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Reptile Life List

This is my list of reptiles I have identified while traveling for Notes from the Road.

Reptiles are a great introduction to identications of wild organisms, because in most cases, there are a finite number of possibilities, and help with identifications is very easy. Lizards, turtles and snakes bring color and mystery to the places you visit. And, often surprising, they bring vivid color and fascinating behavior. I was first caught with the bug to learn more about reptiles after I saw the vivid colors of mating lizards in Death Valley.

Alligator Snapping TurtleMacrochelys temminckii

Amazon Forest DragonEnyalioides laticeps

Amazon River TurtleDermatemys mawii

American AlligatorAlligator mississippiensis

American Saltwater CrocodileCrocodylus acutus

Aquatic Coral SnakeMicrurus surinamensis

Aquatic GarterThamnophis atratus

Azure-tailed SkinkEmoia impar

Banded Cat-eyed SnakeLeptodeira annulata

Blunt-headed Tree SnakeImantodes cencho

Brown AnoleAnolis sagrei

Brown BasiliskBasiliscus vittatus

Plumed BasiliskBasiliscus plumifrons

Cape Spiny-tailed IguanaCtenosaura hemilopha

Central American Whiptail LizardHolcosus festivus

Central American Whiptail Lizard

Chonta SnakeChironius grandisquamus

Common ChuckwallaSauromalus ater

Common BasiliskBasiliscus basiliscus

Common Basilisk

Common MussuranaClelia clelia

Common Side-Blotched LizardUta stansburiana

Common Snapping TurtleChelydra serpentina

Common Wall LizardPodarcis muralis

Ctenosaur (Black Iguana)Ctenosaura similis

Cuban Twig AnoleAnolis angusticeps

Auber's Ameiva (Cuban Ameiva)Pholidoscelis auberi

Curly-tail LizardLeiocephalus carinatus

Desert IguanaDipsosaurus dorsalis

Desert Iguana

Desert Spiny LizardSceloporus magister

Eastern Fence LizardSceloporus undulatus

Five-lined SkinkPlestiodon fasciatus

Striped Forest WhiptailKentropyx calcarata

Golfo Dulce AnoleAnolis polylepis

Golfo Dulce Anole

Granite Spiny LizardSceloporus orcutti

Great Basin Collared LizardCrotaphytus bicinctores

Great Basin Collared Lizard

Cape Spiny-tailed IguanaCtenosaura hemilopha

Green AnoleAnolis carolinensis

Green IguanaIguana iguana

European Green LizardLacerta viridis

Green Sea Turtle‎Chelonia Mydas

Black Halloween Snake (Cope's False Coral Snake) Pliocercus euryzonus

Hispaniolan AnoleAnolis chlorocyanus

Iberian Wall LizardPodarcis hispanicus

Kotschy's GeckoMediodactylus kotschyi

kotschys Gecko

Loggerhead Sea TurtleCaretta caretta

Long-nosed Leopard LizardGambelia wislizenii

Moorish GeckoTarentola mauritanica

Moorish Gecko

Mottled Snake-eyed SkinkCryptoblepharus poecilopleurus

Mud SnakeFarancia abacura

Mud Snake

Northern Caiman LizardDracaena guianensis

Northern Caiman Lizard

Northwestern GarterThamnophis ordinoides

Gopher SnakePituophis catenifer

Olive Forest RacerDendrophidion dendrophis

Painted TurtleChrysemys picta

Eastern RacerColuber constrictor

Pond SliderTrachemys scripta

Roughtail Rock AgamaLaudakia stellio

Roughtail Rock Agama

Rubber BoaCharina bottae

Sagebrush LizardSceloporus graciosus

Sicilian Wall LizardPodarcis waglerianus

Sicilian Wall Lizard

Sidewinder RattlesnakeCrotalus cerastes

Smooth Softshell TurtleApalone mutica

Desert Horned LizardPhrynosoma platyrhinos

Speckled KingsnakeLampropeltis holbrooki

Speckled RattlesnakeCrotalus mitchellii

Spectacled CaimanCaiman crocodilus

Striped Basilisk (Brown Basilisk)Basiliscus vittatus

Tropical House GeckoHemidactylus mabouia

Yarrow's Spiny LizardSceloporus jarrovii

Yarrow's Spiny Lizard

Western Fence LizardSceloporus occidentalis

Western Diamondback RattlesnakeCrotalus atrox

Western Terrestrial GarterThamnophis elegans

Yellow-headed Sideneck TurtlePodocnemis unifilis

Yellow-spotted River Turtle Podocnemis unifilis

Zebra-tailed LizardCallisaurus draconoides

Explore more in About Us


A list of all the amphibians I've seen in my life, with illustrations.

A list of all the birds I've seen in my life, with illustrations.

A list of all the butterflies I've identified in my life, with photographs.

A list of all the reptiles I've identfiied in my life, with illustrations.

Write to Erik Gauger of Notes from the Road

A list of all the Odonata insects I've seen in my life, with illustrations.

A list of all the mammals I've seen in my life.

A collection of photographs of spiders and other arachnids I've seen while photographing for Notes from the Road.

My list of extraordinary road-trip approved Grateful Dead jams.

My list of the best Phish jams for traveling and road trips.

My gallery of feral, stray and wild country cats.