Sandstone night lizard

(Redirected from Xantusia gracilis)

The sandstone night lizard (Xantusia gracilis) is a species of night lizard. Prior to 2005, it was considered a subspecies of the granite night lizard, Xantusia henshawi. The physical difference is that the sandstone night lizard has lighter coloration.

Sandstone night lizard
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Xantusiidae
Genus: Xantusia
Species:
X. gracilis
Binomial name
Xantusia gracilis
Grismer & Galvan, 1986

Range edit

The sandstone night lizard is extremely limited geographically; it is known only to the Truckhaven Rocks in the Colorado Desert, at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in eastern San Diego County, California.

Description edit

The lizard is very secretive using small burrows and sandstone or siltstone for cover. The specific name, gracilis, is derived from Latin meaning "slender", referring to the species' slender habitus.[2]


References edit

This article is based on a description from the website of California Wildlife Habitat Relationships System https://web.archive.org/web/20060805132729/http://www.dfg.ca.gov/whdab/html/reptiles.html

  1. ^ G. A. Hammerson (2007). "Xantusia gracilis". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2007. IUCN: e.T64365A12774167. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2007.RLTS.T64365A12774167.en. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  2. ^ Lovich, Robert E., and L. Lee Grismer. "Xantusia gracilis." (2003).