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Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Anguidae  

Northern Alligator Lizard
Elgaria coerulea (Wiegmann, 1828)

Current SSAR Comments:
Based on mtDNA, Lavin et al. (2018, Zoologica Scripta 47: 462–476) inferred 10 non-overlapping mitochondrial clades and six population clusters within E. coerulea and based on nuclear SNPs. Leaché et al. (2024, Journal of Heredity 115: 57–71) inferred 10 population clusters and nine multi-cluster clades that are only roughly consistent with subspecies proposed by Fitch (1938, American Midland Naturalist 20: 381–424). Neither set of authors proposed taxonomic changes, although Leaché et al. (op. cit.) performed analyses that failed to support more than one species within E. coerulea. We have re-circumscribed the subspecies to correspond to the three major clades within E. coerulea inferred by Leaché et al. (op. cit.) E. c. coerulea (synonym: E. c. principis) is applied to the clade of Pacific Northwest, Northern California, and Northern and Southern Coast Range clusters; E. c. palmeri is applied to the clade of Southern and two Central Sierra Nevada clusters; and E. c. shastensis is applied to the clade of Lower Cascades and two Northern Sierra Nevada clusters. The standard English names have been changed to reflect the geographic distributions of the taxa.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.09.12.08.56.14)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.54 MB

First instance(s) of published English names:
Spotted Elgaria (Elgaria principis: Cooper, James G., George Suckley, William Cooper, George Gibbs, Asa Gray, and John L. Le Conte. 1859. The natural history of Washington territory, with much relating to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oregon, and California, between the thirty-sixth and forty-ninth parallels of latitude, being those parts of the final reports on the survey of the Northern Pacific railroad route, containing the climate and physical geography, with full catalogues and descriptions of the plants and animals collected from 1853 to 1857. Bailliere Bros., London, H. Bailliere;, New York, New York. pp.); Gerrhonotus olivaceus (Olivaceous Lizard: Cooper, James G. 1869. The fauna of California and its geographical distribution. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 4():61-81); Green-brown Lizard (Gerrhonotus grandis: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Oregon Lizard (Gerrhonotus principis: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Skink-tailed Lizard (Gerrhonotus scincicaudus: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Mountain Alligator Lizard (Gerrhonotus palmeri: Van Denburgh, John. 1897. The reptiles of the Pacific Coast and Great Basin: An account of the species known to inhabit California, and Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences 5():9-236); Northern Alligator Lizard (Gerrhonotus principis: Van Denburgh, John. 1897. The reptiles of the Pacific Coast and Great Basin: An account of the species known to inhabit California, and Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences 5():9-236); Northern Alligator Lizard (Gerrhonotus principis: Van Denburgh, John. 1897. The reptiles of the Pacific Coast and Great Basin: An account of the species known to inhabit California, and Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences 5():9-236); Alligator Lizard (Gerrhonotus scincicauda: Van Denburgh, John. 1897. The reptiles of the Pacific Coast and Great Basin: An account of the species known to inhabit California, and Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences 5():9-236); Burnett's Alligator Lizard (Gerrhonotus coeruleus: Van Denburgh, John. 1922. The Reptiles of Western North America: An Account of the Species Known to Inhabit California and Oregon, Washinton, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, British Columbia, Sonora, and Lower California. Volume I. Lizards. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. 556pp.); Northern Alligator Lizard (Gerrhonotus coeruleus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); San Francisco Alligator Lizard (Gerrhonotus coeruleus coeruleus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Sierra Alligator Lizard (Gerrhonotus coeruleus palmeri: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Northern Alligator Lizard (Gerrhonotus coeruleus principis: 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

Pertinent LIterature:
1828 Wiegmann, Arend Friedrich August. Beiträge zur Amphibienkunde. [Contributions to amphibian science.] Isis von Oken 21(4):364-383
1852 Baird, Spencer F. and Charles Girard. Descriptions of new species of reptiles, collected by the U. S. Exploring Expedition under the command of Capt. Charles Wilkes, U. S. N., First Part including the species from the western part of America. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 6():174-177
1893 Stejneger, Leonard. Annotated list of the reptiles and batrachians collected by the Death Valley Expedition in 1891, with descriptions of new species. North American Fauna 7():159–228
1902 Stejneger, Leonard. Gerrhonotus caeruleus vs. Gerrhonotus burnettii. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 15():37
1934 Fitch, Henry S. New Alligator lizards from the Pacific Coast. Copeia 1934(1):6-7
1938 Fitch, Henry S. A systematic account of the Alligator Lizards (Gerrhonotus) in the Western United States and Lower California. American Midland Naturalist 20(2):381-424
1976 Lais, P. Mike. Gerrhonotus coeruleus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (178):1-4
1988 Good, David A. The phylogenetic position of fossils assigned to the Gerrhonotinae (Squamata: Anguidae). Journal of Paleontology 8(2):188-195
2017 Leavitt, Dean H., Angela B. Marion, Bradford D. Hollingsworth, and Tod W. Reeder. Multilocus phylogeny of alligator lizards (Elgaria, Anguidae): Testing mtDNA introgression as the source of discordant molecular phylogenetic hypotheses. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 110(2017):104-121
2018 Lavin, Brian R., Guinevere O. U. Wogan, Jimmy A. McGuire, and Chris R. Feldman. Phylogeography of the Northern Alligator Lizard (Squamata, Anguidae): Hidden diversity in a western endemic. Zoologica Scripta 47(4):462-476
2024 Leaché, Adam D., Hayden R. Davis, Chris R. Feldman, Matthew K. Fujita, and Sonal Singhal. Repeated patterns of reptile diversification in Western North America supported by the Northern Alligator Lizard (Elgaria coerulea). Journal of Heredity 115(1):57–71

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Thursday 30 January 2025 02:27 CT