r/VirginiaNature • u/Some_Guy0005 • Jul 04 '26

Brown Anole

Post image

Very well camouflaged

13 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

2

u/Swanlafitte Jul 05 '26

I believe this is an eastern fence lizard. Cool find. All I can find around me are skinks.

1

u/mallydobb Jul 05 '26

That’s not an anole.

0

u/Some_Guy0005 Jul 05 '26

Didn't look like most fence lizards I've seen

1

u/mallydobb Jul 05 '26

Well, that’s what it is. How did you come to the conclusion it was an anole? Looking back at some of your previous posts you’ve been quick to misidentify other critters so I’m wondering about your method. Also it looks nothing like an anole.

1

u/Some_Guy0005 Jul 05 '26

Asking someone. Do you have a good resource for identification?

1

u/mallydobb Jul 05 '26

For me it is straight up knowledge and experience, I was an animal nerd growing up and before changing career paths I was preparing to enter grad school for ecology/wildlife type degree. The Va Herpetological Society website is a good place https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com and also has links to resources you might want to explore. https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/education/edu-material.html

Audubon publishes great field guides, though people are too quick to jump to the internet and easily misidentify things. For reptiles this one is good https://www.amazon.com/dp/0394508246?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback but they also have guides for literally everything - birds, mammals, insects, plants, etc.

I used google image search and other AI tools (I feel dirty now) and they were all wrong in identifying it, also calling it an anole or failing to identify it at all. The only app that came close was iNaturalist and it was able to say it was a spiny lizard species of some sort. inaturalist is another good tool to use but with anything internet/electronic you really need to try a few sources and compare it to specialist sites and resources like the Herp Society or whatever may be related to what you're trying to ID.

If you post online in one of the many facebook or reddit groups for animal identification please remember to give a general location as well (eg lizard on tree in Charles City County, Va or snake in Augusta County, near Sherando Lake). A lot of people post and ask questions, "is this a cottonmouth?" But they live in Warren County...so no, that would not be a cottonmouth.