THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-other lizards)    Anniellidae  

Bakersfield Legless Lizard
Anniella grinnelli Papenfuss and Parham, 2013
AN-ee-ELL-ah — grin-NELL-eye

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.09.12.20.32.05)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.03 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: California

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for a pioneer in western North American zoology.
Anniella — A patronym, honoring Anna, the wife of Spencer Fullerton Baird (according to some sources), or a feminine diminutive of the type locality's personal association. The name has unclear but anthropogenic origins.
grinnelli — A patronym honoring Joseph Grinnell (1877–1939), a leading American zoologist, ecologist, and curator at UC Berkeley. Known for his systematic work on the fauna of California.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Footless Lizard (Anniella pulchra: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1932 Klauber, Laurence M.. Notes on the silvery footless lizard, Anniella pulchra. Copeia 1932(1):4-6
1995 Bell, Christopher J., Jim I. Mead, and Leslie P. Fay. Neogene history of Anniella Gray, 1852 (Squamata, Anniellidae) with comments on postcranial osteology. Copeia 1995(3):719-726
2008 Hunt, Lawrence E. Anniella. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (848):11
2008 Hunt, Lawrence E. Anniella pulchra (California Legless Lizard). Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (850):1-14
2013 Papenfuss, Theodore J. and James F. Parham. Four new species of California Legless Lizards (Anniella). Breviora (536):1-17
2015 Wogan, Guinevere O.U., Julie Kapelke, Kevin A. Feldheim, Theodore J. Papenfuss, and Rauri C.K. Bowie. Isolation and characterization of nine tetranucleoide microsatellite loci for the secretive limbless lizards of the genus Anniella (Anguidae). Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 62:155-158

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 15:55 CT