Range in California: Red
Click the map for a guide
to the other subspecies
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Adult Marin County |
Adult, Marin County |
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Adult, Contra Costa County |
Adult with no brown coloring, Contra Costa County |
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| Darkly-patterned adult, Contra Costa County |
A patternless adult from Santa Cruz County. © Scott Peden |
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| Adult, San Mateo County |
Adult, Mendocino County |
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Adult, Mendocino County |
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Dark adult from Monterey County coastal sand dunes.
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Juvenile from Monterey County
coastal sand dunes. |
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Adult from Monterey County
coastal sand dunes. |
Adult from Monterey County
coastal sand dunes. |
Adult from Monterey County
coastal sand dunes. |
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| Sub-adult from Monterey County coastal sand dunes. |
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| Patternless adult (probably amelanistic) Santa Clara County. © Nick Esquivel |
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| Two males attempting to mate with a female in southern Mendocino County. It's hard to be certain from these photos, but it looks like the bottom male is a California Alligator Lizard. © Emily Nelson |
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Habitat |
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Habitat, San Mateo County |
Habitat, Marin County |
Coastal dunes habitat, Monterey County |
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Habitat, Contra Costa County
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Coastal scrub habitat, Marin County |
Habitat, Contra Costa County |
Short Videos |
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Disturbed from his hiding spot under a rock, an alligator lizard threatens to bite and hisses several times when he is touched.
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A feisty alligator lizard tries to get away. |
This video shows how an alligator lizard's tail thrashes around after it has been dropped to distract a predator. The tail moved for about 4-5 minutes, which has been cut down here to about a minute, showing several different speeds until it is just barely moving. |
| Description |
Size |
| Elgaria coerulea ranges from 2 3/4 - 5 7/8 inches in length from snout to vent (7 - 13.6 cm) (Stebbins) |
| Appearance |
Alligator lizards, genus Elgaria, are members of the family Anguidae, a family of lizards found in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Large bony scales, a large head on an elongated body and powerful jaws probably give the lizards their common name. They are characterized by a thick rounded body with short limbs and long tail. The tail can reach twice the length of its body if it has never been broken off and regenerated.
Color is brown, gray, olive, or brown, above, with heavy dark blotches or irregular crossbands edged with white spots.
Usually the dark bands on the back are so irregular that they cannot be counted. Some lizards have very little pattern, appearing to have only faint dark markings. Others have a broad stripe on the back.
Scales are keeled on the back, sides, and legs, usually with 14 - 16 rows of scales across the back at the middle of the body.
The temporals are weakly keeled.
A band of small granular scales separates the larger bone-reinforced scales on the back and on the belly, creating a fold along each side. These folds allow the body to expand to hold food, eggs, or live young. The fold contracts when the extra capacity is not needed.
The eyes are dark around the pupils. (Compare with the light eyes of Elgaria multicarinata .)
The head is usually mottled with dark color. The head of a male is broader than a female's with a more triangular shape.
Usually there are dark lines running lengthwise on the underside which run between the scales, along their edges. (Compare with the underside lines on Elgaria multicarinata which run through the middle of the scales.)
Young usually lack the dark barring and can have a plain copper or brownish band on the back. |
| Behavior |
Active during the day. Inactive during cold periods in winter.
Moves with a snake-like undulating motion. A good swimmer, sometimes diving into the water to escape by swimming away.
The tail of an alligator lizard is easily broken off, as it is with many lizards. The tail will grow back, although generally not as perfectly as the original. A lizard may detach its tail deliberately as a defensive tactic. When first detached, the tail will writhe around for several minutes, long enough to distract a hungry predator from the lizard.
Other defensive tactics used by alligator lizards are smearing the contents of the cloaca on the enemy and biting. Males sometimes also extrude the hemipenes when threatened.
Alligator lizards are generally secretive, tending to hide in brush or under rocks, although they are often seen foraging out in the open or on roads in the morning and evening. |
| Diet |
| Eats a variety of small invertebrates, including slugs, snails, and worms. Will also eat small lizards and small mammals. Occasionally feed on bird eggs and young birds. (Stebbins) |
| Reproduction |
| Young are born live and fully-formed some time between June and September. |
| Range |
The subspcies Elgaria coerulea coerulea is endemic to California. It ranges from a zone of intergradation with E. c. shastensis starting in Northern Sonoma County, south along the coast to northern Monterey County. Also found on islands in San Francisco Bay and Ano Nuevo Island.
The species Elgaria coerulea ranges from Southern British Columbia south chiefly west of the Cascades and Coast Ranges to northern Monterey County, east into northern Idaho and northwestern Montana, with isolated populations occuring in southeastern Oregon, northwestern Nevada and the Warner Mountains in California, and south through the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Kern County. From sea level to 10,500 ft. (3200 m) |
| Habitat |
| Woodland, forests, grassland, coastal chaparral, coastal dunes and marshes, under beach driftwood. Commonly found hiding under rocks, logs, bark, boards, trash, or other surface cover. Prefers wetter and cooler habitats than E. multicarinata, but generally found near sunny clearings. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
| Formerly placed in the genus Gerrhonotus, with the Latin name Gerrholotus coeruleas coeruleas. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| None. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Anguidae |
Alligator Lizards & Allies |
| Genus |
Elgaria |
Western Alligator Lizards |
| Species |
coerulea |
Northern Alligator Lizard |
Subspecies
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coerulea |
San Francisco Alligator Lizard |
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Original Description |
Elgaria coerulea - (Wiegmann, 1828) - Isis von Oken, Vol. 21, p. 380
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Elgaria - obscure - possibly named for an "Elgar" or a pun on "alligator."
coerulea - Latin - dark colored, dark blue - referring to the dorsal color of the type specimen
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Formerly Gerrhonotus coeruleus coeruleus
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Related or Similar California Lizards |
E. c. palmeri - Sierra Alligator Lizard
E. c. shastensis - Shasta Alligator Lizard
E. c. principis - Northwestern Alligator Lizard
E. m. multicarinata - California Alligator Lizard
E. m. scincicauda - Oregon Alligator Lizard
E. m. webbii - San Diego Alligator Lizard
E. panamintina - Panamint Alligator Lizard
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
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.
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game.
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 Game |
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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