Description: A medium-sized (up to 4.3 inches from snout to vent), slim, orange-brown to gray-brown lizard with a long, thin tail, and a slim, pointed snout. The body is marked with dark reticulations or marbling, light spots, and faint, light stripes. The reticulations are dark gray or black on the anterior portion of the sides. The tail is brown. Males have dark gray or black coloration on the chest and throat. Juveniles have a plain pale underside, distinct stripes, spots on the body and limbs, and a bright blue tail. As the animal ages the tail becomes brown, the stripes fade, and the spots often merge together into reticulations. The scales on the body are small and granular. The scales on the tail are large, keeled, and rectangular. The belly scales are large, smooth, and rectangular and the scales on top of the head are large, smooth, and plate-like.

Habitat: This lizard occupies a wide variety of terrain types including sandy flatlands, plateaus, rocky bajadas, drainages, canyons, and steep mountain slopes. It is usually found in relatively open and sunny areas.

Range: Central and southern Arizona into Mexico.

Found in these States: AZ

Diet: It actively forages by rooting around in organic matter under bushes and by digging in the soil around the bases of rocks, logs, and other surface debris. It feeds on termites, insect larvae, beetles, grasshoppers, butterflies, moths, and other insects.

Reproduction: mates in in spring and lays one or two clutches of eggs in late spring or summer. Clutch size ranges from 1 to 10 eggs.

Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of the large and relatively stable extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, number of subpopulations, and population size. No major threats are known. Subspecies marmoratus is considered to be a distinct species by some authorities; as such, it also is Least Concern.

Taxonomy: