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Klamath Network Featured Creature National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Klamath Network Featured Creature March 2013 Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) General Description: Habitat and Distribution: Western Fence Lizards are very “spiny” The Western Fence Lizard occupies a looking – they have overlapping, wide range of habitats, from desert pointed scales on their backs and limbs. canyons and grasslands to coniferous Their dorsal coloration tends to match forests. It just requires structures such the ground cover in their surroundings as rock piles or logs for shelter, sun and thus ranges from shades of gray to bathing, and a good look-out. tan or brown and has blotches or wavy dark lines. Adult males also usually These lizards are distributed throughout have distinctive belly and throat patches the Western United States west of the that can be a very vivid blue color. Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast and south to Baja California. They are http://serpentrack.com/herps/misc_field_herps/lizards/ Described as a medium-sized lizard, only absent from the most arid deserts adults are usually about 15 cm (6 of southeastern California and Arizona. inches) in total length (the tail is 1.5 Behavior (continued): times the length of the body, unless it is As a result, the lizards stay near things that In the Klamath Network Parks: regenerating after being detached). they can hide under and rely on very quick On a sunny summer day, if you’re an reflexes to escape from attack. The length observant hiker, you might be fortunate Diet: of the lizard’s tail also makes it probable enough to see Sceloporus occidentalis Grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, ants, that a predator will get a hold of that along roads and trails in any of the wasps, aphids and some spiders are before the main body. Then the tail Klamath Network parks. among its favorite prey. detaches easily, which will often distract the predator as well as allowing the lizard Behavior: to scamper away. References: As temperatures get warmer in the California Academy of Sciences. Klamath Network region, these lizards Reproduction and Development: Lizards That Fight Lyme Disease. will come out more and more frequently Breeding season typically begins in April, http://www.calacademy.org/science_ to bask in the sun. You may see them but is somewhat dependent on climate and now/archive/wild_lives/fence_lizards doing vigorous push-ups as you geography. After being internally _050601.php approach a rock or log that they are on. fertilized by a male lizard, females dig a Accessed: March 27, 2013. These push-ups are used by male lizards pit and lay about 8 eggs (range 3-17) into Csuti, B., et al. 1997. Atlas of Oregon to court females and warn other males it and then cover them with loose soil. Wildlife: distribution, habitat, and that they are encroaching on inhabited Eggs hatch in about 2 months. Baby lizards are about 2 inches in total length. natural history. Oregon State territory. University Press. Corvallis, OR. In the spring of their second year, young Western Fence Lizards are probably the lizards are capable of breeding. most commonly seen lizard in our Diller, L.V. and D.R. Johnson. 1982. Ecology of reptiles in the Snake River region because they perch on things that Fence Lizards Can Defeat Lyme disease! Birds of Prey Area. USDI Bur. Land allow them to view and protect their A protein in the Fence Lizard’s blood kills Manage. Snake River Birds of Prey territories (and also to warm themselves the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. Research Project, Boise. 107pp. in the sun). This also makes them rather So when a tick feeds on these lizards’ easy prey to spot for predators such as blood (which they commonly do), it raptors, snakes and shrews. cleanses the tick so that it no longer carries the disease. .
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    Oecologia (Berlin) (1987) 73:389-392 LxA70u c Springer-Verlag 1987 Malarial parasitism and male competition for mates in the western fence lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis J.J. Schall and M.D. Dearing Department of Zoology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA Summary. The effect of malarial parasitism on the ability the outcome of male-male interactions and female choice of male western fence lizards, Sceloporus occidentalis, to in the western fence lizard, Sceloporusoccidentalis, in Cali- compete for access to females was assessed experimentally. fornia, USA. The mating system of S. occidentalisis polyga- Pairs of male lizards, one infected with the malarial para- mous. Males interact agonistically toward other males and site, Plasmodium mexicanum, and the other not infected, vigorously court females during the reproductive season. were matched by size and color and placed in large semina- Their conspicuous stereotyped behaviors include bobbing, tural outdoor enclosures along with an adult female lizard. shaking, and display of brightly colored ventral color Infected males displayed to females and to other males less patches (Schall and Sarni 1987; Ressel 1986). At our study often than did noninfected male lizards. Noninfected lizards site approximately 25% of adult male fence lizards are in- were dominant in social interactionsmore often than malar- fected with the malarial parasite, Plasmodiummexicanum ious animals, based on duration and intensity of agonistic (Schall 1983; Bromwich and Schall 1986). This parasite re- encounters toward the other male, and time spent with the duces the ability of the fence lizard to engage in intense female. Thus, malarial infection hinders the ability of male activity; infected males also have smaller testes (Schall fence lizards to compete for mates.
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