I live in southern Florida and am used to seeing lizards and iguana's all around my home. But recently I have spotted a new breed that I have never seen here before. This "lizard" is approx. 12" long from nose to tip of its tail, is brownish with a yellow stripe on its side, is very fast and runs on its two hind legs at times, and also has a "hood" on top of its head. Do you know what this lizard is called? I have a picture but cannot post it as the file is to large. E-mail me at asaff263@yahoo.com if you would like me to send you a picture to help identify it. Thanks, DJS

If you want you can email me the pic and I'll either host it or resize it for you. My email is in my profile. I'm actually on my way to South Florida now though so I would do it tonight.

What you saw is a male brown basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus). I'm without a doubt, 100% sure of that. These lizards are native to South America, but are an also introduced species in FL.


Here's some pics of my male, and some links to photos of wild ones:





http://www.ribbitphotography.com/liz...D_basilisk.jpg

http://www.wildherps.com/images/herp...5_basilisk.jpg

http://www.herpjournal.com/2005/beli...lize_05_15.jpg

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I agree with Furryscaly. The ammount of species being introduced to the US,,,,southern Florida in particular, is growing at an alarming rate every year

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Ken
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Thanks Furryscaly and Kenman, it is the brown basilisk that I have been seeing in my back yard. It was just so prehistoric looking and very different from the iguana's and other small lizards we have here. We now have 2 very large iguanas that are a brownish, yellowish color, 2 medium bright green ones, and a very small, newly hatched green iguana that visit our dock every day. They watch for me to come out the back door, and then are on our dock within minutes to eat and catch some rays. Of course, we have all the small lizards, curly tails, etc here too. I imagine this new breed I am seeing was someones pet at one time? Makes for an interesting back yard with pelicans, wild green parrots, iguanas, lizards, etc right out your back door! Thanks for the help, I appreciate it. DJS

The one you saw was most likely wild. Like green iguanas, they're not native to the U.S, but due to the importation of wild ones for the pet industry, escapees have made a permanent (and growing) population in southern Florida. Basilisks are related to iguanas, and have the interesting ability to not only run on two legs, but to run across water without sinking.

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

Yep Matt the ID Meister strikes again!
of course this was an easy one. The crest and running on the hind legs gave it away. They can also run across the surface of still water giving them one of their common names, Jesus Christ lizard.

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Merlin,
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lol

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