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Island night lizard | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Family: | Xantusiidae |
Genus: | Xantusia |
Species: | X. riversiana |
Binomial name | |
Xantusia riversiana Cope, 1883 | |
Synonyms [3] | |
The island night lizard (Xantusia riversiana) is a species of lizard in the family Xantusiidae. The species is native to three of the Channel Islands of California: San Nicolas Island, Santa Barbara Island, and San Clemente Island. A small population of the island night lizard also lives on Sutil Island, near Santa Barbara Island.
The specific name, riversiana, is in honor of James John Rivers (1824–1913), a London-born physician and naturalist, who was Curator of Natural History at the University of California. [4]
The San Clemente Island population is a subspecies which is recognized as being valid. [3]
The island night lizard was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the United States since 1977; the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the species as vulnerable. In 2006, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the administrating agency for the ESA, removed the San Clemente subspecies from the ESA. Better control of munitions-sparked wildfires may have been a reason. In March 2014, The US Fish and Wildlife Service removed the species from the Federal List of Threatened and Endangered Wildlife. This removal was attributed to the removal of non-native animals such as cats and goats from the islands and partnering between the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the US Navy.[ citation needed ]
The island night lizard's preferred habitat is coastal scrub made up of dense boxthorn and cacti thickets. [1]
Like other night lizards of the family Xantisiidae, the island night lizard is ovoviviparous, bearing live young rather than laying eggs. [3]
The island night lizard is much larger than another species in the genus Xantusia, the desert night lizard (Xantusia vigilis) of southern California. The island night lizard is typically between 2.6 and 4.3 in (6.6 and 10.9 cm) in length, not including the tail. It typically lives between 11 and 13 years, but some individuals are estimated to have lived 30 years or more. Its color varies from pale ash gray and beige to brown and black. It may have a uniform, mottled, or striped pattern.[ citation needed ]
The Florida sand skink is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae, the skinks. It is endemic to Florida in the United States.
Xantusia is one of three genera of night lizards. Species of Xantusia are small to medium-sized, viviparous (live-bearing) lizards found in the U.S. Southwest and in northern Mexico. These lizards display morphological adaptations to specific microhabitats. They occupy rock crevices and decaying plants. Rock dwellers generally have brighter coloration, longer limbs and digits, and larger size than plant dwellers, which are generally duller, smaller, and have shorter limbs.
Species of the genus Xantusia are remarkably disjunct, with populations scattered throughout the deserts and mountains of the far western borderlands with only a handful of recorded cases of interspecific allopatry. The genus contains at least seven distinct cases of morphological convergence to the rock dwelling ecomorph in Arizona, California, Baja California, and Central Mexico.
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The desert night lizard is a night lizard native to the Southern California Eastern Sierra and the San Gabriel Mountains into Baja California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and extreme western areas of Arizona.
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Bezy's night lizard is a species of lizard in the family Xantusiidae. The species is endemic to Arizona.
Kirtland's snake is a threatened or endangered North American species of nonvenomous snake of the subfamily Natricinae, of the family Colubridae. It is the only species in the genus Clonophis.
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Sceloporus jarrovii, also known commonly as Yarrow's spiny lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Phrynosomatidae. The species is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. There are two recognized subspecies.
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Lepidophyma gaigeae, also known commonly as Gaige's tropical night lizard and la lagartija nocturna de Gaige in Mexican Spanish, is a small species of lizard in the family Xantusiidae. The species is native to eastern Mexico.
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