Natural History: Western Side-Blotched Lizards

I was out visiting Palm Springs, California for spring break when one of the days we went up into the desert mountains and saw a couple of Western Side-Blotched Lizards along the trails! The Western Side-Blotched Lizards (Uta stansburiana elegans) are a subspecies of the Side-Blotched Lizards (Uta stansburiana) that are found in southern deserts and coastal regions of the West. In Palm Springs, the environment is an arid/semi-arid warm desert environment that makes it perfect for lizards basking on the deserts many rocks and boulders and seeking the shade of small scattered green shrubs. I have attached an image below that visually depicts in blue the range of the Western Side-Blotched Lizard.

In the beginning of our hike, I saw one lizard blending in with some twigs. When later I was able to get a better view of it sunning itself on the rocks, I was shocked by the amount of color actually on their bodies. It had so many specks of color with blue specks on top and down its tail, as well as yellow and orange on its sides. These distinct markings allowed me to determine this was a male Western Side-Blotched Lizard since the females do not have any blue spots - only white and brown spots. Other visible features were that it had small-keeled spineless scales on its back and a parietal eye on top of its head. Additionally, since males can grow up to 2.4 inches measuring from their snout to their vent, this lizard seemed to match those dimensions. Unfortunately, I was not able to see this lizard’s throat but in these lizards the males have either orange, blue, or yellow throats that signifies if they are ultradominant, dominant, or sneakers, respectively. To defend their territory, they can be seen doing “pushups” and also have the ability for their tail to detach (tail autotomy) to escape predators. Some interesting final facts about Western Side-Blotched Lizards is that they only live about one year, they have a diet that consists of eating small invertebrates, and they have five front and rear toes with sharp talons that are adapted to their terrestrial lifestyle.

Overall it was very cool to see this species out in its natural habitat. I am still amazed that the lizard let my phone get inches away from him for this awesome picture that shows so many details.

 

LOOK CLOSE: towards the middle of the picture