Systematic overview of European Lacertid Lizards

Our photo documentation presents the currently 66 European Lacertid lizard species - including all Greek Islands, without Russia & Ukraine (see below). The species list is structured by systematic criteria (genetic relationship / genus)*. Click on the links below for the species portraits: 

Psammodromus - Sand Racers


Psammodromus algirus - Large Psammodromus

Psammodromus edwarsianus - Edwards' Psammodromus

Psammodromus hispanicus - Spanish Psammodromus

Psammodromus occidentalis - Western Psammodromus


Eremias - Racerunners


Eremias arguta - Steppe Runner


Acanthodactylus - Fringe-fingered Lizards


Acanthodactylus erythrurus - Spiny-footed Lizard


Ophisops - Snake-Eyed Lacertids


Ophisops elegans - European Snake-Eyed Lizard


Zootoca - Viviparous Lizards


Zootoca vivipara - Viviparous Lizard


Teira - A genus of North African / Madeiran Lizards


Teira dugesii - Madeira Lizard

Teira perspicillata - Morrocan Rock Lizard


Podarcis - Wall Lizards


Podarcis muralis - Common Wall Lizard

Podarcis liolepis - Catalonian Wall Lizard

Podarcis hispanicus - Spanish Wall Lizard

Podarcis vaucheri - Vaucher's Wall Lizard

Podarcis virescens - Geniez' Wall Lizard

Podarcis carbonelli - Carbonell's Wall Lizard

Podarcis guadarramae - Guadarrama Wall Lizard

Podarcis lusitanicus - "Lusitanian Wall Lizard"

Podarcis bocagei - Bocage's Wall Lizard

Podarcis siculus - Italian Wall Lizard

Podarcis waglerianus - Sicilian Wall Lizard

Podarcis raffonei - Aeolian Wall Lizard

Podarcis erhardii - Erhard's Wall Lizard

Podarcis peloponnesiacus - Peloponnese Wall Lizard

Podarcis thais - Eastern Peloponnese Wall Lizard

Podarcis levendis - Pori Wall Lizard

Podarcis cretensis - Cretan Wall Lizard

Podarcis filfolensis - Maltese Wall Lizard

Podarcis melisellensis - Dalmatian Wall Lizard

Podarcis tauricus - Balkan Wall Lizard

Podarcis ionicus - Ionian Wall Lizard

Podarcis gaigeae - Skyros Wall Lizard

Podarcis milensis - Milos Wall Lizard

Podarcis pityusensis - Ibiza Wall Lizard

Podarcis lilfordi - Lilford's Wall Lizard

Podarcis tiliguerta - Tyrrhenian Wall Lizard


Lacerta - Green Lizards


Lacerta agilis - Sand Lizard

Lacerta schreiberi - Schreiber's Green Lizard

Lacerta bilineata - Western Green Lizard

Lacerta viridis - Eastern Green Lizard

Lacerta trilineata - Balkan Green Lizard

Lacerta citrovittata - Cyclades Giant Green Lizard

Lacerta diplochondrodes - East-Aegean Giant Emerald Lizard


Timon - Ocellated Lizards


Timon lepidus - Ocellated Lizard

Timon nevadensis - Sierra Nevada Ocellated Lizard


Anatololacerta -  A genus of Anatolian Rock Lizards


Anatololacerta anatolica - Anatolian Rock Lizard

Anatololacerta pelasgiana - Pelasgian Rock Lizard

Anatololacerta finikensis - Finike Rock Lizard


Algyroides - Keeled Lizards


Algyroides marchi - Spanish Algyroides

Algyroides fitzingeri - Pygmy Algyroides

Algyroides nigropunctatus - Dalmatian Algyroides

Algyroides moreoticus - Greek Algyroides


Dinarolacerta - A genus of Rock Lizards


Dinarolacerta mosorensis - Mosor Rock Lizard

Dinarolacerta montenegrina - Prokletije Rock Lizard


Darevskia - A genus of mainly Caucasian Lizards


Darevskia praticola - Meadow Lizard


Iberolacerta - A genus of mainly Iberian Rock Lizards


Iberolacerta monticola - Western Iberian Rock Lizard

Iberolacerta galani - Galan's Rock Lizard

Iberolacerta martinezricai - Peña de Francia Rock Lizard

Iberolacerta cyreni - Cyren's Rock Lizard

Iberolacerta bonnali - Pyrenean Rock Lizard

Iberolacerta aranica - Aran Rock Lizard

Iberolacerta aurelioi - Aurelio's Rock Lizard

Iberolacerta horvathi - Horvath's Rock Lizard


Archaeolacerta - A genus of Thyrrenian Rock Lizards


Archaeolacerta bedriagae - Bedriaga's Rock Lizard


Hellenolacerta - A genus of Greek Rock Lizards


Hellenolacerta graeca - Greek Rock Lizard


Dalmatolacerta - A genus of Dalmatian Rock Lizards


Dalmatolacerta oxycephala - Sharp-Snouted Rock Lizard



The area covered by this documentation lacks the European part of Russia (including the Northern Caucasus area) and Ukraine. Although, from a biological perspective, these areas belong to Europe. Hence, some species are missing in our documentation for the reason that we simply didn't have the opportunity to visit these countries, so far.

For the sake of completeness, the missing species will at least be mentioned, subsequently:

1. Eremias velox

2. Lacerta media

3. Lacerta strigata

4. Darevskia alpina

5. Darevskia armeniaca

6. Darevskia brauneri

7. Darevskia caucasica

8. Darevskia daghestanica

9. Darevskia dahli

10. Darevskia derjugini

11. Darevskia lindholmi

12. Darevskia rudis

13. Darevskia saxicola

14. Darevskia szczerbaki


As species splits frequently occur in the genus Darevskia, this list may get even longer in course of time.


* The structure of the genera is based on PYRON, 2013 (modified): PYRON et al. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013, 13:93, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/13/93. Note that the structure we chose is just preliminary, as insights into the phylogenic structrue of the Lacertidae are still incomplete. The phylogeny of the genus Podarcis is taken from: Senczuk, G. & Castiglia, R. & Böhme, W. & Corti, C. (2019) - Podarcis siculus latastei (Bedriaga, 1879) of the western Pontine islands (Italy) raised to the species rank, and a brief taxonomic overview of Podarcis lizards. -  Acta Herpetologica, 14. doi: 10.13128/Acta_Herpetol-25159.