Description: Zebra-tailed lizards range in size from 2.5 to 4 inches in snout-to-vent length (SVL). These lizards are grey to sandy brown, usually with a series of paired dark gray spots down the back, becoming black crossbands on the tail. The underside of the tail is white with black crossbars. Males have a pair of black blotches on their sides, extending to blue patches on their bellies. Females have no blue patches, and the black bars are either faint or completely absent.

Habitat: Zebra-tailed lizards live in open desert with hard-packed soil, scattered vegetation, and scattered rocks, typically flats, washes, and plains.

Range: California. Restricted to Cape San Lucas, Baja California

Found in these States: CA

Diet: Lizards of the genus Callisaurus feed on a variety of prey, from insects, such as moths, ants and bees, to spiders and other smaller lizards. The diet occasionally includes vegetation, such as spring buds and flowers.

Reproduction: In summer, zebra-tailed lizards typically lay two to eight eggs, which hatch from July to November, but more than one clutch can be laid during a season. Eggs are laid, presumably, in friable, sandy soil. Being a prey species for many animals, including birds, other lizards, and mammals, they have a fairly high reproductive rate.

Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.

Taxonomy: