And why do I recall Quivira. Well for one thing I found the name unforgettable. The 2nd thing was (and this is the important one) the critters they listed in their ads—Texas horned lizards, 85c¢; boa constrictors, $4.65 (that’s right—4 dollars and 65 cents and that included the shipping). If you wanted a red-tailed boa the cost jumped to $6.65. But one that really caught my eye was for European green lizards for $1.65!

And now we’re back to green lizards. There was a time way back then when I was totally enchanted by the Eurasian lizards in the genus Lacerta. Since the nomenclatural clowns hadn’t yet emerged in force there were a whole lot more lizards in that genus back then. But because I love green the one that interested me most was Lacerta viridis.

I skipped school lunches (and if the weather was looking good for herping, probably school itself) and squirreled away the 30 or 40 cents that each lunch cost in those days and was finally able to order a pair of green lizards only to be told that they temporarily out of stock. I tried again a month or so later and got the same message—out of stock. But the 3rd time I tried I did get them and they were prettier than I had ever imagined. The male was a bright yet deep forest green with extensive blue coloring on his face. The female was similar but lighter. I was a happy camper.

At a later time I ordered a 2nd pair of green lizards and got them on the first try. But these were a little different than the first pair, being a lighter green—still pretty, just not as intensely colored as the first pair.

But by the mid 1960s it became apparent that the European green lizard had become Americanized. In Topeka, KS and even more explicitly, in the immediate vicinity of where Quivira Specialties once was, the foot-long beauties were being seen with increasing frequency but their presence was not well advertised. In fact, until the turn of the century, despite my interest in established alien herps, I had forgotten completely about the Lacerta.

At some point in time Kenny and I were returning home from a from a KS herping trip and as we drove through Topeka I wondered aloud whether the green lizards were still being seen there. When I got home I was still wondering so contacted some KS friends and learned that the lizards were still present and still reproducing. In 2007, more than 40 years after they had first been reported, I met up with Jim Gubanyi (a researcher of the species) on the outskirts of Topeka and was given a chance to see the European green beauties.

Those seen were the lighter green ones. Once known as L. viridis, today they are classified as L. bilineata and rather than being just green lizards they are western green lizards, Lacerta bilineata. And those we saw were every bit as pretty as I recalled.

This is a Lacerta bilineata, a western green lizard, from the Topeka population.


Preferring flight to fight, the western green lizard will bite if carelessly restrained.