Southern Sagebrush Lizard vs. Common Sagebrush Lizard

Split on genetics; their records meet in the Transverse Ranges and the southern Sierra Nevada. They look much the same in the field. A: Fewer, larger scales: about 42 to 49 from the back of the head to the base of the tail in the Southern Sagebrush Lizard; more, smaller scales: about 48 to 56 or more, a finer, more granular look in the Common Sagebrush Lizard. B: Deep, intense cobalt blue, often joined across the belly in big adults in the Southern Sagebrush Lizard; lighter sky blue, usually kept apart down the middle by white in the Common Sagebrush Lizard. The scales on the back of the thigh help too: weakly keeled or nearly smooth in the Southern, clearly keeled and pointed in the Common (no open photo shows them). Range decides most of the time: southern California mountains (Southern) vs the Sierra Nevada and the north (Common).

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

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