Desert night lizard
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| Xantusia vigilis Baird, 1859 |
The Desert Night Lizard Xantusia vigilis is a night lizard native to southern California east of the Sierras and San Gabriel Mountains into Baja California, southern Nevada, sw Utah and extreme western Arizona.
Like all night lizards, the desert night lizard is viviparous, giving birth to live young and producing 1 to 3 young from August to December. The night lizard is 1 1/2 to 2 3/4 inches long with a tail roughly the same length. The lizard's coloring is usually gray, yellow-brownish or olive. Despite their name, night lizards are active during the day. They are known to easily to change their color, from light olive (usually during the evening) to dark drown during the day. It is a good climber and usually eats termites, small insects, spiders and other arthropods.
It is a secretive lizard of arid and semi-arid locales. During the day it may be found under fallen debris of desert plants and in rock crevices. It is usually associated with varieties of yucca such as the Joshua Tree, Spanish Dagger, and Spanish Bayonet.
The Yucca Night Lizard, Xanthusia vigilis vigilis, is a subspecies.
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