Granite Night Lizard (Xantusia henshawi)
Description: X. henshawi is flat-bodied with a broad, flat head and a soft skin. It has rounded, dark dorsal spots on a pale yellow or cream background. Its scales are granular on its dorsum, but large and squarish on the ventral surface. These lizards have large eyes with vertical pupils, and they lack eyelids.
Habitat: Granite night lizards are often found on rocky slopes with large exfoliating boulders and abundant crevices, but are occasionally found in coastal sage scrub and chaparral without boulders. They are active in crevices during the day, but move on the surface at night.
Range: X. henshawi is found in Mexico in the Mexican state of Baja California, and also in the United States in adjacent southern California.
Found in these States:
CA
Diet: Preys on a variety of arthropods including: insects, spiders, ticks, scorpions, centipedes; also eats some plant material.
Reproduction: Ovovivparous
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.
»» Kingdom: Animalia - Animals
»» Phylum: Chordata - Chordates
»» Subphylum: Vertebrata - Vertebrates
»» Class: Reptilia - Reptiles
»» Order: Squamata - Lizards
»» Family: Xantusiidae - Night Lizards
»» Genus: Xantusia
»» Species: Xantusia henshawi - Granite Night Lizard
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Granite Night Lizard", 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.
|