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Adult male, San Diego County |
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Adult female, San Diego County |
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Adult female, San Diego County |
Adult male, San Diego County |
Adult female, San Diego County |
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Adult female, San Diego County |
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Adult male, San Diego County |
Adult males in combat, showing off their bright throat and ventral colors as a warning, San Diego County.These lizards were observed chasing and biting each other. Bite marks are visible on the tail of the lizard on the left. |
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Adult male, San Diego County |
Band of enlarged scales on the center of the back of an adult female, San Diego County |
Adult male, San Diego County |
Habitat |
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Habitat San Diego County
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Habitat, palm oasis, San Diego County
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Habitat, San Diego County
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Habitat, San Diego County |
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Pictures of this lizard and its habitat from Baja California can be seen here.
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Short Video |
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| Some good looks at a camera-tolerant female brush lizard before she bolts, with some impressive tail wagging. |
A female brush lizard does a few push-up displays and some tail wagging. |
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| Description |
| Size |
| 1.5 - 2 inches long from snout to vent (3.8 - 5.1 cm). (Stebbins 2003) |
| Appearance |
A small, lizard with a long, thin tail. Scales are small and granular with a band of enlarged keeled scales down the middle of the back. Scales on the tail are keeled. Gular fold across the throat, and folds along the sides of the body.
Color is gray, brown, or sooty, with dark blotches or crossbars on the back, sometimes edged with light coloring or white spots. The tail is usually black, especially on males. The dark color is more noticeable when a lizard's body is in the light phase. (Lizards west of the mountains often do not have a black tail. [Lemm 2006]) Sometimes there is an irregular gray or brown stripe down the middle of the back. The tail, upper sides, and neck are sometimes marked with rust or yellow-brown coloring. The underside is light yellow-gray or white, sometimes with darker coloring under the tail.
Males have yellow or orange in the middle of the throat, which can be blue, and blue to blue-green patches on the belly, which may connect in the center, and enlarged postanal scales.
Females have a yellow, orange, or white throat, with no blue on the belly. |
| Behavior & Natural History |
| A good climber. Moves quickly from rock to rock. Active spring and summer and sometimes in fall, hibernating in winter with groups of other lizards. Dark tail may serve to distract a predator to an expendable body part. The tail detaches easily and regenerates. Males defend their territory and try to attract females with head-bobbing and a push-up display that exposes their throat and ventral colors. Females also do a push-up display . |
| Diet |
| Eats small invertebrates. |
| Reproduction |
| Breeds April through summer. 1 - 2 clutches of 4 - 8 eggs are laid June to August and possibly as late as September. |
| Range |
Inhabits both sides of the Peninsular ranges in San Diego County south to the southern tip of Baja California.
Found from Borrego Palm Canyon on the desert side of the Peninsular Mountains, to Marron Valley, Cottonwood, and Deerhorn Flat areas on the coastal side. (Stebbins 2003) |
| Habitat |
Inhabits rocky places with sufficient plants and trees for cover in desert and semi-arid areas. Especially fond of riparian areas.Sometimes found on buildings and other human constructions.
From sea level to around 7,000 ft. (2,100 m) but usually below 5,000 ft. in San Diego County. (Lemm 2006) |
| Taxonomic Notes |
| Formerly known as: Urosaurus microscutatus - Small-scaled Lizard until synonymized with U. nigricaudus in 1999. CNAH notes. |
| 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 |
Urosaurus |
Tree and Brush Lizards |
Species
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nigricaudus |
Baja California Brush Lizard |
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Original Description |
Urosaurus - Hallowell, 1854 - Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 7, p. 92
Urosaurus microscutatus - (Van Denburgh, 1894) - Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 2, Vol. 4, p. 298
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Urosaurus - Greek - oura - tail and saurus - lizard
nigricaudus - Latin - black tail
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Urosaurus microscutatus - Small-scaled Lizard
Also called Black-tailed Brush Lizard, and Small-scaled Tree Lizard
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Related or Similar California Lizards |
U. graciosus - Long-tailed Brush Lizard
U. o. symmetricus - Colorado River Tree Lizard
Uta stansburiana - Side-blotched 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.
Grismer, L. Lee. Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California, Including Its Pacific Islands and the Islands in the Sea of Cortés. The University of California Press, 2002.
McPeak, Ron H. Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California. Sea Challengers, 2000.
Lemm, Jeffrey. Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of the San Diego Region (California Natural History Guides). University of California Press, 2006.
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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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