Baja California Night Lizard (Xantusia wigginsi)
Description: Adults grow up to 1.7 inches long from snout to vent. A small thin lizard with soft skin with fine granular scales on most of the body, a head covered with large plates, lidless eyes with vertical pupils, a gular fold, and a detachable tail. Color is grayish brown to rusty brown with black spots, which sometimes fuse together to form thin lines. The dark spots on the tail are larger. Sometimes a lizard will be completely unspotted. A narrow beige stripe, edged in black, usually extends from the eye to the shoulder and may extend along the sides of the entire body. The underside is whitish-yellow and made up of large square scales. Males have enlarged femoral pores.
Habitat: Habitat in California is rocky Desert scrub with abundant yucca.
Range: In California, found at Scissors Crossing in San Diego County, and at a location east of Jacumba near the border with Baja California. Found south of California through the Baja California peninsula to the Vizcaino region of Baja California del Sur.
Found in these States:
CA
Diet: Eats small invertebrates inhabiting the decaying vegetation in which it lives including ants, termites, beetles, caterpillars, crickets, and spiders.
Reproduction: Live-bearing. Usually gives birth to two young during the fall.
Status: Not enough data at this time.
Taxonomy: In 2007, nuclear DNA studies were used to provide support for the recognition of X. wigginsi as a full species.
»» Kingdom: Animalia - Animals
»» Phylum: Chordata - Chordates
»» Subphylum: Vertebrata - Vertebrates
»» Class: Reptilia - Reptiles
»» Order: Squamata - Lizards
»» Family: Xantusiidae - Night Lizards
»» Genus: Xantusia
»» Species: Xantusia wigginsi - Baja California Night Lizard
»» Subspecies: None
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "ANIMAL", 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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