Kiawah Island’ s Fastest Reptile
By Whit Gibbons and Tony Mills
Unless otherwise noted, all photos this story by J. D. Willson
Amother alligator sprinting a short distance overland from the nest she is guarding and a coachwhip gliding over pine needles through palmettos— both move rapidly compared to most reptiles. But for its size, the fastest reptile we have ever encountered on Kiawah Island is a lizard known as the six-lined racerunner. One thing is certain: Neither of us has ever outrun a racerunner on the sand dunes.
Six-lined racerunners are one of the half-dozen species of lizards we documented to inhabit Kiawah Island during reptile and amphibian surveys conducted in the mid-1970s, before the Island was developed. Because of their rapid speed overland, most of our research records of racerunners were sightings only. Occasionally, we captured these speedy lizards with the use of two collecting techniques. On a few cool days in the spring we found racerunners hiding under palm fronds or other natural cover. Even then it required a quick grab to catch one before it blasted away into the vegetation. We also captured individuals that fell into pitfall traps placed alongside drift fences strategically placed for sampling near the dunes
Above: green anole. Below: broadheaded skink.
38 Naturally Kiawah