Details
Podarcis muralis
The common wall lizard is a small, quick lizard of walls and rocky places. It basks in sun and hunts tiny arthropods over stone and ground.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It inhabits Palearctic urban areas, grassland, and mountain rock. Walls, rubble, stonework, and crevices provide basking sites and refuge.
Total length 15-25 cm; weight 4-10 g. It has a slim body, long tail, and brown to grey back with spots or stripes. The belly may be pale or orange-tinged.
Diurnal and mostly solitary, it warms in sunny spots. At danger it darts into cracks in walls or rock.
A carnivore, it eats small insects, spiders, woodlice, and similar prey. It searches on walls and ground surfaces.
Females lay eggs under soil or stones in warm seasons. Hatchlings hunt tiny arthropods soon after emergence.
It is listed as Least Concern. It adapts well to stone-built urban habitats and has established introduced populations in some areas.
