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Different colour types? |
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Hans_R
New Member Joined: 12 Oct 2012 Location: Glasgow Status: Offline Points: 3 |
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Posted: 12 Oct 2012 at 11:57am |
Is anyone aware of different belly colourations (orange, white, yellow; males and/or females) in common lizards in the UK? According to literature there are males with white, yellow and orange bellies in the Pyrenees and females with yellow or orange bellycolouration in France.
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liamrussell
Senior Member Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Status: Offline Points: 100 |
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Most of the males I see are orange, females range from pale yellow/beige, through to orange.
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will
Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1830 |
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Male common lizards typically have bright yellow/orange/red bellies with black spots, females tend to be pale yellow or cream without many or any speckles, as Liam says. This is very similar to the situation with the completely unrelated smooth newt. It has been suggested that, as with smooth newts, the difference in belly colour helps with identification between the sexes and hence is involved in sexual selection. I was trying to find a decent photo to show this, but could only find the one below, which shows a hint of the bright colour of the male's underside which extends to the inside of his limbs:
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GemmaJF
Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 Location: Essex Status: Offline Points: 4359 |
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As described above the common pattern in the UK is males orange with black spots or speckles, females non-spotted usually lighter yellowish/grey
From the ID pages: There is individual variation of course and have seen females with some spots and a few that have a more orange colour, but I have not yet observed an entire population that breaks the rule.
Edited by GemmaJF - 13 Oct 2012 at 10:28am |
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JaySteel
Senior Member Joined: 07 May 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 157 |
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