Viviparous lizard
Zootoca vivipara (Lichtenstein, 1823)
The viviparous lizard (Zootoca vivipara), also called the European common lizard, is a reptile in the lizard family Lacertidae, order Squamata. It falls in the tiny size class, with an adult body mass of 4.6 g (from 4.3 to 4.8 g in our sources) and a body length of 5.9 cm.
Quick facts about the viviparous lizard
It reaches sexual maturity at 2.4 years, has 1 litter or clutch per year with 6 young or eggs, and has a lifespan of 5 years. The IUCN Red List assesses it globally as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 4.22 g – 4.77 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- 5.88 cm – 6.24 cmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- 4.99 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 12 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.6 – 16src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 11 months – 3 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Reproduction
- Live birthsrc for Reproduction
- Active
- By day (diurnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the viviparous lizard?
Photos of the viviparous lizard
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Where does the viviparous lizard live?
Not recorded
What is the viviparous lizard?
The viviparous lizard or common lizard (Zootoca vivipara) is a Eurasian lizard. It lives farther north than any other non-marine, non-avian reptile species, and is named for the fact that it is viviparous, meaning it gives birth to live young (although they will sometimes lay eggs normally). Both "Zootoca" and "vivipara" mean "live birth", in (Latinized) Greek and Latin respectively. It was called Lacerta vivipara until the genus Lacerta was split into nine genera in 2007 by Arnold, Arribas & Carranza.
Zootoca vivipara lives in very cold climates, yet participates in normal thermoregulation instead of thermoconformity. They have the largest range of all terrestrial lizards which even include subarctic regions. It is able to survive these harsh climates as individuals will freeze in especially cold seasons and thaw two months later. They also live closer to geological phenomena that provide a warmer environment for them.
From the Wikipedia article “Viviparous lizard” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Viviparous_lizard&oldid=1378459902), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the viviparous lizard sound like?
Is the viviparous lizard endangered?
The viviparous lizard is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the viviparous lizard classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderSquamata
- familyLacertidae
- genusZootoca
- SpeciesZootoca vivipara (Lichtenstein, 1823)
Synonyms Lacerta chrysogastra, Lacerta crocea, Lacerta fragilis, Lacerta herseyi, Lacerta isidori, Lacerta montana, Lacerta nigra, Lacerta oedura, Lacerta ptychodes, Lacerta pyrrhogaster, Lacerta schreibersiana, Lacerta shreibersiana, Lacerta unicolor, Lacerta vivipara, Lacerta vivipara, Lacerta vivipara pannonica, Lacerta vivipara sachalinensis, Lacerta vivipara sachalinensis, Lacerta vivipara var. barabensis, Lacerta vivipara var. carniolica, Lacerta vivipara var. gedulyi, Lacerta vivipara var. melanogastra, Lacerta vivipara var. pallida, Lacerta vivipara vasconiae, Lacertus cinereus, Seps atra, Zootoca alpina, Zootoca guérin, Zootoca jacquin, Zootoca montana, Zootoca vivipara
Other names and names in other languages (18)
- European common lizardEnglish
- llagartexa de llamargaAsturian
- ještěrka živorodáCzech
- SkovfirbenDanish
- Almindeligt firbenDanish
- Levendefødende firbenDanish
- WaldeidechseGerman
- sisiliskoFinnish
- lézard vivipareFrench
- Lézard vivipare (Le)French
- živorodna guštericaCroatian
- lucertola viviparaItalian
- Zulzagalagch gurvelMongolian
- nordfirfisleNorwegian Bokmål
- Kleine hagedisDutch
- Levendbarende hagedisDutch
- Живородящая ящерицаRussian
- 胎蜥Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaITISTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the viviparous lizard
Other species in the same genus Zootoca.
Carniolan lizard
Zootoca carniolica
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the viviparous lizard?
It is a reptile, a lizard in the family Lacertidae within the order Squamata.
How big is the viviparous lizard?
It has a body length of 5.9 cm and an adult body mass of 4.6 g, placing it in the tiny size class.
How long does the viviparous lizard live?
Its lifespan is 5 years.
How many young does the viviparous lizard have?
It has 6 young per litter or eggs per clutch, with 1 litter or clutch per year.
When does the viviparous lizard reach maturity?
It reaches sexual maturity at 2.4 years, with values from 1.9 to 2.8 years reported by our sources.
Is the viviparous lizard endangered?
No. The IUCN Red List assesses it globally as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
Who named Zootoca vivipara?
Its scientific name authority is Lichtenstein, 1823, written as (Lichtenstein, 1823).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Viviparous lizard (Zootoca vivipara). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/viviparous-lizard
“Viviparous lizard (Zootoca vivipara).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/viviparous-lizard.
@misc{viviparous_lizard_2026,
title = {Viviparous lizard (Zootoca vivipara)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/viviparous-lizard},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}