A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Great Basin Collared Lizard - Crotaphytus bicinctores

Smith and Tanner, 1972

Click on a picture for a larger view

Description • Taxonomy • Species Description • Scientific Name • Alt. Names • Similar Herps • References • Conservation Status

Great Basin Collared Lizard California Range Map

Red: Range in California

Click on the map for a topographical view

Map with California County Names

Southwest Page

Adult male

Adult male, Inyo County

Adult male defensive display,
Inyo County

Adult male, Inyo County

Adult, Inyo County

Adult female, Inyo County

Adult, Inyo County
© 2005 Jeremiah Easter

Adult male, Inyo County

Adult female, Inyo County
© Yuval Helfman

Adult female, Inyo County

Adult Male, Inyo County
© Patrick Briggs

Adult Male, Imperial County
© Patrick Briggs

Adult female with breeding coloration, 6,000 ft., Inyo County. © Ceal Klingler

Adult male, Antelope Valley,
Los Angeles County © Todd Battey

Collared Lizards in lava rock habitat tend to have dark coloring to match the dark rocks, as you can see on this adult from San Bernardino County. © Filip Tkaczyk

Adult, San Bernardino County
© Jeff Ahrens

Adult, Lassen County © Debra Frost

Adult male, Mono County
© Keith Condon

Adult, Mono County
© Keith Condon

Adult male, San Bernardino County
© Mike Ryan

Adult female, San Bernardino County
© Mike Ryan

Adult male, Kern County © Mike Pecora

Adult male, San Bernardino County
© Loren Prins

Adult male, San Bernardino County
© Guntram Deichsel

Adult female, San Bernardino County
© Zeev Nitzan Ginsburg

Adult male, San Bernardino County
© Zeev Nitzan Ginsburg

Breeding colors on gravid adult female, Inyo County

Adult female, Inyo County © Ryan Sikola

Collared lizards, genus Crotaphytus, have mostly granular scales.

Adult Male cloacal region, showing femoral pores, Imperial County
© Patrick Briggs

Wild collard lizards sometimes have clusters of red mites under folds of skin around their neck or behind their legs.

Adult males, like those shown here, have a broader head than females and
black coloring on the throat, Inyo County

Juveniles

Juvenile, San Bernardino County

Juvenile, Inyo County
© Ryan Sikola

Juvenile, Inyo county

Juvenile, San Bernardino County
© Filip Tkaczyk

Juvenile, San Bernardino County
© Zeev Nitzan Ginsburg

Great Basin Collared Lizards From Outside California

Adult male, Washoe County, Nevada

Juvenile, Washoe County, Nevada

Adult male, Washoe County, Nevada

Feeding

A large male eating a small rodent on a cool day in March in Washoe County, Nevada. © Richard Lingo

Habitat

Habitat, Inyo County

Habitat, San Bernardino County

Habitat, Inyo County

Habitat, Inyo Mountains, Inyo County

Habitat, San Bernardino County

Habitat, Inyo County

Lizard in habitat, Inyo County

Short Videos

Great Basin Collared Lizard and human herp nerd

On a sunny day with an air temperature of 91 degrees and rock temperatures so hot I couldn't lean my hand on them for support, a collared lizard lets me and the camera get so close to it that I can reach out and touch it on the back. This confuses the lizard but he doesn't run off until after I do it a second time. No need to use a noose when you can get this close.

A big male collared lizard lets me follow him around closely from rock to rock.

A posing collared lizard gets photobombed then runs away.

Two juvenile Great Basin Collared Lizards in the Mohave Desert.

Description

Size

2.5 - 4 3/8 inches long (8.6 - 11.2 cm) excluding tail. The tail is often twice the length of the body.

Appearance

A large lizard with a broad-head, a narrow-neck with a pair of black bands around it, large rear legs, and a long thick tail.
Often described as looking like a small "dinosaur".
The tail is flattened slightly vertically, with brown spots on the sides.

Color and Pattern

Color above is brown to olive with many small white spots and dashes and brown or reddish-orange crossbands.
Two black bands on the neck with a white band between them create the "collar" for which this lizard is named.
Often the black bands are edged with two more light bands.
The underside is mostly white.

Male / Female Differences

Brown or reddish-orange crossbands are more pronounced on males.
The black throat band coloring continues onto the underside of the throat on males, covering the throat and much of the chin.
Males have a broader head than females
Males have two black patches on the underside near the groin.
A light stripe on top of the tail is usually present on males, and absent on females.

Females are not as brightly-colored as males, except when breeding when they develop reddish-orange bars and spots on the neck and body.
The throats and chins of females lack dark coloring.

Life History and Behavior

Activity

Active in daytime.
Very tolerant of heat.
Often seen basking conspicuously on top of small rocks, but not a great climber, avoiding very large boulders and cliffs.
Forages for food on the ground, usually near rock piles.
May become bipedal when running quickly; raising up to run only on the hind legs.

Territoriality

Males become aggressive and very territorial in the breeding season.
They are more approachable at this time, as they tend to stand their ground on top of a rock, often raising up on their legs, bobbing up and down, and extending a blue and black throat dewlap in a threat display (which may also be attractive to females).

Defense

Retreats into a hole or burrow when threatened.
When handled, this lizard is capable of biting very hard, and drawing blood with its strong jaws.

Diet and Feeding

Eats insects, spiders, small lizards, including horned lizards, small snakes, leaves and flowers.

Occasionally eats large lizards: A Great Basin Collared Lizard was found to have consumed a juvenile Chuckwalla (Herpetological Review 38(4), 2007.)

Reproduction

Breeds in the spring, lays eggs in the summer.

Habitat

Prefers arid rocky hilly deserts with sparse vegetation, but sometimes found in areas with few rocks.

Geographical Range

In California, found in the Great Basin desert in the far northeast and east of the Sierras, throughout the Mojave Desert west to near the Grapevine, and in the Sonoran Desert north and east of the Imperial Valley.
Also recorded in Kernville in the southern Sierras and at scattered locations just south of the desert in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains, including the "North fork of Lytle Creek, San Antonio Canyon, headwaters of E. Fork of San Gabriel River, San Antonio Wash near where N. Fork of San Antonio R. enters main wash." (Stebbins 2003)

Beyond California the species ranges north through most of Nevada to southeast Oregon, southern Idaho, through western Utah and northern and western Arizona. Isolated populations occur in eastern Idaho and Utah.

Elevational Range

From near sea level to 9123 ft. (2780 m) in the White Mountains, Inyo County. (Flaxington, 2021)

Notes on Taxonomy

Formerly known as Great Basin Collared Lizard - Crotaphytus insularis bicinctores, a subspecies of Crotaphytus insularis, the Desert Collared Lizard, before the species was split into C. bicinctores and C. vestigium - Baja California Black-collared Lizard.

Alternate and Previous Names (Synonyms)

Crotaphytus bicinctores - Great Basin Collared Lizard (Stebbins 2003)
Cnemidophorus insularis bicinctores - Great Basin Collared Lizard (Stebbins 1985)
Cnemidophorus collaris baileyi - Western Collared Lizard (Smith 1946)
Crotaphytus collaris baileyi - Bailey Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus collaris) (Grinnell and Camp 1917)

Conservation Issues (Conservation Status)

None

Taxonomy
Family	Crotaphytidae	Collared and Leopard Lizards	Smith & Brodie, 1982
Genus	Crotaphytus	Collared Lizards	Holbrook, 1842
Species	bicinctores	Great Basin Collared Lizard	Smith and Tanner, 1972
Original Description
Smith and Tanner, 1972 - Great Basin Nat., Vol. 32, p. 27 from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
Meaning of the Scientific Name
Crotaphytus - Greek - krotaphos side or temple of the head - refers to the presence of small polygonal plates on the whole surface of the head. bicinctores - Latin - bi two and cinctus banded or girdled - refers to the presence of two black bands on neck and shoulder region. from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
Related or Similar California Lizards
Crotaphytus vestigium - Baja California Black-Collared Lizard Gambelia wislizenii - Long-nosed Leopard Lizard
More Information and References
California Department of Fish and Wildlife Hansen, Robert W. and Shedd, Jackson D. California Amphibians and Reptiles. (Princeton Field Guides.) Princeton University Press, 2025. Stebbins, Robert C., and McGinnis, Samuel M. Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of California: Revised Edition (California Natural History Guides) University of California Press, 2012. Stebbins, Robert C. California Amphibians and Reptiles. The University of California Press, 1972. Flaxington, William C. Amphibians and Reptiles of California: Field Observations, Distribution, and Natural History. Fieldnotes Press, Anaheim, California, 2021. Samuel M. McGinnis and Robert C. Stebbins. Peterson Field Guide to Western Reptiles & Amphibians. 4th Edition. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2018. Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003. Behler, John L., and F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. Powell, Robert., Joseph T. Collins, and Errol D. Hooper Jr. A Key to Amphibians and Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. The University Press of Kansas, 1998. Bartlett, R. D. & Patricia P. Bartlett. Guide and Reference to the Turtles and Lizards of Western North America (North of Mexico) and Hawaii. University Press of Florida, 2009. Jones, Lawrence, Rob Lovich, editors. Lizards of the American Southwest: A Photographic Field Guide. Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2009. Smith, Hobart M. Handbook of Lizards, Lizards of the United States and of Canada. Cornell University Press, 1946. Brown et. al. Reptiles of Washington and Oregon. Seattle Audubon Society,1995. Nussbaum, R. A., E. D. Brodie Jr., and R. M. Storm. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Pacific Northwest. Moscow, Idaho: University Press of Idaho, 1983. St. John, Alan D. Reptiles of the Northwest: Alaska to California; Rockies to the Coast. 2nd Edition - Revised & Updated. Lone Pine Publishing, 2021. Brennan, Thomas C., and Andrew T. Holycross. Amphibians and Reptiles in Arizona. Arizona Game and Fish Department, 2006. Joseph Grinnell and Charles Lewis Camp. A Distributional List of the Amphibians and Reptiles of California. University of California Publications in Zoology Vol. 17, No. 10, pp. 127-208. July 11, 1917.

Conservation Status
The following conservation status listings for this animal are taken from the April 2024 State of California Special Animals List and the April 2024 Federally Listed Endangered and Threatened Animals of California list (unless indicated otherwise below.) Both lists are produced by multiple agencies every year, and sometimes more than once per year, so the conservation status listing information found below might not be from the most recent lists. To make sure you are seeing the most recent listings, go to this California Department of Fish and Wildlife web page where you can search for and download both lists: https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Data/CNDDB/Plants-and-Animals. A detailed explanation of the meaning of the status listing symbols can be found at the beginning of the two lists. For quick reference, I have included them on my Special Status Information page. If no status is listed here, the animal is not included on either list. This most likely indicates that there are no serious conservation concerns for the animal. To find out more about an animal's status you can also go to the NatureServe and IUCN websites to check their rankings. Check the current California Department of Fish and Wildlife sport fishing regulations to find out if this animal can be legally pursued and handled or collected with possession of a current fishing license. You can also look at the summary of the sport fishing regulations as they apply only to reptiles and amphibians that has been made for this website. This animal is not included on the Special Animals List, which indicates that there are no significant conservation concerns for it in California.
Organization	Status Listing	Notes
NatureServe Global Ranking
NatureServe State Ranking
U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)	None
California Endangered Species Act (CESA)	None
California Department of Fish and Wildlife	None
Bureau of Land Management	None
USDA Forest Service	None
IUCN

Return to the Top