A publication of the Desert Protective Council protectdeserts.

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Educational Bulletin #11-2 California Desert Lizards

by Chris Clarke

The side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana), a very common desert lizard in California and elsewhere in the western US. This one was found along the desert edge in San Diego County. Photo by squamatologist

Lizards are among the most engaging and accessible denizens of the California deserts. Well-suited to the landscape, they fill a range of ecological niches in the desert. Californias deserts play host both to the smallest lizard in North America and the two largest. Among the lizards in the deserts are strict carnivores, strict vegetarians, and omnivorous species that pick a little from Column A and a little from Column B. Some California desert lizard species thrive in a wide range of conditions with ranges stretching across hundreds of miles of landscape; others are restricted to very small ranges with specific soil or vegetative characteristics. What California desert lizards have in common is, obviously enough, that theyre all lizards, reptiles that share the taxonomic group Squamata with their close relatives the snakes, but which differ from snakes in that among other things they retain the eyelids and external ears that snakes lack. (Snakes also lack legs, but there are also lizards without legs, including the California legless lizard, Anniella pulchra.)

Side-blotched lizards
The side-blotched lizard, Uta stansburiana, is the most common lizard in the California desert. It lives in a lot of other places as well, ranging from eastern Washington through west Texas into Mexico, and south through California into Baja. The side-blotched lizard, usually recognizable by the eponymous dark patch on either side just behind its forelimb, is a small lizard; fully grown it reaches about 2.5 inches from snout to base of tail (vent), with the tail about as long. Uta is active during the warm part of the day, often scurrying out from cover and across

a trail just in front of the desert hikers boots. Side-blotched lizards eat small insects, spiders and ticks, and other similarly sized invertebrates. As is the case with many lizard species, male side-blotcheds are more colorful than their female counterparts. There are three basic color morphs among the males, who will have patches of orange, blue, or yellow on their throats. These colors correspond to body size, among other features: orange-throated males tend to be larger than the blues, and yellows smaller. In the early part of the 21st Century biologists at UC, Santa Cruz found that each color corresponded to a distinct mating strategy. Blue-throated males form strong bonds with their mates and defend them against interlopers. This defense is usually successful against the smaller yellow-throated males, who attempt to sneak up to the females. Orange-throated males, being larger than the blue-throats, often win the fight. Oddly, orange-throats with mates often fail to notice the small yellow-throats sneaking up to their females, which means the yellow-throats find targeting the mates of orange-throated males a winning strategy. The result is a kind of rock-paper-scissors circular hierarchy among the males: blue beats yellow, orange beats blue, and yellow beats orange. This rough balance not only helps ensure that each form survives into future generations, but it has prompted a secondary strategy by which blue-throats often cooperate with other blue-throats in warning of the approach of other males. Cooperative strategies are thought to be uncommon among lizards, but that apparently hasnt stopped the blue-throats from working together.

Side-blotched lizards are the most commonly seen members of the horned lizard family, the Phrynosomatidae. This family includes the horned lizards, of course, as well as spiny and fence lizards; fringe-toed lizards; tree, brush, and rock lizards; as well as our next lizard, which in places is even more likely to be seen than the near-ubiquitous side-blotched.

Zebra tailed lizard

The zebra-tailed lizard, Callisaurus draconoides, is one of the most heat-tolerant of Californias lizards: you can find them basking on rocks even on very hot days. Stretching from 2-4.5 inches long snout to vent, and with striped tails that can add another five inches to the total, zebra-tails are most notable for their astonishing bursts of speed up to about 21 or 22 miles an hour within a second or two of a standing start. Males tails are more

other invertebrates, plant seeds and small flowers. The lizards get their common name from rows of modified scales along their toes fringe that aid in walking on sand the way snowshoes help in snow. Some fringe-toeds can put on bursts of speed that rival, or even exceed, their zebra-tailed cousins: at least one Coachella Valley fringe-toed has been clocked at 23 mph, which isnt bad for running on sand. They possess other adaptations to life in the dunes as well, including closable nostrils and ear coverings to keep sand out of inconvenient places. The Coachella Valley species, which is restricted to the north

Mohave fringe-toed lizard. Photo by randomtruth

Zebra tailed lizard. Photo by Brian Lee Clements

prominently striped than the females but both genders will wave their erect-held tails as they run, which may distract predators or prompt them to attack the detachable tail rather than the rest of the lizard. Zebra-tails move so quickly that its often hard to get an unblurred photo of one. If thats your goal, try shooting earlier in the morning before they warm up completely: theyll be a bit slower. This species flattened, blunt heads allow them to swim into fine gravel or sand, a neat trick that aids in escape both from predators and the deserts harsh sunlight.

end of its namesake valley and to sandy areas in San Gorgonio Pass, is listed as Threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. As much as 90 percent of its habitat has been destroyed by development. The Colorado Desert fringe-toed, which is restricted to Imperial and eastern San Diego counties, is subject to many of the same threats, especially in the Algodones Dunes. Despite attempts by conservationists to push for ESA protection, it and the Mohave fringe-toed are as yet unprotected, other than having state Species of Special Concern status.

Sagebrush, fence and spiny lizards

Another group within the horned lizard family is far more common. If youre a coastal Californian, you very likely have a couple of members of this group within a hundred yards of you right now. The genus Sceloporus is best known for its family member the western fence lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis, which is a prominent denizen of gardens, parks, and parking lots throughout the western half of California. There are western fence lizards in the desert as well: the Great Basin fence lizard, long considered a subspecies of the western, lives at higher elevations in the Mojave Desert (mainly in mountain ranges in the Mojave National Preserve) and in the Great Basin desert farther north. Like their coastal cousins, they grow to about four inches snout to vent, eat small invertebrates, and spend warm days basking and hot days hiding. Males have display patches on their undersides in varying shades of blue. Sceloporus also includes the sagebrush and spiny lizards, which are themselves common desert residents though the sagebrush lizards tend to stick to the deserts sky island mountain ranges. The sagebrush lizards, Sceloporus graciosus, closely resemble their fence-lizard cousins, though they tend toward a bit smaller size about 3.5 inches snout to vent at maximum. Sagebrush lizards also lack the yellow patches on the backs of the legs that western fence lizards often display. Though sagebrush lizard taxonomy is

Fringe-toed lizards
When it comes to sand-swimming, though, the zebra-tails skills dont hold a candle to those of its close relatives, the fringe-toed lizards, which can shimmer themselves into sand dunes in an eyeblink. Three species of fringe-toed lizard live in the California deserts. Most widespread is the Mohave fringe-toed lizard, Uma scoparia, which ranges throughout the southern two-thirds of the Mojave Desert, living on dunes and anywhere else there is windblown sand. Farther south, the Colorado Desert fringe-toed lizard (Uma notata) and the Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizard (Uma inornata) likewise scratch out a living in what ecologists often call blowsand habitat wind-driven sand in washes, drifts and dunes. This habitat is vulnerable to disruption by development, and its also highly attractive to off-road vehicle enthusiasts, so its not surprising that many people consider all three California fringe-toed lizard species to be imperiled. Fringe-toed lizards are omnivorous, living on small insects and

under revision, field guides generally describe two subspecies in the California deserts: the northern, S. graciosus graciosus, which lives in the Great Basin deserts mountain ranges, and the southern, S. graciosus vandenbergianus, which edges into the southern California deserts from its habitat in the upper elevations of the Transverse and Peninsular ranges. Unlike their cousins the sagebrush lizards, spiny lizards stake out turf on the desert floor. By current count three species of spiny lizard live in Californias deserts: the granite spiny lizard (Sceloporus orcutti) along the desert side of the Peninsular Ranges, the desert spiny (S. magister) in the remainder of the Colorado Desert and through the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, and the yellow-backed spiny (S. uniformus), once considered a subspecies of

lizards range essentially coincides with the Coachella and Imperial valleys, with a bit of overlap into Anza-Borrego, as well as into Baja and extreme southwestern Arizona. Horned lizards preferred food is ants, and the flat-tails are no exception: they do best where theres a steady supply of harvester ants though they do eat other invertebrates, and the occasional flower generally sticking to areas with a bit of windblown sand, desert pavement, and sporadic shrub cover. The flat-tailed does not possess the well-known horned lizard defensive strategy of squirting blood from its eyes, by which other species are thought to deter predators though the precise mechanism by which those predators are deterred isnt known. Instead, the flat-tailed relies on remarkable bursts of speed and camouflage to avoid being eaten. Considered a near-threatened species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the flat-tailed horned lizard was proposed for listing under ESA in 1993. In the two decades since, the Fish and Wildlife Service has repeatedly refused to list the flat-tailed, contending that they cant determine how rare it is because its so difficult to find. The species is nearly extinct in the Coachella Valley, and threatened by development, off-roading, and other activities elsewhere in its historic range. Theres not nearly as much worry over the fate of the desert horned lizard, which is reasonably common throughout the California deserts from the Mexican border to Oregon. Taxonomists have split the species into northern and southern subspecies, with the boundary between the twos ranges in the northern Owens

Yellow-backed spiny lizard. Photo by Chris Clarke

the desert spiny lizard. The yellow-backed lives in the Mojave and Great Basin deserts, with a western population in the interior central Coast Ranges. Spiny lizard taxonomy is in flux, and its possible that by the time you read this a new scientific paper will have completely rearranged the above three species. Regardless of what theyre called, Californias spiny lizards are moderately large bodies up to five inches long, with tails even longer and formidably armored. More than one lizard aficionado has picked up a spiny lizard bare-handed and come away with lacerations: a captured spiny lizard will often shake itself from side to side in a vigorous fashion, the effect on your hand being approximately the same as the effect of a grater on a block of cheese. If that doesnt make you drop them, they can also deliver a fairly painful bite. Spiny lizards eat the same small insects and invertebrates as their smaller cousins, but their size allows them to add lizards, baby birds, and larger leaves and flowers to the menu.

Flat-tailed horned lizard. Photo by Jim Rorabaugh/USFWS

Horned lizards
The horned lizard family accounts for between half and two thirds of California desert lizard species. One clearly cant describe all of them in a short guide, but it would be a serious omission to neglect to mention the horned lizards themselves. Though other species of horned lizards live throughout California, two species make the states deserts their home: the desert horned lizard, Phrynosoma platyrhinos, and the flat-tailed horned lizard, Phrynosoma mcallii. Of the two species, the desert is marginally larger, reaching about 3.75 inches from snout to vent. The flat-tailed runs about half an inch shorter. The flat-tailed horned

Valley area. Like the flat-tailed, the desert horned lizard will eat a wide range of small invertebrates and occasional plant material if a steady supply of its preferred ants isnt available. Adults of all California desert horned lizards hibernate during cold weather: juvenile flat-tails may stay awake year-round if weather permits. All species are active during the day and tolerant of great heat.

Night lizards
You might draw the wrong conclusion from the name of Californias smallest lizard species, the night lizards (Xantusia). The secretive night lizards may be active after dark during the hottest parts of the year, but theyre primarily diurnal. Four species live in Californias deserts, including one with what might be the most restricted range of any reptile in the state: the sandstone night lizard, Xantusia gracilis, is known only from the Truckhaven Rocks area in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

fatty tissue inside serving as storage for fuel and metabolic water. The importance of these abdominal storehouses wasnt lost on desert Natives, who prized chuckwallas as a food source. These shy critters range throughout Californias southern deserts from Mexico north to the Antelope and Owens valleys, and east through Nevada, Arizona and Utah. A few closely related species live on islands in the Sea of Cortez. Youre more likely to see them during foraging during spring and fall, though theyre active during summer as well. When threatened chuckwallas will run into rock shelters and crevices, inflating their abdomens to wedge themselves in. They range in base color from coal-black to pale gray, with yellow-orange-red patches common, especially during breeding periods.
Yucca night lizard. Photo by squamatologist

Gila monster
Despite reports of the Californias largest desert lizard dating as early as the 1860s, desert biologist Edmund Jaeger once hypothesized that the banded Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum cinctum) didnt actually live in the state: he thought the species was

The much more widespread yucca night lizard, Xantusia vigilis, is commonly found hiding under fallen limbs of Joshua trees and other yuccas. (Be careful picking those limbs up, though: lots of other things hide under those limbs as well.) Night lizards seem to be strict carnivores, eating small invertebrates. Unlike many other lizards, they lack eyelids. Night lizards tend toward a drab appearance, brown with small, closely spaced darker brown spots, but the granite night lizard, X. henshawi, which lives in the desert mountains south of San Jacinto, is an exception: it has striking dark polka dots on a lighter background. Youll see many references to the yucca night lizard being the smallest lizard in North America. That distinction actually belongs to the Wiggins night lizard, Xantusia wigginsi, formerly included in X. vigilis. The Wiggins night lizard, which lives in the desert mountains east of San Diego and into Baja, reaches a maximum of 1.75 inches from shout to vent. Other desert night lizards can get an inch longer than that. The yucca night lizard seems to be a social lizard, with longlived family groups of parents, siblings, and other descendants huddling under the same yucca limbs: unusual for largely solitary animals such as lizards.

Gila monster. Photo by SearchNetMedia

Chuckwalla
Seeing a chuckwalla is a treat: this placid, exclusively vegetarian critter is the second-largest lizard in North America, reaching as much as nine inches snout to vent, with a stocky tail almost as long. If you find a 16-inch lizard with a fat belly that looks like

Chuckwalla. Photo by Sylvain de Munck

it weighs a pound and a half, its almost certainly a chuckwalla. Known to taxonomists these days as Sauromalus ater, a previous scientific name seems to capture their spirit a bit better: Sauromalus obesus. Chuckwallas do have formidably rounded bellies, the

kept out of the Golden State by the Colorado River. Since then, though, a number of sightings within the Mojave Preserve and points south have confirmed the United States only venomous lizard is indeed a California native. The Gila monster is formidable: up to 14 inches long and stocky, its pebbled skin in contrasting patches of black and yellow-orange. The Gila monster is an opportunistic predator: it lives off small mammals and lizards, as well as the eggs and hatchlings of ground-nesting birds. It is thought the species can thrive with as few as four or five meals a year. Spending about 96% of its life underground, a Gila monster is a hard lizard to see. Your best bets are in April and May, below 4,000 feet or so in elevation, in the deeply clefted rocky desert mountains that make up the species preferred habitat. The Gila monster is also the USs only venomous lizard. Given the animals relatively retiring disposition and its venom delivery system far less efficient than a venomous snakes only the most reckless and foolish desert visitors are likely to suffer the venoms effects. Keep your distance when you admire this magnificent animal, and if youre lucky enough to encounter one in the Mojave Preserve, do let a Ranger know. For more information on California desert lizards, many of which are not described here, consult Robert Stebbins authoritative A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, whose most recent edition was published in 2003. Taxonomists continually fine-tune their descriptions of lizard species and subspecies, and species listed here may be out of date in a few months. The wonderful website californiaherps.com will keep you up to date.