Western Whiptail vs. Long-nosed Leopard Lizard

Both are long-tailed, grainy-scaled desert lizards of the Snake River Plain, and both are patterned with dark spots. A: the Leopard Lizard is covered in many big, round dark spots on a grey or brown ground; the Western Whiptail's dark marks are bars and spots set between pale stripes, giving a checkered look. B: the Whiptail's pale marks run lengthwise as stripes; the Leopard Lizard has no stripes, just spots from neck to tail tip. The Leopard Lizard is bigger and heavier with a larger head, and waits in ambush under a shrub; the Whiptail forages restlessly, flicking its forked tongue. The Whiptail has large squarish plates on the belly; the Leopard Lizard's belly scales are small.

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

More comparisons

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• Western Whiptail vs. Common Sagebrush Lizard
• Western Whiptail vs. Desert Collared Lizard
• Western Whiptail vs. Northern Alligator Lizard
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• Western Whiptail vs. Pygmy Short-horned Lizard
• Western Whiptail vs. Greater Short-horned Lizard
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• Plateau Striped Whiptail vs. Western Whiptail
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• Sonoran Spotted Whiptail vs. Western Whiptail
• Desert Grassland Whiptail vs. Western Whiptail
• Chihuahuan Spotted Whiptail vs. Western Whiptail
• Giant Spotted Whiptail vs. Western Whiptail
• Red-backed Whiptail vs. Western Whiptail
• Marbled Whiptail vs. Western Whiptail
• Gray Checkered Whiptail vs. Western Whiptail
• Long-nosed Leopard Lizard vs. Desert Collared Lizard
• Western Fence Lizard vs. Long-nosed Leopard Lizard
• Common Side-blotched Lizard vs. Long-nosed Leopard Lizard
• Long-nosed Leopard Lizard vs. Common Sagebrush Lizard
• Long-nosed Leopard Lizard vs. Northern Alligator Lizard

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