Compare two species

Common Side-blotched Lizard vs. Ornate Tree Lizard

Both are small, grey-brown lizards with small back scales and a fold of skin across the throat, so those do not separate them. A: the Side-blotched Lizard has a dark blue-black blotch on each side just behind the front leg; the Tree Lizard has none. B: the Tree Lizard's back is mostly tiny grains with bands of larger keeled scales running down it; the Side-blotched Lizard's back scales are all small and much the same size. The Tree Lizard is slimmer, with a longer tail, and climbs rock faces and trees; the Side-blotched Lizard is a ground lizard. Their ranges overlap across the Southwest (not in Idaho).

Open this comparison in Wildsight

Common Side-blotched Lizard

Uta stansburiana

Ornate Tree Lizard

Urosaurus ornatus

Photographs via iNaturalist under Creative Commons licences; the photographers are credited on the sheet.

More comparisons

Wildsight identifies the reptiles and amphibians of the United States. Every comparison