A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Sceloporus graciosus gracilis - Western Sagebrush Lizard

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Range in California: Green

Click the map for a guide
to the other subspecies

Adult Male, 3,800 ft.Contra Costa County

Gravid adult female in June, 3,800 ft. Contra Costa County

Adult, 6,200 ft., Sierra Nevada Mountains, Tulare County

Gravid adult female in June, 6,200 ft.,Sierra Nevada Mountains, Tuolumne County

Juvenile, Contra Costa County

A family group at 7,200 ft. in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Tulare County, in late June including two gravid females in breeding color and one male.

Adult male, 6,400 ft. Sierra Nevada Mountains, Calaveras County

Adult, 6,200 ft., Sierra Nevada Mountains, Tuolumne County

Adult female, 6,400 ft. Sierra Nevada Mountains, Calaveras County

Gravid Adult female showing breeding coloration, Del Norte County © Alan Barron

Adult, Breckenridge Mountain Kern County

Adult, 1,400 ft. Santa Cruz Mountains, Santa Clara County © Owen Holt

Juvenile, 2,400 ft. Santa Cruz Mountains, Santa Clara County © Owen Holt

Adult male, Ventura County
© Patrick Briggs

Adult female, Ventura County
© Patrick Briggs

Adult, 5,500 ft., Siskiyou County

Some Characteristics Useful In Separating Common Sagebrush Lizards from Western Fence Lizards

Dorsal view - Common Sagebrush Lizard, Sceloporus graciosus, on the left, Western Fence Lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis, on the right. Note the larger dorsal scales on the Fence Lizard.
© Patrick Briggs

Head view - Common Sagebrush Lizard on the left, Western Fence Lizard on the right. © Patrick Briggs

Ventral view - Western Fence Lizard on the left, Common Sagebrush Lizard on the right. Note the yellow on the back of the thighs on the Western Fence Lizard.
© Patrick Briggs

A Common Sagebrush Lizard on the left basking next to a Western Fence Lizard on the right.

Comparison of the rear thighs of a Common Sagebrush Lizard - on top, and a Western Fence Lizard - on the bottom.

Note the granular scales on the Common Sagebrush Lizard and the keeled (and yellow) scales on the Western Fence Lizard.

Underside of adult male Western Fence Lizard showing yellow on the back of the thighs and enlarged femoral pores.

Habitat

Habitat, 6,400 ft. Calaveras County

Habitat, Contra Costa County

Habitat, 7,200 ft. Tulare County

Habitat, 6,800 ft. Breckenridge Mountain, Kern County

Habitat, 6,200 ft., Tuolumne County

Habitat, forest clearing, 5,500 ft., Siskiyou County

Habitat, 8,000 ft. Alpine County

Short Videos

This movie starts just after a male Western Sagebrush Lizard ran up the face of a large a rock outcrop and tackled a huge female who is full of eggs and showing her orange breeding color. He continues to harass her and she moves slowly with her body and her tail elevated defensively. Then he settles in on a ledge above her while she rests. (She occasionally leaped after flying insects which landed nearby, but I could not get that on video.)

A male Western Sagebrush Lizard in Contra Costa County runs between rocks, stopping to do his push-up display. This is the same male just before he ran up the rock and chased the female in the previous video.

These three short videos show some interactions between a male and two orange gravid female Western Sagebrush Lizards on an afternoon in late June in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Tulare County. In the first video, they are separated but the male jumps down to join a female and the third comes down from her rock, then as their shade disappears, they move into a sunny patch only a few feet away from the camera to bask. The other two videos show lots of push-ups, tail elevating, shuffling around, and even what looks like snuggling.

Description

Size

1 7/8 - 3 1/2 inches long from snout to vent (4.7 - 8.9 cm). (Stebbins 2003)

Appearance

A small lizard with small keeled and pointed scales overlapping on the upper surfaces of the body and limbs. These scales are not as large as they are on other lizards of the species Sceloporus. The gular fold is incomplete. The scales on the back of the thigh are mostly granular, not keeled (as they are on the Western Fence Lizard.)

Color is gray or brown with dark blotches or irregular bands on the body and tail. Stripes on the sides, visible on other subspecies of Sceloporus graciosus, are not distinct, being reduced to rows of blotches or only partly connected blotches.There is usually a bar of black on the shoulder and rusy coloring on the armpits and sometimes on the sides of the body and the neck. Unlike the Western Fence Lizard - Sceloporus occidentalis, there is normally no yellow coloring on the rear of the limbs.

Males have a patch of blue color on each side of the belly and on the throat. The blue throat and belly patches are separated by white. Male postanal scales are enlarged, and the base of the tail is broader than on the female. The throat is light blue mottled with white spots. Sometimes the blue patch is reduced or even absent. Some males may develop bright orange breeding coloring.

Females have little or no blue on the belly. When breeding, females may develop orange coloring on the sides and neck and yellow underneath. Young lizards have little or no blue on the belly.

Differentiating subspecies of Sceloporus graciosus in California.

Behavior & Natural History

Diurnal. Active spring through fall. Hibernates during winter. A good climber and jumper, able to quickly jump from rock to rock. Lives mostly on the ground near bushes, logs, rocks, or brush piles. Often observed basking on rocks and logs. Escapes danger by running into rocks, rodent burrows, or brush or climbs up trees or rock outcrops. Males defend their territory and try to attract females with a push-up display that exposes the blue throat and ventral colors. Sometimes the tail is also held erect.

Diet

Eats a variety of small invertebrates, including ants, termites, grasshoppers, flies, spiders, and beetles.

Reproduction

1 or 2 clutches of 2 - 10 eggs are laid from June to August.

Range

This subspecies ranges west of the Great Basin desert in California, south throughout the Sierra Nevada and Tehachapi mountains, the inner Coast Ranges and Diablo Range, and along the north coast and northern mountain ranges, continuing north into southern Oregon. Populations also occur in the Sutter Buttes and in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The species Sceloporus graciosus occurs in California, Eastern oregon, central Washington, southern Idaho parts of Montana and North Dakota, in much of Wyoming, Utah, western Colorado, northwest New Mexico, northern Arizona, and in northern Baja California.

Habitat

Lives in sagebrush and other types of shrublands such as manzanita and ceanothus, as well as open pine and Douglas Fir forests, mainly in the mountains (usually at higher elevations than the Western Fence Lizard but they coexist at lower elevations). In coastal redwood forests, lives along river bottoms. Prefers open areas with scattered low bushes and lots of sun.

The species Sceloporus graciosus is found at elevations of 500 ft. to around 10,500 ft. (150 - 3,200 m) (Stebbins 2003).

Taxonomic Notes

Three subspecies of Sceloporus graciosus are recognized in California:
Sceloporus graciosus gracilis - Western Sagebrush Lizard,
Sceloporus graciosus graciosus - Northern Sagebrush Lizard, and
Sceloporus graciosus vandenburgianus - Southern Sagebrush Lizard.
Sceloporus graciosus vandenburgianus has been described as a unique species, Sceloporus vandenburgianus.

Conservation Issues (Conservation Status)

None.

Taxonomy
Family	Phrynosomatidae	Zebra-tailed, Earless, Fringe-toed, Spiny, Tree, Side-blotched, and Horned Lizards
Genus	Sceloporus	Spiny Lizards
Species	graciosus	Common Sagebrush Lizard
Subspecies	gracilis	Western Sagebrush Lizard
Original Description
Sceloporus graciosus - Baird and Girard, 1852 - Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 6, p. 69 Sceloporus graciosus gracilis - Baird & Girard, 1852 - Proc. Acad. Nat Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 6, 1852, p. 175. from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
Meaning of the Scientific Name
Sceloporus - Greek -skelos leg and porus - pore or opening - refers to the femoral pores on hind legs graciosus - Latin - graciosus graceful - "This small and graceful species..." gracilis - Latin - slender from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
Alternate Names
None
Related or Similar California Lizards
Sceloporus graciosus graciosus - Northern Sagebrush Lizard Sceloporus graciosus vandenburgianus - Southern Sagebrush Lizard Uta stansburiana - Common Side-blotched Lizard Sceloporus occidentalis - Western Fence Lizard
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. 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.

Conservation Status
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.
Organization	Status Listing
U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)	None
California Endangered Species Act (CESA)	None
California Department of Fish and Game	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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