Big Spring Legless Lizard (Anniella campi)
Description: A small slender lizard with no legs, eyelids, a shovel-shaped snout, smooth shiny scales, and a blunt tail. Sometimes confused for a snake, but snakes have no eyelids. On close observation the presence of eyelids is apparent when this lizard blinks. The dorsum is yellowish-grey. The sides are vivid yellow. Ventral color is vivid yellow. "Distinguished from all other species of the Anniella pulchra complex by a unique color pattern consisting of continuous, double, dark lateral stripes from the side of the head to the tip of the tail. This character is present in all paratypes and referred specimens."
Habitat: Occurs in sparsely vegetated areas of beach dunes, chaparral, pine-oak woodlands, desert scrub, sandy washes, and stream terraces with sycamores, cottonwoods, or oaks. Leaf litter under trees and bushes in sunny areas and dunes stabilized with bush lupine and mock heather often indicate suitable habitat.
Range: Known range includes three localities along the western edge of the Mohave Desert in Kern and Inyo counties, California. It is is likely that this species will be found in canyons between known localities at Big Spring and Nine Mile Canyon. The most widely separated known localities (Nine Mile Canyon and Sage Canyon) appear to be approximately 40 km apart, based on the map in Papenfuss and Parham. Localities with reported elevations are between 1,200 and 1,300 meters (1,230-1,240 meters at Big Spring).
Found in these States:
CA
Diet: Eats primarily larval insects, beetles, termites, and spiders. Conceals itself beneath leaf litter or substrate then ambushes its prey.
Reproduction: Bears live young. Probably breeds between early spring and July, with 1 to 4 young (usually 2) born between September and November.
Status: Small known range in a few canyons that open into the Mohave Desert from the southern Sierra Navada in California; may be restricted to the vicinity of potentially fragile springs in otherwise inhospitable desert habitat; three known localities separated by a maximum distance of not more than 50 km; locally common at one site; better information is needed on distribution, abundance, and threats.
»» Kingdom: Animalia - Animals
»» Phylum: Chordata - Chordates
»» Subphylum: Vertebrata - Vertebrates
»» Class: Reptilia - Reptiles
»» Order: Squamata - Lizards
»» Family: Anniellidae - California Legless Lizards
»» Genus: Anniella
»» Species: Anniella campi - Big Spring Legless Lizard
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Anniella campi", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Content may have been omitted from the original, but no content has been changed or extended.
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