Six-lined Racerunner

Snapshot

A lightning-fast striped lizard of sandhills and open sunny ground — dark body with six light lines, long slender tail, and sprinting hind limbs. Native whiptail (Aspidoscelis sexlineatus); leave alone.

Description and identification

Medium-sized, streamlined. Dark gray to nearly black with six yellow or white stripes down the body; tail normally brown with only one to two light side stripes. Females and juveniles white-bellied; adult males show a bluish belly, darker in breeding season. Granular scales; long hind limbs built for speed.

Look-alikes

Five-lined skinks — five light lines (not six), smooth shiny scales, more woodland/log cover. Fence lizards — spiny scales, no racing stripes. Open sand and extreme speed are racerunner cues.

Range in Georgia

Open and dry habitats across much of the Southeast — Coastal Plain and Piedmont openings especially. Full native range covers much of the central and eastern United States.

Habitat preferences

Coastal sand dunes, longleaf sandhills, turkey-oak openings, agricultural fields, forest clearcuts, and other sunny, sparsely vegetated ground with loose soil for burrows. Closed-canopy forestry and fire suppression that erase sunny patches reduce usable habitat. Not a deep-woods log lizard — if you are in heavy shade looking at stripes on a skink, you are probably not looking at a racerunner.

Natural history

Heat-loving; active on warm or hot days and often emerge from winter burrows later than many other lizards. Can remain active even when body temperatures approach about 100°F (SREL). Mate in April–May; females lay 2–8 eggs in late May–June in underground nests (~60 days incubation).

Food preferences

Mainly insectivorous: beetles, caterpillars, butterflies, grasshoppers, termites, scorpions, and similar prey.

Temperament and encounters

Flee first; nearly impossible to catch by hand — don’t try. Enjoy the sprint from a trail or sandhill road. Breeding males’ bluish bellies are visible mainly when the lizard pauses in the open; do not flip or chase to confirm. Heat-loving habits mean midday sandhill walks are when people notice them most.

Conservation and legal notes

Open-habitat loss, fire suppression, domestic pets, and pesticide/herbicide effects on reproduction are noted concerns (SREL).

In Georgia, native nongame lizards are wildlife. Possession and take rules differ from popular pet-trade assumptions — check current Georgia DNR guidance (native wildlife / legal pets) before any collection. Do not invent statutes. Habitat loss, roads, and free-ranging cats drive many local declines. Educational observation from a distance is the default.

If you meet one

Watch from a distance; do not grab lizards by the tail (many species drop tails as defense — costly to the animal). Keep pets from chasing wildlife. Local educators — including community resources around Cartersville such as Etowah Valley Exotics when appropriate — can help with distant photo ID. This profile is educational, not a husbandry or collecting guide.