Range in California: Red
Click the map for a guide
to the other subspecies.
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Adult, Riverside County |
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Adult, Riverside County |
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Adult, San Benito County |
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Adult, Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo County.
This dusky form of Anniella from the Morro Bay area was once considered to be
A. p. nigra - Black Legless Lizard, a subspecies which is no longer recognized.
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This melanistic adult Legless Lizard from Monterey County was formerly known as a subspecies of the California Legless Lizard - Anniella pulchra nigra - Black Legless Lizard. Some herpetologists and state agencies still recognize this subspecies.
More pictures of and information about the Black Legless Lizard. |
Habitat, Riverside County |
Habitat, Coastal dunes, Santa Cruz County |
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Habitat, sandy wash, oaks, San Benito County |
Habitat, sandy coastal grassland, San Luis Obispo County |
Habitat, sandy wash in oak woodlands, Los Angeles County |
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Desert riparian habitat,
San Bernardino County
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Habitat, Oaks and grassland, Kern County |
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Short Video |
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A California Legless lizard crawls like a snake, then quickly burrows into loose soil. |
| Description |
| Size |
| 4 - 3/8 to 7 inches long from snout to vent (11.1 - 17.8 cm). (Stebbins, 2003) |
| Appearance |
A small slender lizard with no legs, a shovel-shaped snout, smooth shiny scales, and a blunt tail. Sometimes confused for a snake, (which has no eyelids) but on close observation the presence of eyelids is apparent when this lizard blinks.
Dorsal coloration varies from metallic silver, beige, dark brown, to black. Ventral coloration varies from whitish to bright yellow. Typically there is a dark line along the back and several thin stripes between scale rows along the sides where the dorsal and ventral colors meet, but variants occur. Lizards from Porterville, Tulare County, have dark blotches underneath.1Some lizards from the Bakersfield area have reddish coloring underneath. |
| Behavior |
Tolerant of low temperatures, which allow activity on cool days. Does not bask in direct sunlight. Lives mostly underground, burrowing in loose sandy soil. Forages in loose soil, sand, and leaf litter during the day. Sometimes found on the surface at dusk and at night. Apparently active mostly during the morning and evening when they rest beneath the surface of loose soil or leaf litter which has been warmed by the sun.
Known predators include ringneck snakes, common kingsnakes, deer mice, long-tailed weasels, domestic cats, California thrashers, American robins, and loggerhead shrikes. |
| Diet |
| Eats primarily larval insects, beetles, termites, and spiders. Conceals itself beneath leaf litter or substrate then ambushes its prey. |
| Reproduction |
| Live-bearing. Probably breeds between early spring and July, with 1 - 4 young (usually 2) born between September and November. |
| Range |
From the southern edge of the San Joaquin River in northern Contra Costa County south to nortwestern Baja California. Occurs in scattered locations in the San Joaquin Valley, and along the southern Sierra Nevada mountains, including the Tehachapi Mountains, and at the edge of the deserts in Walker Pass, Morongo Valley, Whitewater, and the east slope of the Peninsular Ranges. Also occurs in the western Mojave Desert near Lancaster in the Antelope Valley.There is one old unconfirmed record from Redwood Canyon, Marin County. 1
Possibly introduced into some areas of the southern Sierra Nevada foothills through nursery and tree-planting operations.
From sea level to around 5,100 ft. (1,550 m) in the Sierra Nevada foothills. |
| Habitat |
| Occurs in moist warm loose soil with plant cover. Moisture is essential. Occurs in sparsely vegetated areas of beach dunes, chaparral, pine-oak woodlands, desert scrub, sandy washes, and stream terraces with sycamores, cottonwoods, or oaks. Leaf litter under trees and bushes in sunny areas and dunes stabilized with bush lupine and mock heather often indicate suitable habitat. Often can be found under surface objects such as rocks, boards, driftwood, and logs. Can also be found by gently raking leaf litter under bushes and trees. Sometimes found in suburban gardens in Southern California. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
Anniella pulchra was formerly split into two subspecies - Anniella pulchra pulchra - Silvery Legless Lizard, and Anniella pulchra nigra - Black Legless lizard. These subspecies are no longer recognized because "The existence and extent of genetic continuity between melanistic and silvery populations, as well as between northern and southern haplotype clones, deserves further study." Herpetological Review 2003, 34(3), 196-203.
Parham and Pappenfuss (2008) 2 using mt and nuDNA found five previously unrecognized genetic lineages of A. pulchra that are evolving independently: Lineage A, a northern group extending to the southern part of the San Joaquin Valley, part of the south coast range, and in an isolated area of the northern Mojave desert; Lineage E, a southern group found south of the transverse ranges, and in an isolated region in the Paiute Mountains; Lineage B, a central group found in the southern San Joaquin Valley and parts of the Tehachapi and Transverse mountains; and two small isolated forms, Lineage C, found in the Carrizo Plain and the Bakersfield area, and Lineage D, found in isolated springs in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Lineage B and C are diagnosable based on color (most likely red ventral coloring, though the do not say) and the Carrizo population of Lineage C represents an intergrade or hybrid population. They stop short of calling any of these lineages distinct species, but they do state that "...the possibility remains that some of the lineages reported here are genetically isolated to the point of being considered species under some concepts." |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| The State of California continues to recognize two subspecies of Anniella pulchra. A. p. nigra is a protected species. Much of this lizard's habitat has been lost due to agriculture and other human land development, recreation, especially in coastal dune areas, and by the introduction of non-native plants such as ice plant. |
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| Taxonomy |
| Family |
Anniellidae |
North American Legless Lizards |
| Genus |
Anniella |
North American Legless Lizards |
Species
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pulchra |
California Legless Lizard |
| Original Description |
Gray, 1852 - Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 2, Vol. 10, p. 440
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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| Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Anniella - Latin: annela ringed and Latin: -ella little - refers to little rings in pattern. Or possibly an honorific for someone named "Annie" or a coined name. See Farancia.
pulchra - Latin - beautiful - refers to the silvery color
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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| Alternate Names |
Anniella pulchra pulchra - Silvery Legless Lizard
Shovel-snouted Legless Lizards - Silvery Footless Lizard
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| Related or Similar California Lizards |
See the former subspecies A. p. nigra
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| More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
1 Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., & F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Smith, Hobart M. Handbook of Lizards, Lizards of the United States and of Canada. Cornell University Press, 1946.
2
Parham, James F., Theodore J. Papenfuss. High genetic diversity among fossorial lizard populations (Anniella pulchra) in a rapidly developing landscape (Central California) Conserv Genet DOI 10.1007/s10592-008-9544-y
Received: 12 September 2007 / Accepted: 15 February 2008. Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
None |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
None |
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| California Department of Fish and Game |
DFG:SSC |
California Species of Special Concern |
| Bureau of Land Management |
None |
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| USDA Forest Service |
USFS:S |
Sensitive |
| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
G3 |
Vulnerable |
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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None |
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