By Andy McNeil, Staff writer amcneil@observer-reporter.com
upon a species of lizard that has gone relatively undocumented in Washington County.
Eric Stiffler and Ian McGuinness, both 13, were riding their dirt bikes recently when they noticed some curious-looking creatures scurrying along a trail and decided to capture one.
“We got off our dirt bikes, and we walked toward them,” Stiffler said. “They seemed like they were scared, so we tried to catch one.”
“But they’re really fast,” added McGuinness.
The boys said it took 25 minutes for the two of them to grab one of the elusive lizards, which zig-zagged away, seeking shelter in piles of rocks and coal. After learning that the animals could drop their tails as a defense mechanism, they finally managed to secure a few specimens.
The two showed their findings to a local man, Eric Kramer, who contacted the Pennsylvania Herpetological Education and Resource Project for assistance in identifying the animals. The creatures turned out to be northern fence lizards, a subspecies of the eastern fence lizard.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission website recognizes the northern fence lizard as the only one of its genus in Pennsylvania. The commission describes adult lizards as being gray to brown, with belly coloration ranging from whitish to greenish-blue to pale blue. They grow to a size of four to seven inches.
Field herpetologist Jason Poston, who runs the PAHERP website, said this may be the first documented fence lizard population in Washington County. He said the lizards have a spotty distribution throughout the area, and that other populations of the animal may have simply gone undocumented. As of Monday, Poston still was working to formally verify and document the finding.
Dr. Tim Maret, professor of biology at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, who assists Poston with PAHERP, said the lizards are a species of spiny lizard that live in areas with rocky debris, where they forage for invertebrates and bask in the sun.
“They have actually been reported fairly extensively in Allegheny and Beaver, but not in Washington County,” he said.
Local academics supported Maret’s assessment regarding the lack of the species’ documentation in the county.
“Based solely on three summers of sampling at our biological field station on Hallam Road, out Route 40, we have never caught or seen a northern fence lizard in our drift fence traps,” said Dr. Robert East, associate professor and director of environmental studies at Washington & Jefferson College.
“At least in Southwestern Pennsylvania, my conclusion is that they are not common,” he added.
“I personally have not seen one, and to my knowledge, one has not been recorded at the Abernathy Field Station,” said Dr. James March, W&J associate professor of biology.
March encouraged amateur naturalists to report sightings to websites such as PAHERP, which help researchers gain a clearer picture of a species’ population and habitat.
In 1955, the Observer-Reporter published an article written by Dr. M. Graham Netting, director of the Carnegie Museum at the time, who was arranging a display of reptiles native to the area – including the northern fence lizard – for the Washington County Fair. He asked readers to keep a watchful eye out for the lizards in an effort to help the museum track down a specimen.
“Residents should watch partially for the northern fence lizard, males of which often do push-ups on fence posts, advertising their presence by flashing their blue chest-patches,” Netting wrote.
As for the boys, they planned to release the lizards back into the wild, prompting a sigh of relief from one of their mothers.
