Sand lizard: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the sand lizard lives – recorded in 14 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Lacerta agilis
Group	Lizards, geckos & tuatara
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	14 countries
Continents	Asia, Europe
Mass	11 g (mean)
Length	78 mm (mean)
Class	Reptile
Order	Squamata
Family	Lacertidae

Where does the sand lizard live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the sand lizard in 14 countries and territories across Asia and Europe. Wikidata gives its range as: Kosovo, France, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

How big is a sand lizard?

Wikidata records the following for the sand lizard: mass 11 g (mean); length 78 mm (mean).

Is the sand lizard endangered?

The sand lizard’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the sand lizard?

The sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) is a reptile in the order Squamata and the family Lacertidae, genus Lacerta. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the sand lizard

The sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) is a lacertid lizard. There are several subspecies, including L. a. agilis, L. a. argus, and L. a. exigua.

The sand lizard is distributed across most of Europe from the southern coast of Britain and across the continent to Lake Baikal in Russia. It does not occur in European Turkey. Its distribution is often patchy. In the northern extremes of the sand lizard's distribution, it survives by inhabiting seaside heathlands, where the ground temperature is elevated by the sun. The sand lizard uses warm sand to thermoregulate itself and to incubate its eggs.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Sand lizard (revision 1380221823), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q148595 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).