THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-other lizards)    Teiidae  

Six-lined Racerunner
Aspidoscelis sexlineatus (Linnaeus, 1766)
as-pid-OSS-uh-lis — seks-lin-ee-AY-tus

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 For the change in the ending of the subspecies name, see note under Aspidoscelis. (de Queiroz, Kevin and Lauren M. Chan. 2025. Squamata (excluding snakes) – Lizards. Pages 23-37 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.08.07.22.24.35)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 15.49 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Alabama Arkansas Colorado Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Nebraska New Mexico North Carolina Oklahoma South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Virginia West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for the pattern of stripes on its body.
Aspidoscelis — Greek for “shield leg.”
sexlineatus — Latin sex = “six” + lineatus = “lined” — “six-lined,” referring to the dorsal striping.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Lion Lizard (Lacerta sex-lineata: Forster, John R. 1771. A systematic catalogue of all the known plants of English North-America or, a flora Americae Septentrionalis. Pages in From Forster's translation of Bossu, Travels through that part of North America formerly called Louisiana, Vol. 1. T. Davies, London, England. pp.); Lion Lizard (Lacerta sex-lineata: Pennant, Thomas. 1785. Artic Zoology. Henry Hughs, London. pp.); Six-lined Lizard (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus: Jordan, David Starr. 1876. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Jansen, McClurg, and Company, Chicago, Illinois.. 342pp.); Six-lined Lizard (Cnemidophorus sex-lineatus: Yarrow, Henry C. 1876. List of Skeletons and Crania in the Section of Comparative Anatomy of the United States Army Medical Museum for use during the International Exhibition of 1876 in Connection with the Representation of the Medical Department U.S. Army. Army Medical Museum, Washington, D. C. pp.); Six-lined Lizard (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus: Jordan, David S. 1878. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Second Edition, Revised, and Enlarged. Jansen, McClurg & Company, Chicago. pp.); Six-lined Lizard (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Six-striped Lizard (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus: Beyer, George. 1900. Louisana herpetology. Proceedings of the Louisiana Society of Naturalists 1897-1899():24-46); Six-striped Lizard (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus: Drowne, Frederick P. 1905. The reptiles and batrachians of Rhode Island. Monograph of the Roger Williams Park Museum 15():1-24); Swift (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus: Hurter, Julius. 1911. Herpetology of Missouri. Transactions of the Academy of Science St. Louis 20(5):59-274); Sand Lizard (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus: Brimley, Clement S. 1915. List of reptiles and amphibians of North Carolina. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 30(4):195-206); Eastern Race Runner (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Six-lined Race Runner (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1766 Linné, Carl von (=Linneaus). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. [The system of nature through the three kingdoms of nature, according to classes, orders, genera, species with characters, differences, synonyms, places. Volume I.] Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm, Holmiae, Editio duodecima, reformata (12th Edition). 1-532pp.
1931 Burt, Charles E. A study of the teiid lizards of the genus Cnemidophorus with special reference to their phylogenetic relationships. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (154):1-286
1958 Fitch, Henry S. Natural history of the Six-lined Racerunner (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus). University of Kansas Publications Museum of Natural History 11(2):11-62
1970 Gorman, George C. Chromosomes and the systematics of the family Teiidae (Sauria, Reptilia). Copeia 1970(2):230-245
1991 Collins, Joseph T. Amphibians and reptiles in the upper Mississippi river valley: Systematic and distributional problems. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science 66(4):149-152
1996 Trauth, Stanley E. and Chris T. McAllister. Cnemidophorus sexlineatus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (628):1-12
1997 Walker, J. Martin, Harry L. Taylor, James E. Cordes, and Mark A. Paulissen. Distributional relationships and community assemblages of three members of the parthenogenetic Cnemidophorus tesselatus complex and C. sexlineatus (Squamata: Teiidae) at Higbee, Otero County, Colorado. Herpetological Natural History 5(2):165-174
1997 Minton, Sherman A., Jr. and D. Brown. Distribution and variation of the lizard Cnemidophorus sexlineatus in Indiana. Bulletin of Chicago Herpetological Society 32:102-104
2002 Reeder, Tod W., Charles J. Cole, and Herbert C. Dessauer. Phylogenetic relationships of Whiptail lizards of the genus Cnemidophorus (Squamata: Teiidae): A test of monophyly, reevaluation of karyotypic evolution, and review of hybrid origins. American Museum Novitates (3365):1-61
2021 Walker, J. Martin, Brian K. Sullivan, and James E. Cordes. Sanctioned nomenclature for triploid parthenogenetic Colorado Checkered Whiptail and for other taxa of the lizard genus Aspidoscelis (Family Teiidae). Herpetological Review 52(3):550–558

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 15:58 CT