What species is this lizard? ![ ![ ![ A small green lizard (20 cm in size). It was found in the direct neighboorhood of a house, in a small village in the Hungarian hills south of the Balaton lake. It was found in the middle of the day. Our first guess would be _Lacerta viridis_. Is this correct?

By the picture and the official distribution it looks to be as you said a `Lacerta viridis`.

Some references and distribution here:

* <
* <
*



In Western Europe we have a brother specie `Lacerta bilineata`.

Example in Geneva:

![WesternGreenLizard](

The distribution maps shows that `Lacerta viridis` is mainly present in Easter Europe (including Hungary) and `Lacerta bilineata` is present in the Western Europe.

Both species are similar and the male get the throat blue generally during the breeding season.

This site have also a description of the specie.