A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Long-nosed Leopard Lizard - Gambelia wislizenii

(Baird and Girard, 1852)

Click on a picture for a larger view

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

Red: Range in California
Dark blue: Hybrids with G. sila

Click on the map for a topographical view

Map with California County Names

Southwest Page

Adult, Lassen County

Adult, Imperial County

Adult, Inyo County

Adult, Lassen County

Adult, Modoc County
© 2005 William Flaxington

Subadult, Inyo County

Adult, Kern County

Adult, Inyo County

Adult, Kern County

Adult from Lassen County southeast of Honey Lake. © Debbie Frost

Adult, Mojave Desert. Kern County

Adult, Inyo County

Adult, approx. 6,500 ft. elevation, Kennedy Meadows in Tulare County
© Nancy Herron

Adult male, San Bernardino County
© Benjamin Smith

Adult in front of Mt. Whitney, Inyo County © Paul Maier

Adult, San Bernardino County
© Zeev Nitzan Ginsburg

Gambelia Nose Comparisons

Top - Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard -
Gambelia sila (Adult, Kings County)

Bottom - Long-nosed Leopard Lizard -
Gambelia wislizenii (Adult, Inyo County)

© Patrick Briggs

Leopard Lizards, genus Gambelia, have granular scales on the body.

Adults in the Breeding Season

Adult male and female mating, June,
Kern County © Brad Alexander

Gravid female in breeding colors, San Bernardino County © Brad Alexander

Male (left) Female (right) in breeding colors
Inyo County © Patrick Briggs

Female in breeding colors, Inyo County
© Patrick Briggs

Adult female showing breeding colors, San Bernardino County
© Benjamin Smith

Adult female in breeding colors, Washoe County Nevada

Adult female in breeding colors,
Inyo County

Adult female in breeding colors, Kern County © Zeev Nitzan Ginsburg

Adult female in breeding colors,
Mono County © Adam Clause

Adult female in breeding colors,
Mono County © Keith Condon

Feeding and Predation

Battle of the Long-Noses
An adult Long-nosed Snake was found in Kern County coiled around a Long-nosed Leopard Lizard, attempting to swallow the lizard. The lizard managed to keep its mouth outside the snake's mouth and after 20 minutes, the lizard was able to escape the snake's coils and quickly limp away. It's not known if the lizard survived or died later from its injuries. © Greg Watson

Adult with red breeding colors eating a Great Basin Whiptail on a road in San Bernardino County. (It is not known if the whiptail was killed by the leopord lizard or if it was dead before it was consumed.
© Alexandra Hicks

This juvenile leopard lizard is eating a juvenile Great Basin Whiptail in Inyo County. Swallowing the complete tail is probably going to take some time.
© Jaye B

Juveniles

Juvenile, Washoe County, Nevada

Juvenile, Kern County
© Brad Alexander

Juvenile, Kern County

Adult Long-nosed Leopard Lizards From Outside California

Adult, Washoe County, Nevada

Habitat

Habitat, Inyo County

Habitat, Kern County

Habitat, Great Basin desert,
4,000 ft., Lassen County

Adult in habitat, Inyo County

Habitat, San Bernardino County

Dunes habitat during spring wildflower bloom, Imperial County

Habitat, Inyo County

Habitat, San Diego County

Habitat, Surprise Valley, Modoc County

Habitat, Inyo County

Short Videos

Stalking a leopard lizard from the lizard's-eye-view.

A leopard lizard slowly wriggles its long tail as if using it as a lure. Or maybe it's a nervous behavior.

A large adult leopard lizard is noosed around the waist then released where it was found in some low sand dunes in Imperial County.

A sub-adult leopard lizard lets the camera get close on a road in the morning in Inyo County.

One morning I saw a dozen leopard lizards basking on asphalt roads in Inyo County. These are a few of them.

Leopard lizards in the Nevada desert.

An adult leopard lizard runs across a road in Lassen County.

A tiny juvenile leopard lizard is caught with a noose. As it is being photographed, a large Yellow-backed Spiny Lizard runs up and grabs it, dragging it and the noose away, until I scare it off. The baby lizard is put back on its basking rock until it revives enough to run under a bush.

Description

Size

3.25 - 5.75 inches long from snout to vent (8.2 - 14.6 cm).
Males are a bit smaller than females.

Appearance

A large fast-moving lizard with a large head, a rounded body, well-developed limbs, granular scales, and a long rounded tail, which can be more than twice the body length.

Color and Pattern

Has light and dark color phases:
In the light phase, the ground color is gray, brown, or yellowish with many dark markings.
In the dark phase, the color is mostly brown with light spots and light crossbars.

The underside is pale, with gray markings on the throat.

Male / Female Differences

Females develop reddish orange spots and bars on the sides and underneath the tail during the breeding season.
These colors develop shortly before ovulation and persist until eggs are layed.

Males do not develop reddish pigmentation during the breeding season.

Young

Juveniles have more highly contrasted markings than adults, often with rusty coloring on the back or bright red spots.

Life History and Behavior

Activity

A fast diurnal ambush predator that typically lies in wait in the dappled shadows under a bush where the lizard's dark and light markings help it to avoid the attention of its prey.
Typically active from March to October, with a shorter activity period at colder higher-elevation locations.
Hides under rocks, surface objects and in burrows.

Defense

When threatened sometimes hisses and squeals.
Its strong jaws are capable of delivering a painful bite.

Diet and Feeding

Omnivorous: eats a variety of invertebrates including crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillers, bees, and spiders; eats small invertebrates including rodents, snakes, lizards; and eats some vegetable matter including leaves, berries, and flowers.

Eats lizards near its own size, and of its own species.

Has been observed killing a Desert Iguana, Dipsosaurus dorsalis, and eating only its tail. (Herpetological Review 48(1), 2017)

Reproduction

Eggs are laid from March to July. Females develop reddish coloring during the breeding season.

Habitat

Arid and semiarid plains with sagebrush, creosote, grass, and other low scattered vegetation.
Prefers flat areas with open space for running, avoiding densely vegetated areas.

Geographical Range

In California, this species ranges throughout the deserts, from the eastern base of the Peninsular and the northern edge of the Transverse mountains,into the Great Basin desert east of the Sierra Nevada and along the extreme northeastern border with Nevada.

Beyond California it ranges widely in extreme northeastern Baja California, southeast Oregon, southern Idaho, most of Nevada, western, southern, and part southeastern Utah, much of western and southern Arizona, parts of New Mexico, and West Texas, and along the western coast of Sonora Mexico, and along northcentral Mexico south of Texas.

According to Stebbins (2003) an old record shows that this species was once present at Gavilan Peak near Riverside, which is on the coastal side of the transverse and peninsular ranges, and a good distance from desert localities.

Elevational Range

From below sea level near the Salton Sea to approx. 6,500 ft. at Kennedy Meadows, Tulare County.

Notes on Taxonomy

There is evidence that at one time G. sila hybridized with G. wislizenii in the upper Cuyama drainage in Ventura Co, but there is no evidence that there is any current contact between the two species, or if they can hybridize now. Much of the hybrid zone habitat has been degraded, and it appears that these hybrids have been eliminated. (Stebbins 2003.)

Before they were synonymized in 1996, ( McGuire (1996 Bulletin of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History 32: iv + 143 pp.) several subspecies of Gambelia wislizenii were once recognized.

Formerly, as many as 5 subspecies of Gambelia wislizenii were recognized, 3 in our area:
G. w. wislizenii - Large-spotted Leopard Lizard;
G. w. copei- Cope's Leopard Lizard;
G. w. maculosus - Lahontan Basin Leopard Lizard.

Alternate and Previous Names (Synonyms)

Gambelia wislizenii wislizenii - Large-spotted Leopard Lizard (Stebbins 1985)
Crotaphytus wislizenii - Long-nosed Leopard Lizard (Stebbins 1966)
Gambelia wislizenii wislizenii - Common Leopard Lizard (Smith 1946)
Crotaphytus wislizenii - Great Basin Leopard Lizard (Crotaphytus Gambelii; Crotaphytus fasciatus, part; Crotaphytus silus, part; Wislizenius' Lizard) (Grinnell and Camp 1917)

Conservation Issues (Conservation Status)

None

Taxonomy
Family	Crotaphytidae	Collared and Leopard Lizards	Smith & Brodie, 1982
Genus	Gambelia	Leopard Lizards	Baird 1859 “1858”
Species	wislizenii	Long-nosed Leopard Lizard	(Baird and Girard, 1852)
Original Description
(Baird and Girard, 1852) - Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 67, p. 69 from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
Meaning of the Scientific Name
Gambelia - honors Gambel, William wislizenii - honors Wislizenius, F.A. from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
Related or Similar California Lizards
Cope's Leopard Lizard - Gambelia copeii Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard - Gambelia
More Information and References
California Department of Fish and Wildlife 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. Grismer, L. Lee. Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California, Including Its Pacific Islands and the Islands in the Sea of Cortés. The University of California Press, 2002. McPeak, Ron H. Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California. Sea Challengers, 2000. 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. The Reptile Database 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 January 2024 State of California Special Animals List and the January 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. 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

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