Head to head
European Green Lizard vs Sand Lizard
European Green Lizard
VS Sand Lizard
The European green lizard and sand lizard are two lizards in the genus Lacerta whose males show green colour in the breeding season.
| European Green Lizard | Sand Lizard | |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Lacerta viridis | Lacerta agilis |
| Colour | A bright green body with fine black speckles, and a bright blue throat in the male in the breeding season | Brown or grey with a row of dark, pale-centred blotches, but the male's sides and belly turn vivid green in spring |
| Diet | Insects, spiders, and snails, and occasionally small lizards and fruit | Insects and spiders above all, including grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, and caterpillars, and occasionally soft fruit |
| Eggs | Lays eggs in soil or under stones in summer | Buries a clutch of 3 to 15 eggs in warm, loose, bare sand and leaves them to be incubated by the sun |
| Habitat | Sunny scrub, vineyards, and forest edges | Sandy heaths, dunes, dry grassland, steppe, forest clearings, and railway embankments |
| Range | Central and southeastern Europe, east to the Black Sea | A broad band from southern England, France, and Iberia east across central Europe and Russia to Mongolia and north-western China |
| Tail | A very long tail, giving a total length of around 30 to 40 cm | Can shed its tail at a weak point to escape a grip, and regrow a shorter, plainer replacement |
| Conservation status | Least Concern, though some local populations have declined as farmland has intensified | Least Concern, with reintroduction programmes returning it to parts of Britain |
European Green Lizard vs Sand Lizard: common questions
Which lizard has a blue throat?
The male European green lizard, which develops a bright blue throat in the breeding season.
Which one needs open sandy ground?
The sand lizard, whose eggs must develop in warm, exposed sand, so it disappears where heath and dune are shaded out or churned up.
Are they related?
Yes, both belong to the genus Lacerta, and both show green colour in the males during the breeding season.