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Xantusia sierrae BEZY, 1967

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Higher TaxaXantusiidae (Xantusiinae), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Sierra Night Lizard 
SynonymXantusia vigilis sierrae BEZY 1967: 163
Xantusia ‘sierrae’ — SINCLAIR et al. 2004
Xantusia sierrae — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009
Xantusia sierrae — CROTHER et al. 2012
Xantusia sierrae — NOONAN et al. 2013
Xantusia vigilis sierrae — THOMSON et al. 2016: 250
Xantusia sierrae — HANSEN & SHEDD 2025 
DistributionUSA (California)

Type locality: "Granite Station, 9.1 mi (by rd) S Woody, 1700 ft elevation, Kern Co., California."  
Reproductionviviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) 
TypesHolotype: UAZ (Univ. Arizona) 13905, adult male, collected by R. L. Bezy and W. C. Sherbrooke on 5 March 1965. 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: “A supspecies [sic] of X. vigilis characterized by (1) large size (maximum snout-vent length 51 mm.), (2) a broad postorbital light stripe (Fig. 1), (3) an adult dorsal color pattern of interconnected somewhat nebulous dark spots (Fig. 2), (4) a high number of scales around midbody (42.0 +/- .27), (5) a high number of femoral pores (11.1 +/- .15), developed in both sexes, and (6) a high number of transverse rows of gulars (41.7 +/- .31). (Bezy 1967)


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CommentHabitat/Ecomorph: rock-crevice

For map of California see Thomson et al. 2016: 251. 
EtymologyNot given explicitly by Bezy 1967, but apparently after its occurrence at the base of the Sierra Nevadas. 
References
  • Baird, S.F. 1859. Description of new genera and species of North American lizards in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 10: 253-256 [1858] - get paper here
  • Baker, Rollin H.; Baker, Mary W.; Johnson, Jerry D.; Webb, Robert G. 1981. New records of mammals and reptiles from Northwestern Zacatecas, Mexico. Southwestern Naturalist 25(4):568-569 - get paper here
  • Bartholomew, Breck 1992. Utah night lizard, Xantusia vigilis utahensis, Tanner. Intermontanus 1 (2): 3
  • Bezy, R L 1982. Xantusia vigilis Baird. Desert night lizard. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles ( 302: 1-4 - get paper here
  • Bezy, Robert L. 1967. A new night lizard (Xantusia vigilis sierrae) from the southern Sireea Nevada in California. Journal of the Arizona Academy of Science 4 (3): 163-167 - get paper here
  • Bezy, Robert L. and Oscar Flores Villela. 1999. A new species of Xantusia (Squamata: Xantusiidae) from Zacatecas, Mexico. Herpetologica 55 (2): 174-184. - get paper here
  • Bezy,R.L. 1967. Variation, distribution, and taxonomic status of the Arizona night lizard (Xantusia arizonae). Copeia 1967 (3): 653-661 - get paper here
  • Bezy,R.L. & SItes, J.W. 1987. A preliminary study of allozyme evolution in the lizard family Xantusiidae. Herpetologica 43: 281-289 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 2, Second edition. London, xiii+497 pp. - get paper here
  • Burt, Charles E. 1933. Some lizards from the Great Basin of the West and adjacent areas, with comments on the status of various forms. American Midland Naturalist 14: 228-250 - get paper here
  • Crother, B. I. (ed.) 2012. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians, Seventh Edition. Herpetological Circular 39: 1-92
  • Deacon, James E.; W. Glen Bradley and Kenneth S. Moor 1966. Habitat of the Lizard Xantusia Vigilis in Southern Nevada. Southwestern Naturalist 11 (1): 126-128 - get paper here
  • Dunn, E. R.;Dunn, M. T. 1940. Generic names proposed in herpetology by E. D. Cope. Copeia 1940 (2): 69-76 - get paper here
  • Goldberg, Stephen R. and Robert L. Bezy. 2014. Xantusia sierrae (sierra night lizard) reproduction. Herpetological Review 45 (4): 702-703 - get paper here
  • Hansen, Robert and Jackson D. Shedd 2025. California Amphibians and Reptiles. Princeton University Press, 528 pp., ISBN<br />9780691249087 (ebook) - get paper here
  • Jones, K.B.; Abbas, D.R. & Bergstedt, T. 1981. Herpetological records from Central and Northeastern Arizona. Herpetological Review 12 (1): 16 - get paper here
  • Jones, L.L. & Lovich, R.E. 2009. Lizards of the American Southwest. A photographic field guide. Rio Nuevo Publishers, Tucson, AZ, 568 pp. [review in Reptilia 86: 84] - get paper here
  • Klauber, Laurence M. 1931. A new species of Xantusia from Arizona, with a synopsis of the genus. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 7 (1): 1-16 - get paper here
  • Klauber, Laurence M. 1938. Notes from a herpetological diary, I. Copeia 1938 (4): 191-197 - get paper here
  • Klauber, Laurence M. 1940. Notes from a herpetological diary, II. Copeia 1940 (1): 15-18 - get paper here
  • Morafka, David J.;Banta, Benjamin H. 1968. The addition of Xantusia vigilis (Reptilia: Lacertilia) to the known herpetofauna of Monterey County, California, with some ecological observations. Wasmann Journal of Biology 26 (1): 151-153 - get paper here
  • Morafka, David J.;Banta, Benjamin H. 1973. The distribution and microhabitat of Xantusia vigilis (Reptilia: Lacertilia) in the Pinnacles National Monument, San Benito and Monterrey Counties, California. Journal of Herpetology 7 (2): 97-108 - get paper here
  • Noonan, Brice P.; Jennifer B. Pramuk, Robert L. Bezy, Elizabeth A. Sinclair, Kevin de Queiroz, Jack W. Sites Jr. 2013. Phylogenetic relationships within the lizard clade Xantusiidae: Using trees and divergence times to address evolutionary questions at multiple levels. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Volume 69, Issue 1, October 2013, Pages 109–122 - get paper here
  • Papenfuss, T. J., Macey, J.R. & Schulte II, J.A. 2001. A new lizard in the genus Xantusia from Arizona. Scientific Papers of the Natural History Museum, University of Kansas (23): 1-9
  • Ponce-Campos, P.; Huerta Ortega, S.M.; Noguiera González, C. & Smith, H.M. 2001. Natural history notes on the Southern Plateau Night Lizard, Xantusia sanchezi. Bull. Maryland Herp. Soc. 37 (1): 18-21 - get paper here
  • Savage, Jay M. 1952. Studies on the lizard family Xantusidae I. The systematic status of the Baja California Night Lizards allied to Xantusia vigilis, with the description of a new subspecies. American Midland Naturalist 48 (2): 467-479 - get paper here
  • Savage, Jay M. 1963. Studies on the lizard family Xantusidae IV. The Genera. Contributions in Science, Los Angeles (71): 1-38 - get paper here
  • Sinclair, Elizabeth A.; Robert L. Bezy; Kathryn Bolles; Jose L. Camarillo R.; Keith A. Crandall and Jack W. Sites, Jr. 2004. Testing Species Boundaries in an Ancient Species Complex with Deep Phylogeographic History: Genus Xantusia (Squamata: Xantusiidae). American Naturalist 164 (3): 396-414 - get paper here
  • Slevin, Joseph R. 1949. Range extension of Xantusia vigilis. Herpetologica 5: 148 - get paper here
  • Stebbins, Robert F. 1948. New distributional records for Xantusia vigilis with observations on its habitat. American Midland Naturalist 39 (1): 96-101 - get paper here
  • Stebbins,R.C. 1985. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
  • Stejneger, L.H. 1893. Annotated list of the reptiles and batrachians collected by the Death Valley Expedition in 1891, with descriptions of new species. North American Fauna, No. 7: 159-228 (+ 14 plates + 4 maps) - get paper here
  • Storey, Margaret 1940. Xantusia vigilis in Utah and Nevada. Copeia 1940 (2): 135 - get paper here
  • Tanner, Wilmer W. 1957. A new Xantusia from southeastern Utah. Herpetologica 13 (1): 5-11 - get paper here
  • Tanner, Wilmer W. 1958. Herpetological range extensions. Herpetologica 14: 195-196 - get paper here
  • Turner, Frederick B. 1959. Xantusia v. vigilis in Death Valley National Monument, California. Copeia 1959 (2): 172-173 - get paper here
  • Turner, Frederick B.;Wauer, Roland H. 1963. A survey of the herpetofauna of the Death Valley area. Great Basin Naturalist 23 (3-4): 119-128 - get paper here
  • Van Denburgh,J. 1895. A review of the herpetology of Lower California. Part I - Reptiles. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. (2) 5: 77-163 - get paper here
  • Vicario, Saverio; Adalgisa Caccone and Jacques Gauthier 2003. Xantusiid "night" lizards: a puzzling phylogenetic problem revisited using likelihood-based Bayesian methods on mtDNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 26 (2): 243-261 - get paper here
  • Webb, Robert G. 1965. A new night lizard (genus Xantusia) from Durango, Mexico. American Museum Novitates (2231): 1-16 - get paper here
  • Zimin, A., Zimin, S. V., Shine, R., Avila, L., Bauer, A., Böhm, M., Brown, R., Barki, G., de Oliveira Caetano, G. H., Castro Herrera, F., Chapple, D. G., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Doan, T. M., Glaw, F., Grismer, L. L., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton 2022. A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–16 - get paper here
  • Zweifel, R. G.;Lowe, C. H. 1966. The ecology of a population of Xantusia vigilis, the desert night lizard. American Museum Novitates 2247: 1-57 - get paper here
 
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