Potential Range in California: Green
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(Possibly occuring in California)
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| Adult male, Washoe County, Nevada |
Adult female, Washoe County, Nevada |
Juvenile, Washoe County, Nevada |
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Adult, Washoe County, Nevada |
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Adult, Washoe County, Nevada |
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Adult male, in normal pose (left) changing to defensive pose (right)
Lyon County, Nevada © Greg Buchanok |
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Adult, Washoe County, Nevada
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Adult, Washoe County, Nevada
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Adult male, Washoe County, Nevada
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Adult Female (in back) and Male, Lyon County, Nevada © Greg Buchanok |
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Habitat |
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Habitat, Washoe County, Nevada |
Habitat, Washoe County, Nevada |
Habitat, Washoe County, Nevada |
| Short Videos |
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| Female zebra-tailed lizards in the Nevada desert. |
A male zebra-tailed lizard in the Nevada desert. |
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| Description |
Size |
| 2.5 - 4 inches from snout to vent (6 - 10 cm), up to almost 9 inches including tail. |
| Appearance |
A pale thin lizard with very long legs and a long flat tail with black crossbars.
Gray or light brown above with light spots and paired dark blotches, which are more distinct on females. As with many lizards, the coloring is darker during lower temperatures, and lighter with very high temperatures.
Dark crossbars or bands on the tail become very distinct black and white underneath This black and white zebra-like pattern gives this lizard its name.
There is pale yellow and orange coloring on the sides. Males have two dark bars and develop a patch of blue-green coloring on the sides of the mid belly during the breeding season, which is visible when viewed from the side. Dark belly markings are faint or absent on females. Scales are granular. |
| Behavior |
Diurnal. Tolerant of high temperatures. Often seen basking on rocks, even on extremely hot afternoons.
Capable of running very fast (possibly the fastest lizard in the desert) facilitated by long legs and streamlined body. After speeding away, this lizard sometimes stops far ahead in the open, but it will also run to the far side of a bush, out of view, or into a bush or burrow for protection. Before running, a lizard may curl the tail up towards the back, exposing the black and white bars, and wag it nervously wag, then continue this behavior while running and after stopping. This tail display tactic concentrates a predator's attention on the tail, which, if attacked and broken off, can grow back.
A countersunk lower jaw makes it easier for this lizard to burrow into loose or sandy soil to rest. |
| Diet |
| Small invertebrates such as insects and spiders, small lizards, occasional plant material. |
| Reproduction |
| Mates in Spring, lays eggs June - August. |
| Range |
This subspecies occurs in Nevada not far from the California border north of Honey Lake, where it might occur in washes along the border near Smoke Creek.
C. draconoides ranges throughout the Mojave and Colorado Deserts up to the desert slopes of the Peninsular and Transverse Mountains, and from the Owens Valley north along the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Found on the coastal slopes of the mountains at San Jacinto Wash and Cajon Wash. Ranges outside California north into northern Nevada, east into extreme southwest Utah, south through Arizona and extreme southwest New Mexico, to Baja California and the west coast of Mexico. |
| Habitat |
| Open sandy desert washes, desert pavement, and hard pan, with scant widely-spaced vegetation and open areas. Sometimes found in wind-blown sand dunes near hard-packed ground. |
| Taxonomic Comments |
| Subspecies of Callisaurus draconoides are not universally recognized. Many herpetologists recognize three occuring in the United States - C. d. rhodostictus, C. d. myurus - Northern Zebra-tailed Lizard, and C. d. ventralis - Eastern (or Arizona) Zebra-tailed Lizard. Others classify this lizard as Callisaurus draconoides draconoides - Common Zebra-tailed Lizard. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| None. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Phrynosomatidae |
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| Genus |
Callisaurus |
Zebra-tailed Lizards |
| Species |
draconoides |
Zebra-tailed Lizard |
Subspecies
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myurus |
Northern Zebra-tailed Lizard |
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Original Description |
Callisaurus draconoides - Blainville, 1835 - Nouv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, Vol. 4, p. 286, pl. 24, fig. 2
Callisaurus draconoides myurus - Richardson, 1915 - Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus., Vol. 48, p. 408
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Callisaurus - Greek kalos beautiful and saurus lizard - "we have given the name Callisaurus to indicate the extreme beauty of this little animal."
draconoides - Greek draco dragon and -eidos similarity to a - the species of true dragons
myurus - Greek - mouse tail - possibly referring to the ratio length of body to tail.
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Callisaurua draconoides draconoides - Common Zebra-tailed Lizard
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Related or Similar California Lizards |
C. d. rhodostictus - Western Zebra-tailed Lizard
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
Stebbins, Robert C., and McGinnis, Samuel M. Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of California: Revised Edition (California Natural History Guides) University of California Press, 2012.
Stebbins, Robert C. California Amphibians and Reptiles. The University of California Press, 1972.
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., and F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Powell, Robert., Joseph T. Collins, and Errol D. Hooper Jr. A Key to Amphibians and Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. The University Press of Kansas, 1998.
Bartlett, R. D. & Patricia P. Bartlett. Guide and Reference to the Turtles and Lizards of Western North America (North of Mexico) and Hawaii. University Press of Florida, 2009.
Jones, Lawrence, Rob Lovich, editors. Lizards of the American Southwest: A Photographic Field Guide. Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2009.
Smith, Hobart M. Handbook of Lizards, Lizards of the United States and of Canada. Cornell University Press, 1946.
Brown et. al. Reptiles of Washington and Oregon. Seattle Audubon Society,1995.
Nussbaum, R. A., E. D. Brodie Jr., and R. M. Storm. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Pacific Northwest. Moscow,
Idaho: University Press of Idaho, 1983.
St. John, Alan D. Reptiles of the Northwest: Alaska to California; Rockies to the Coast. Lone Pine Publishing, 2002.
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
This animal is not included on the Special Animals List, which indicates that there are no significant conservation concerns for it in California.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
None |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
None |
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| California Department of Fish and Wildlife |
None |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
None |
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| USDA Forest Service |
None |
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| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
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World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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