BBC (London, UK) 25 April 06 St Patrick escapee may be 'threatened'
Ireland's only native reptile may be under threat and academics want anyone who spots one to contact them.
Doctor Peter Laming, a reader in biology at Queen's University, Belfast, said they want to establish the population of the Irish lizard as a way to help save the species.
"It is the only reptile in Ireland, a massive contributor to our bio-diversity and so we should look after it - it is a lovely little animal," he said.
Larger and scalier than newts the Irish lizard is a common lizard (lacerta vivipara). It is dry skinned and normally lives on heath and moorland.
Dr Laming said the the glacial separation of Ireland from Britain was the more likely reason for the lack of lizards in Ireland than banishment by St Patrick - with the Irish lizard possibly the only reptile to make it across.
He said there was concern that the numbers were in decline due to various factors including habitat destruction and housing development.
Knowing where they are will help establish conservation schemes for the scaly local.
Dr Laming and his colleagues have been granted permission to collect a few lizards to set up a captive breeding centre, which will enable them to establish if the lizard lays eggs or has live offspring.
Dr Laming said they wanted to establish how its DNA compares with that of other lizards across the UK and Europe to give them an idea of how long it has been in Ireland.
"There are various populations throughout Europe, some are oviparous, they lay eggs especially in the south northern Italy, France and Slovenia," he said.
"But the rest of the populations in Europe are viviparous - they give birth to live young and they probably do that in response to the cooling of the continent some 10,000 years ago.
"If they are viviparous they can control their own body temperature by basking in the sun or going underground when it is cold."
The common lizard is light brown in colour with brown or black broken stripes along its back, and grows to between 10 - 15cm (4ins to 6ins) in length.
Their diet consists mainly of spiders and insects, while they themselves fall prey to birds such as blackbirds and in urban areas they are vulnerable to domestic cats.
They hibernate from October to March, breeding occurs in April through May with the young born in July.
The best time to see them is in early morning when they bask in the sun.
Dr Laming said anyone seeing one of the reptiles St Patrick missed should email him at p.laming@qub.ac.uk
St Patrick escapee may be 'threatened'