California Reptiles & Amphibians

Uta stansburiana elegans - Western Side-blotched Lizard

Click on a picture for a larger view

Range in California: Red

Adult female, San Bernardino County

Adult male, San Bernardino County

Adult male (top) and female (bottom)
San Benito County

Adult male, San Benito County

Adult male, San Diego County

Adult male, San Luis Obispo County

Adult male, San Diego County

Adult male with yellow throat, San Diego County

Adult male with orange throat,
San Diego County

Adult male, San Luis Obispo County

Adult male, western Riverside County

Adult, western Kern County

Adult female, western Riverside County

Adult male, Santa Cruz Island, Santa Barbara County

Adult male showing the characteristic black blotch on side and a colored throat, Alameda County

Adult male, Santa Barbara County
© Jen Castle

Adult female, Kern County

Adult male, Los Angeles County

Adult male, San Bernardino County
© Guntram Deichsel

Adult female, San Bernardino County
© Guntram Deichsel

Adult male, Yuma County, Arizona

Mating adults, Los Angeles County
© Emily Chebul

Mating adults, Kern County
© John Sullivan

Mating adults, San Bernardino County
© Jeremiah Easter

The side blotch

Side-blotched lizards are low on the food chain, falling prey to many predators, including desert scorpions.
© Todd Battey

Gravid adult female (top) and adult male (bottom) San Bernardino County. © Kate Britsch

Habitat

Habitat, Mohave Desert, San Bernardino County

Habitat, Alameda County grassland

Habitat, coastal Riverside County

Habitat, San Diego County desert

Habitat, San Gabriel mountains chaparral, Los Angeles County

Habitat, beach driftwood on Santa Cruz Island, Santa Barbara County

Habitat, San Diego County desert canyon

Habitat, Carrizo Plain, San Luis Obispo County

Chaparral/sandy wash habitat
San Benito County

Short Videos

A male side-blotched lizard tries to pursuade a female, chasing her and displaying. She is not interested, so she runs off the rock into the San Diego County desert.

Common Side-blotched lizards in the Mohave Desert in San Bernardino County bask on rocks, do territorial push-ups and move around in the desert.

Walking through the San Bernardino County Mohave desert we discover several of these common lizards basking in the sun.

A female side-blotched lizard in the San Diego County desert repeatedly goes in and out of a small hole under an exposed root, digging out the sand with her feet and pushing it lower with her body. It's the middle of the May breeding season, so maybe she is digging out a place to lay her eggs.

Description

Size

1.5 - 2.5 inches long from snout to vent (3.8 - 6.3 cm). (Stebbins 2003)

Appearance

A small brownish gray lizard with small smooth granular scales on the back, larger scales on the head and limbs, a gular fold, a long thin tail and a dark blue-black mark on the sides of the chest behind the front limbs, which gives this lizard its name.. This mark is sometimes faint or absent.

Color is brown, gray, yellowish, or black, with dark blotches, spots, and sometimes stripes. Often there is a double row of dark spots or wedges on the back, edged with white on the rear. The underside is whitish to gray and mostly unmarked. The throat is mottled with dark and light.

Males are more colorful than females, having blue speckles on the upper surfaces, which are most visible during the light phase. Males also have a swollen tail base and enlarged postanals, but no distinct blue coloring on the belly (which can be found on male lizards of many other species.) The throat is marked with blue, orange, or yellow.

Females are blotched on top with brown and white, often with stripes, and have a less well-defined blotch on the sides. They have no blue speckling, and no color on the throat.

According to Brennan in Lizards of the American Southwest, this subspecies has an average of 91.3 dorsals (counting along the mid-dorsum from the interparietal scale to a point above the hind limbs) and more than 8 iterfemorals.

Behavior and Natural History

The most abundant and commonly-seen lizard in the deserts and semi-arid areas. Diurnal. Usually the first lizard species out in the morning due to its small size which allows it to warm up quickly. It is active mostly on the ground, but a good climber. Often seen basking on rocks, hopping from boulder to boulder, or running quickly along the ground.

Active all year in the southern deserts and semi-arid regions whenever the temperature is warm. Inactive during cold weather.

Males use a push-up display to display their territory. Often this lizard can be approached closely, since it relies on crypsis as a defence against predation, but when frightened it runs quickly into a burrow, under a surface object, or under vegetation. The tail is often broken off when a lizard is captured, but it will grow back with time. This lizard is short-lived, living only about one year.

Some fascinating discoveries have been made recently that show cooperative behavior with this species. Males have blue, orange, and yellow color morphs. The orange males are aggressive and territorial and mate with many different females. Yellow males do not defend territories, they sneak past territorial males to mate. Blue males guard their mates, chasing off the yellow males, but they are run off when confronted by orange males. Blue males also cooperate with neighboring blue males to protect their respective mates from the orange and yellow males, and their breeding is much more successful when they do so. You can read more about Male Uta cooperation and throat colors here.

Diet

Eats small invertebrates such as beetles, grasshoppers, ants, spiders, scorpions and ticks.

Reproduction

Mates mostly in the spring. 1 - 7 clutches of 1 - 8 eggs are laid from March to August. (Stebbins 2003) Females store sperm to fertilize eggs at a later time. Juveniles hatch from June to September, and breed the following spring.

Range

In California, this subspecies is found throughout the southern deserts and coastal region, north through the central valley and coast ranges to just south of the Bay Area, extending northward to the Sacramento River, and on Santa Cruz, Anacapa, San Clemente, and Catalina Ialands. Its range outside California continues into western Arizona, extreme southwestern Utah, and southern Nevada. The species as a whole ranges north into central Washington, east into west Texas, and south into Mexico, including all of Baja California.

Habitat

Prefers open rocky areas with scattered vegetation, including the edges of sandy washes. Utilizes a wide variety of habitats, including hardpan, sandy, rocky, and loamy areas grown with chaparral, scattered trees, grass, shrubs, and cactus.
From below sea level to around 9,000 ft. (2,700 m). (Stebbins 2003)

Taxonomic Notes

The taxonomy of this widespread and variable species has been disputed. Some experts do not recognize any subspecies of Uta stansburiana pending further studies that will provide more clarification about this species (which may include several different species).

Three subspecies of Uta stansburiana are sometimes shown occuring in California, including U. s. stansburiana -
Northern Side-blotched Lizard, which is shown to range east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Inyo and Mono counties.

Conservation Issues (Conservation Status)

None.

Taxonomy
Family	Phrynosomatidae	Zebra-tailed, Earless, Fringe-toed, Spiny, Tree, Side-blotched, and Horned Lizards
Genus	Uta	Side-blotched Lizards
Species	stansburiana	Common side-blotched lizard
Subspecies	elegans	Western side-blotched Lizard
Original Description
Uta stansburiana - Baird and Girard, 1852 - Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 6, p. 69 Uta stansburiana elegans - Yarrow, 1882 - Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus., Vol. 5, p. 442 from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
Meaning of the Scientific Name
Uta - state of Utah - refers to the region where it was first discovered. stansburiana - honors Stansbury, Howard S. elegans - Latin - fine or elegant from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
Alternate Names
California Side-blotched Lizard Uta stansburiana - Common Side-blotched Lizard (no subspecies recognized.)
Related or Similar California Lizards
U. s. nevadensis - Nevada Side-blotched Lizard
More Information and References
NatureServe Explorer USGS Male Uta cooperation and throat colors 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. 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.

Conservation Status
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. There are no significant conservation concerns for this animal in California.
Organization	Status Listing
U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)
California Endangered Species Act (CESA)
California Department of Fish and Game
Bureau of Land Management
USDA Forest Service
Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List

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