Range in California: LIght Blue
Click the map for a guide
to the other subspecies
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| Adult male, lower Kern Canyon, Kern County |
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| Dark phase adult male, Kern County |
Dark phase adult male, Kern County |
Light phase adult female, Kern County |
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| Dark phase adult male, Kern County, in territorial display. |
The same male seen to the left with a female
who joined him shortly after his territorial display. |
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Sub-adult and juvenile, Kern County |
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| Adult, Kern County |
Adult male, Fresno County |
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Adult, Kern County |
Adult, Kern County |
Adult male Western Fence Lizard with ticks on the side of the head.
A protein in the blood of the Western Fence Lizard kills the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. Bacteria carried by a tick that bites a lizard are destroyed as the tick ingests the lizard's blood.
More Info |
| Some Characteristics Useful In Separating Western Fence Lizards from Common Sagebrush Lizards |
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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 |
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| Underside of adult male Western Fence Lizard showing yellow on the back of the thighs and enlarged femoral pores. |
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.
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A Common Sagebrush Lizard on the left basking next to a Western Fence Lizard on the right. |
Habitat |
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Habitat, Kings County |
Habitat, San Joaquin River,
Fresno County
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Habitat, Kern County |
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| Habitat, Kern County |
Habitat, Kern County |
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Short Video |
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San Joaquin Fence Lizards on trees along a river in early spring. |
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| Description |
Size |
| 2.25 - 3.5 inches long from snout to vent (5.7 - 8.9 cm). (Stebbins 2003) |
| Appearance |
A fairly small lizard with keeled and pointed dorsal scales of equal size on the back, sides, and belly. Scales on the backs of the thighs are mostly keeled, and abruptly smaller, and the rear of the limbs is yellow or orange. The sides of the belly are blue.
Color is brown, gray, or black with blotches. Sometimes light markings on the sides of the backs form stripes or irregular lines, and sometimes dark blotching may form irregular bands.
Males have blue markings on the sides of the belly edged in black, a single blue patch on the throat, enlarged postanals, and a swollen tail base. Some scales on the back become blue or greenish when a lizard is in the light phase. The belly is gray or black.
Females have faint or absent blue markings on the belly, no blue or green color on the upper surfaces, and dark bars or crescents on the back.
Juveniles have little or no blue on the throat and faint blue belly markings or none at all. |
| Behavior and Natural History |
Diurnal. Often seen basking in the sun on rocks, downed logs, trees, fences, and walls. Prefers open sunny areas.
Active when temperatures are warm, becomes inactive during periods of extreme heat or cold, when they shelter in crevices and burrows, or under rocks, boards, tree bark, etc.
Common and easily encountered in the right habitat. This is probably the species of lizard most often seen in the state due to its abundance in and near populated areas and its conspicuous behavior.
Males defend their territory and try to attract females with head-bobbing and a push-up display that exposes the blue throat and ventral colors.
The tail detaches easily to distract a potential predator allowing the lizard to escape.
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| Diet |
| Eats small, mostly terrestrial, invertebrates such as crickets, spiders, ticks, and scorpions, and occasionally eats small lizards including its own species. |
| Reproduction |
Mates in early to late spring, depending on the elevation of the location.
Males establish and defend a territory containing elevated perches where they can observe mates and potential rival males. Territories are defended by posturing and by physical combat with other males.
Courtship and copulation typically occurs from March to June. Egg laying occurs 2 - 4 weeks after copulation. Females dig small pits in loose damp soil where they lay 1 - 3 clutches of 3 - 17 eggs usually from May to July. Eggs hatch in about 60 days, usually from July to September. |
| Range |
This subspecies is endemic to California. Found in the San Juaquin Valley from the Tehachapi Mountains north to approximately Merced County.
The species Sceloporus occidentalis ranges from northern Baja California north to Washington and east to Idaho, Nevada and Utah. |
| Habitat |
| Found in a wide variety of open, sunny habitats, including woodlands, grasslands, scrub, chapparal, forests, along waterways, suburban dwellings, where there are suitable basking and perching sites, including fences, walls, woodpiles, piles of rocks and rocky outcrops, dead and downed trees, wood rat nests, road berms, and open trail edges. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
The taxonomy of Sceloporus occidentalis needs to be studied further. For years six subspecies have been recognized based on geographic variation in morphology, but molecular studies have identified 4 major clades and 11 different genetic groups in California (James Archie, Cal State University Long Beach).
Many authorities have already accepted research that concludes that S. o. becki, the Island Fence Lizard, is a unique species - Sceloporus becki. (Wiens & Reeder, 1997) (Bell, 2001)
The current taxonomy does not correspond with the ongoing research, so it is certain that in the future the current subspecies and their ranges will be completely revised, probably with several new species described. For this reason some experts no longer recognize any subspecies of S. occidentalis pending further studies. This site follows the SSAR list of 2008 and continues to recognize 6 subspecies.
The range map is based on Ryan Calsbeek's distribution map. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| None. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Phrynosomatidae |
Zebra-tailed, Earless, Fringe-toed, Spiny, Tree, Side-blotched, and Horned Lizards |
| Genus |
Sceloporus |
Spiny Lizards |
| Species |
occidentalis |
Western Fence Lizard |
Subspecies
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biseriatus |
San Joaquin Fence Lizard |
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Original Description |
Sceloporus occidentalis - Baird and Girard, 1852 - Prox. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 6, p. 175
Sceloporus occidentalis biseriatus - Hallowell, 1854 - Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 7, p. 93
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Sceloporus - Greek -skelos leg and porus - pore or opening - refers to the femoral pores on hind legs
occidentalis - Latin - western - refers to its western distribution
biseriatus - Latin - bi - two and seriatus -lined - refers to the dorsolateral stripes
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Bluebelly or Blue-bellied Lizard
Fence Lizard
Swift
Sceloporus occidentalis - Western Fence Lizard (no subspecies recognized)
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Related or Similar California Lizards |
Western Fence Lizards:
Sceloporus occidentalis becki - Island Fence Lizard
Sceloporus occidentalis bocourtii - Coast Range Fence Lizard
Sceloporus occidentalis longipes - Great Basin Fence Lizard
Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis - Northwestern Fence Lizard
Sceloporus occidentalis taylori - Sierra Fence Lizard
Sagegrush Lizards:
S. graciosus graciosus - Northern Sagebrush Lizard
S. graciosus gracilis - Western Sagebrush Lizard
S. graciosus vandenburgianus - Southern Sagebrush 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.
Wiens & Reeder (1997 Herpetological Monographs 11: 1-101)
Bell (2001 Bulletin of the Maryland Herpetological Society 37(4): 137-142)
S. Morey. Western Fence Lizard Family: Phrynosomatidae R022. California Wildlife Habitat Relationships System California Department of Fish and Game. Originally published in Zeiner, D.C., W.F.Laudenslayer, Jr., K.E. Mayer, and M. White, eds. 1988-1990.
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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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