A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - California Alligator Lizard

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Range in California: Red

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to the other subspecies

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Adult with full tail, Contra Costa County

Adult with full tail, Yuba County

Adult, Santa Clara County

Adult, El Dorado County, Sierra Nevada foothills

Adult, Contra Costa County

Adult, San Mateo County

Adult as found beneath a log in Napa County in January.

Adult, Contra Costa County

Underside of adult, Contra Costa County

Adult, Santa Cruz County

Adult, Contra Costa County

Adult, San Luis Obispo County

Adult with regenerated tail, Contra Costa County

Adult, Alameda County

Adult, Sutter Buttes, Sutter County.
© Jackson Shedd.
Specimen courtesy of Eric Olson.

Adult, Santa Cruz County

Adult with yellow back, Colusa County
© Andy Stocker

Sub-adult, Santa Cruz Island, Santa Barbara County

Adult from East Anacapa Island, Santa Barbara County. © Phil Schmidt.

This unusually-colored lizard found on a San Luis Obispo County beach is probaby anerythristic, or lacking any red pigment.
© Ryan Sikola

Adult female, Napa County
© Adam G. Clause

Juveniles

Juvenile, Contra Costa County

Young juvenile, Contra Costa County

Breeding Behavior

A pair of adults mating in late May in Contra Costa County. © Naomi Schiff

These lizards were found in early May in Placer County. The photo on the right was taken the day after the photo on the left. They had been seen together for 2 days, travelling back and forth over a distance of about 30 feet. © Rod

Parasites

It is common to find blood-engorged ticks attached to alligator lizards, especially around and behind the ears, as you can see on the California Alligator Lizard on the left and on the Shasta Alligator Lizard on the right.

Autotomy

As we were photographing the Alameda County alligator lizard seen above, my herping companion picked it up to get a better pose. The lizard had already been handled for 5 to 10 minutes and seemed to tolerate it, but this time it decided to drop its tail. We felt terrible to be responsible for the loss of such a nice unbroken tail. Sometimes when you pick up a lizard too close to the tail, or push the tail against a hard sufrace, you can accidentally cause it to detach, but that wasn't the case here. I put the writhing tail on the ground where it moved around for 4 - 5 minutes until it stopped, shooting some video of it, then set it back next to the lizard to get these photos. You can see the video here. The lizard was then put back under his log unharmed, but unable now to use a detached tail as a decoy until it grows another one.

Habitat

Oak woodland habitat, Contra Costa County

Habitat, Contra Costa County

Grassland habitat,
San Luis Obispo County

Habitat, Santa Cruz Island

Oak, Pine, grassland habitat,
Napa County

Habitat, Yuba County

Habitat, San Mateo County

Adult where it was found under a board in a forest opening in Santa Clara County

Short Videos

A California Alligator Lizard is discovered under a board on a sunny spring afternoon. It tries to bite, crawls across the ground in snake-like fashion, tries to climb over the camera, sticking out its tongue, then ducks back under its board.

An adult is discovered under a piece of wood on a grassy hillside on a cold February afternoon in Contra Costa County.

A brief look at a juvenile California Alligator Lizard that refused to do anything interesting for the camera.

This video shows how an alligator lizard's tail thrashes around after it has been dropped to distract a predator. This is the same dropped tail seen above. 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.

Two short movies of juvenile California alligator lizards uncovered in winter that don't want to move much for the camera until it's time to escape.

Description

Size

E. multicarinata ranges from 2 7/8 - 7 inches in snout to vent length (7.3 - 17.8 cm) (Stebbins) and up to aprox. 12 inches (304mm) in total length.

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, grey, or yellowish above, with red blotches on the middle of the back.
Usually there are 9 - 13 dark bands on the back, sides, and tail, with adjacent white spots. On some lizards these dark bands are very pronounced, on others they are covered with reddish or yellowish color. Scales are keeled on the back, sides, and legs, with 14 rows of scales across the back at the middle of the body. The scales of this subspecies are less heavily keeled than E. m. webbii.

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 light yellow. (Compare with the darker eyes of Elgaria coerulea.)
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 through the middle of the scales. (Compare with the underside lines on Elgaria coerulea, which run between the scales, along their edges.)
Young lack the dark barring with a plain copper or brown band on the back.

Behavior

Active during the day, crepuscular and nocturnal during hot weather. 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 slightly prehensile tail can be used to wrap around vegetation when climbing. 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. They are common inhabitants of suburban yards and garages.(I have received many emails asking me to identify alligator lizards found in yards and garages, especially in Southern California.)

Diet

Eats a variety of small invertebrates. Will also eat small lizards and small mammals. Occasionally feed on bird eggs and young birds. (Stebbins)

Reproduction

Mating occurs in Spring, most likely from April to May. Eggs are laid sometime from May to July and they hatch during late summer and early fall. Young hatch fully-formed.

During the 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 multicarinata multicarinata is endemic to California, ranging from an area of intergradation with E. m. scincicauda, which extends northeast from Humboldt to Siskiyou counties, south along the coast to Ventura County and San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz Islands, including the northern central valley east to the Sierras, and the south coast range.

The species Elgaria multicarinata ranges from southern Washington mostly west of the Cascades and Sierras into northwestern Baja California, including some of the Channel Islands, and has been introduced into Las Vegas. (Apparently it is common in casino gardens.) In his 2003 field guide, Stebbins states that this species occurs from sea level to 5,000 ft. (1,524 m), but I have seen them at 6,200 ft. and there are unconfirmed reports of their occurrance as high as 8,000 ft.

Habitat

Grassland, open forest, chaparral. Common in foothill oak woodlands. Commonly found hiding under rocks, logs, boards, trash, other surface cover.

Taxonomic Notes

Formerly placed in the genus Gerrhonotus, with the Latin name Gerrholotus multicarinatus multicarinatus.

The SSAR Herpetological Circular No. 37, Crother et al., 2008, includes the following information about E. multicarinata subspecies:

"A molecular phylogeographic study of Feldman and Spicer (2006, Mol. Ecol. 15: 2201–2222) failed to support currently recognized subspecies boundaries within E. multicarinata (Fitch, 1938, Am. Midl. Nat. 20: 381–424). Haplotypes from the central Coast Ranges of California (formerly multicarinata) are more closely related to those from southern (webbii) rather than northern (multicarinata) California, while haplotypes from the Sierra Nevada (formerly webbii) are more closely related to those from northern (multicarinata) rather than southern (webbii) California. In addition, haplotypes representing E. m. multicariniata and E. m. scincicauda are phylogenetically intermixed, calling their separation into question."

Conservation Issues (Conservation Status)

None.

Taxonomy
Family	Anguidae	Alligator Lizards & Allies
Genus	Elgaria	Western Alligator Lizards
Species	multicarinata	Southern Alligator Lizard
Subspecies	multicarinata	California Alligator Lizard
Original Description
Elgaria multicarinata - (Blainville, 1835) - Nouv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, Vol. 4, p. 298, pl. 25, fig. 2 from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
Meaning of the Scientific Name
Elgaria - obscure - possibly named for an "Elgar" or a pun on "alligator." multicarinata - Latin multi many, and carinata keeled - refers to the keeled scales from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
Alternate Names
Formerly Gerrhonotus multicarinatus multicarinatus
Related or Similar California Lizards
E. c. coerulea - San Francisco Alligator Lizard E. c. palmeri - Sierra Alligator Lizard E. c. shastensis - Shasta Alligator Lizard E. c. principis - Northwestern Alligator Lizard E. m. scincicauda - Oregon Alligator Lizard E. m. webbii - San Diego Alligator Lizard E. panamintina - Panamint Alligator Lizard
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.

Conservation Status
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.
Organization	Status Listing
U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)	None
California Endangered Species Act (CESA)	None
California Department of Fish and Wildlife	None
Bureau of Land Management	None
USDA Forest Service	None
Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List

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