialties ped. in-tov. M., "Education", 1977.415 p. with ill .; 16 l. silt
