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Melanistic Common Lizard |
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administrator
Admin Group Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Status: Offline Points: 10 |
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Posted: 17 Jul 2004 at 6:57pm |
I received this image and message, I've never seen a viviparous lizard displaying such obvious melanism myself and would be interested in others comments regarding how often this occurs and also if it is more common in Northerly populations. Hi,
I looked on your site re lizards as my wife and I had spotted a black lizard. We are use to seeing the normal common lizards around our house and woodland..
Your info states young common lizards are/can be black.
The question we have regarding the attached picture ;
..Is this a young lizard because it was about the size we normally having the more normal colouring.
The picture was taken in Glenborrodale Ardnamurchan on 03 July 2004, 08:36:38
Hope the picture is of interest and we await your reply.
Regards
Geoff & Babs Lower
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Alan Hyde
Senior Member Joined: 17 Apr 2003 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1437 |
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Hey , That's really Cool ! I've not seen any Melanistic common lizards .
Thanks to Geoff and Babs for sharing this with us Al |
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j gaughan
Senior Member Joined: 04 May 2003 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 57 |
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Like Alan said, thanks for sharing this Geoff and Babs.
What you have there is a beautiful full-melanic, adult 'gravid' female with a complete tail _at least i don't think the tip is missing. In 30-odd years of 'field herping', i've only seen these beauties on Hankley & Hurtwood Common's, Surrey (dry heath) and suburban Croydon (chalk downland). We have native Viviparous Lizard & Slow-worm on my local NR, being part of a railway corridoor in SE London, and recently (May 30) we found a young, 'melanistic Slow-worm' _pic's by Fred Holmes to follow soon John |
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j gaughan
Senior Member Joined: 04 May 2003 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 57 |
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Conversely, my dear wife preferred the term 'gravid' over the seemingly, old fashioned and slightly stuck-up 'being pregnant' label, while carrying our two neos (both female; still with complete tails).
. . . i better stop there. John |
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Alan Hyde
Senior Member Joined: 17 Apr 2003 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1437 |
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:¼) Hehehe . When I was trying to breed nasicornis I did actually ask my wife if she would mind being surrogate by means of artifical insemination . I told her that if she fell gravid I would bring her breakfast in bed for the next year. This was back in the 90's , I recieved a slap and have brought her BIB for the last decade anyway.
Yours very much under the thumbly , Al ;¼) |
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Colin & Stella
Member Joined: 17 Apr 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1 |
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Thanks to this site and these photographs we have today confirmed that the reptile that we saw sitting under a broken manhole cover to a disused septic tank next to a pear orchard and pond on the High Weald of Sussex is a melanistic common lizard - undoubtedly gravid and resplendent in a jet black coat. But just how common are these please? Will offspring be black too? Any further information welcomed with thanks. |
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Colin and Stella Knight
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administrator
Admin Group Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Status: Offline Points: 10 |
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I see many many viviparous lizards in a season and have yet to see a melanistic example. I think you were very lucky. I believe the colour of the offspring will be dependent on the genes carried by both parents, with the possibility of various outcomes including normal looking offspring that carry a recessive gene for melanism. As vivparous lizards appear black at birth and later develop their brown or greenish colouration, it would be quite a task to determine whether an animal was truly melanistic or not until it matured. |
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Mick
Member Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 184 |
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Over the years i've only so far seen one wholly melanistic Vivip', an adult male, about 7y'rs ago, at Tackley, north Oxfordshire. I've checked on the lizards there many times & they're just of the typical colours & markings, which just goes to show that, melanistic individuals can potentially crop up anywhere where there's Vivip's. I caught it for a really good look at for a few minutes & then let him go. But, Ooooooh!, he was gooooooooorgeous! |
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