Description: 11 to 17 3/4 inches. Long slender lizard blue-gray to gray-green with profuse light spotting and 6 or 7 light stripes, prominent in juveniles, faded or absent in large adults. The back scales are small and granular. The belly is uniformly gray to white; 8 lengthwise rows of large, smooth rectangular belly scales. The head and back are rusty red. The tail is brown, but orange in the young.

Habitat: his whiptail inhabits desertscrub, semi-desert grassland, inland chaparral and oaks, and oak savanna and woodland in montane canyons and on slopes and adjacent bajadas in arid and semi-arid regions, entering lowland dry thorn scrub along stream courses; often it occurs in rocky areas or among dense shrubs in arroyos or near streams.

Range: The patchy distribution extends from southeastern Arizona and extreme southwestern New Mexico (United States) south into eastern Sonora and northern Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico.

Found in these States: AZ| NM

Diet: Eats insects and spiders.

Reproduction: Oviparous. Clutches of 1 to 4 eggs are laid presumably in the summer.

Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of its fairly wide distribution (extent of occurrence much larger than 20,000 km2), many locations, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.

Taxonomy: