Range in California: Orange
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Adult, 6,200 ft., Tuolumne County |
Adult, 6,200 ft., Tuolumne County |
Adult, 6,200 ft., Tuolumne County |
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Adult, 5,600 ft. Tuolumne County |
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| Adult, 5,600 ft. Tuolumne County |
The powerful jaws of this lizard allow it to bite hard and hold on. Human skin is rarely broken, just pinched hard. |
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| Adult, Plumas County |
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Adult, 7,200 ft., Tulare County |
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| Juvenile, Nevada County © Robin Chanin |
Juvenile, Plumas County |
Adult and juvenile, Plumas County |
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| Adult, Mono County © Keith Condon |
It is common to find blood-engorged ticks attached to alligator lizards, especially around and behind the ears, as you can see on this Shasta Alligator Lizard. |
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| Breeding Behavior |
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These two mating adults were spotted on a forest trail on an afternoon in late June in Plumas County.
© 2005 Todd Accornero
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Habitat |
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Habitat, 7,200 ft., Tulare County
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Habitat, 6,200 ft., Tuolumne County |
Habitat, 4,100 ft., Plumas County |
Habitat, 5,600 ft., Tuolumne County |
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| Habitat, 6,200 ft., Tuolumne County |
Habitat, 6,200 ft., Tuolumne County |
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Short Videos |
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| A Sierra Alligator Lizard bites and holds onto my finger, then releases its jaws and crawls into a rock crack. |
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. |
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| Description |
Size |
| Elgaria coerulea ranges from 2 3/4 - 5 7/8 inches in snout to vent length (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 slim 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 olive-brown, bluish, or greenish above, with dark mottling but usually no definite crossbands. The underside is yellowish or greenish.
Scales are keeled on the back, sides, and legs, with 16 rows of scales across the back at the middle of the body. The temporals are all 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 not heavily mottled with dark color. The head of a male is broader than a female's with a more triangular shape.
Usually there are faint 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, this subspecies has a shorter activity period than the others due to its higher-elevation habitat.
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 sometime between June and September.
During the spring/summer breeding season, a male lizard grabs on to the head of a female with his mouth until she is ready to let him mate with her. They can remain attached this way for many hours, almost oblivious to their surroundings. Besides keeping her from running off to mate with another male, this probably shows her how strong and suitable a mate he is. |
| Range |
The subspecies Elgaria coerulea palmeri is found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, from Plumas County south to Kern County where it occurs as far south as the Piute Mountains and Breckenridge Mountain.
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. 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 palmeri. |
| 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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palmeri |
Sierra Alligator Lizard |
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Original Description |
Elgaria coerulea - (Wiegmann, 1828) - Isis von Oken, Vol. 21, p. 380
Elgaria coerulea palmeri - (Stejneger, 1893) - N. Amer. Fauna, No. 7, p. 196
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
palmeri - honors Palmer, Theodore S.
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Formerly Gerrhonotus coerulea palmeri
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Related or Similar California Lizards |
E. c. coerulea - San Francisco 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., 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.
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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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