Discovery of a Disjunct Population of the Florida Scrub Lizard (Sceloporus woodi) in St. Lucie County, Florida

Kevin M. Enge^1,*, Jocelyn Stalker¹, Kevin W. Christman¹, and Brandon Woo²

¹Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Gainesville, FL 32601.²Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77840. *Corresponding author.

Southeastern Naturalist, Volume 24, Issue 4 (2025): N59–N63

First published early online: 26 December 2025

Abstract
A disjunct population of Sceloporus woodi (Florida Scrub Lizard) occurs in 2 scrub patches on Bluefield Ranch Preserve in southwestern St. Lucie County, FL. This population occupies a small ridge in the Osceola Plain Province in a presumed 105-km-wide distribution gap for the species between the Atlantic Coastal and Lake Wales Ridge complexes. Genetic analyses could determine the origin and length of isolation of this population, but it is likely derived from the Atlantic Coastal Ridge Complex, which is ~35 km to the east and separated by the Upper St. Johns River Valley Province.

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