Range in California: Red
Click the map for a guide
to the other subspecies
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Adult with full tail, Contra Costa County |
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Adult, San Mateo County |
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Adult, Santa Clara County |
Adult, Santa Clara County |
Adult, Santa Clara County. This lizard was discovered curled up in this position underneath a board on a cold winter day. |
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Adult with full tail, Yuba County |
Adult with regenerated tail, Contra Costa County |
Underside of adult, Contra Costa County |
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Adult, Contra Costa County |
Adult, San Luis Obispo County
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Adult, Santa Cruz County |
Adult, Santa Cruz County |
Sub-adult, Santa Cruz Island, Santa Barbara Couty |
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Adult, Sutter Buttes, Sutter County.
© Jackson Shedd.
Specimen courtesy of Eric Olson. |
Adult, Alameda County |
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Juvenile, Contra Costa County |
Juvenile, Contra Costa County |
Adult, El Dorado County, Sierra Nevada foothills |
Habitat |
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Oak woodland habitat, Contra Costa County |
Habitat, Contra Costa County |
Grassland habitat,
San Luis Obispo County |
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Habitat, Santa Cruz Island
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Oak, Pine, grassland habitat,
Napa County |
Habitat, Yuba County |
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Habitat, San Mateo County |
Adult where it was found under a board in a forest opening in Santa Clara County |
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Short Video
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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. |
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| 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 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 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 |
| Lays eggs some time from May to July. Mating probably occurs during April and May. Eggs hatch late summer and early fall. |
| Range |
This subspecies 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.) Sea level to 5,000 ft. (1,524 m). |
| 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. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| None. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Anguidae |
Alligator Lizards & Allies |
| Genus |
Elgaria |
Western Alligator Lizards |
| Species |
multicarinata |
Southern Alligator Lizard |
Subspecies
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multicarinata |
California Alligator Lizard |
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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
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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
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Alternate Names |
Formerly Gerrhonotus multicarinatus multicarinatus
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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
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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., & F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
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) |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
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| California Department of Fish and Game |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
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| USDA Forest Service |
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| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
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World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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