Another discovery. I was lumping all the patterned lizards into one category. In fact, this guy, who obligingly posed, who, in fact, almost tugged my pants cuff to get my attention, is a leopard lizard. I’m pretty sure he’s long-nosed. And it’s becoming apparent that orange spots do indicate gravid females on different types of lizards, as witness the Western Fence Lizard in my last post. But this one has no orange spots, so possibly a male. Don’t get too cocky when field identifying anything.
Good info and links below. Love animals!
Long-nosed Leopard Lizard
Gambelia wislizenii
Size
3.25 - 5.75 inches long from snout to vent (8.2 - 14.6 cm).
Appearance
A large lizard with a large head, a rounded body, well-developed limbs, granular scales, and a long rounded tail.
Light and dark phases: when in light phase, the ground color is gray, brown, or yellowish with many dark markings. In dark phase, the color is mostly brown with light spots and light crossbars. The underside is pale, with gray markings on the throat.
Juveniles have more highly contrasted markings than adults, often with rusty coloring on the back or bright red spots.
Females develop reddish orange spots and bars on the sides and underneath the tail when gravid.
Behavior
Hide under rocks, surface objects and burrows. When threatened sometimes hisses and squeals.
Diet
Invertebrates, including crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillers, bees, and spiders, small rodents, lizards, and leaves and flowers. An ambush predator, typically lies in wait in the shade of a bush.
Reproduction
Eggs are laid from March to July.
Range
Ranges from northern Baja California and elsewhere in Mexico through California into southeast Oregon and Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas. In California, ranges throughout the deserts, from the base of the mountains, including the Great Basin desert east of the Sierra Nevada and in the extreme northeast corner.
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. From near Sea Level to around 6,000 ft. (1,830 m.)
Leopard Lizards
Text by Karl-Heinz Switak
Leopard lizards are alert, capable of Mach-1 speed and bipedal during evasive maneuvers. Opportunistic in habit, they are predators of the highest esteem and cannibalistic when hunger dictates. In a nutshell, they are replicas directly out of Jurassic Park.
As the common name implies, and with a bit of colorful imagination thrown in, members of the genus Gambelia somewhat resemble real leopards. But some, such as blunt-nosed (G. sila) and to a lesser degree Cope’s leopard lizards (G. copeii), definitely do not resemble their namesakes where pattern and color are concerned. However, they all practice similar leopardlike habits of stalking prey by “jumping” into the air to secure a worthwhile morsel. And when cornered and/or handled they show considerable malevolence — a well-placed bite by an adult leopard lizard is a painful encounter. [Don't keep them as pets.]
