Description: The Painted Desert whiptail has yellow stripes, but the stripes usually stop short of the the hind legs. The throat has small black spots, one of the distinguishing features of this subpecies.

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: Western Colorado and Eastern Utah): Colorado, Garfield Co.

Found in these States: AZ | CO | UT

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: