THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-other lizards)    Crotaphytidae  

Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard
Gambelia sila (Stejneger, 1890)
gam-BEL-ee-uh — SEE-lah

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Richmond et al. (2017, Molecular Ecology 26: 3618–3635) corroborated the existence of two groups within this species found by Grimes et al. (2014, Southwestern Naturalist 59: 38–46) but did not infer restricted nuclear gene flow between those groups. They also presented genetic evidence corroborating previous hypotheses of hybridization with G. wislizenii (Montanucci, 1970, Copeia 1970: 104–123; 1978, Journal of Herpetology 12: 299–307). (de Queiroz, Kevin and Lauren M. Chan. 2025. Squamata (excluding snakes) – Lizards. Pages 23-37 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2024.12.02.08.59.21)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.38 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: California

Taxonomic Etymology:
Endemic to California’s San Joaquin Valley.
Gambelia — Named in honor of William Gambel (1823–1849), a young American naturalist and explorer who died of typhoid at just 25 years old while serving as a surgeon during the Mexican-American War. The recognition commemorates his early but influential contributions to American natural history.
sila — Possibly a Latin adjective: silus, sila, silum; meaning: “snub-nosed,” “flat-nosed,” or “with an upturned nose”; classical Latin authors (e.g., Pliny) used silus to describe animals or people with short, turned-up noses. While the precise origin of the epithet sila (originally silus) was not explicitly explained by Leonhard Stejneger in his 1890 description, it very likely refers to the blunt-nosed appearance of the lizard — a defining morphological trait.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Short-nosed Leopard Lizard (Crotaphytus silus: 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); Leopard Lizard (Crotaphytus wislizeni: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); San Joaquin Leopard Lizard (Crotaphytus wislizeni silus: 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:
1890 Stejneger, Leonhard H. Part V. - Annotated list of reptiles and batrachians collected by Dr. C. Hart Merriam and Vernon Bailey on the San Francisco Mountain Plateau and Desert of the Little Colorado, Arizona, with descriptions of new species. North American Fauna 3(3):103-118
1970 Montanucci, Richard R. Analysis of hybridization between Crotaphytus wislizenii and Crotaphytus silus (Sauria: Iguanidae) in California. Copeia 1970(1):104-123
1975 Montanucci, Ricahrd R., Ralph W. Axtell, and Herbert C. Dessauer. Evolutionary divergence among collared lizards (Crotaphytus), with comments on the status of Gambelia. Herpetologica 31:336-347
1978 Montanucci, Richard R. Discriminant analysis of hybridization between leopard lizard, Gambelia (Reptilia, Lacertilia, Iguanidae). Journal of Herpetology 12(3):299-307
1995 Jennings, Mark R. Gambelia sila Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (612):1-4
1996 McGuire, Jimmy A. Phylogenetic systematics of crotaphytid lizards (Reptilia: Iguania: Crotaphytidae). Bulletin of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History 32:iv + 1-143
2007 McGuire, Jimmy A., Charles W. Linkem, Michelle S. Koo, Delbert W. Hutchison, A. Kristopher Lappin, David I. Orange, Julio Lemos-Espinal, Brett R. Riddle, and Jef R. Jaeger. Mitochondrial introgression and incomplete lineage sorting through space and time: Phylogenetics of Crotaphytid lizards. Evolution 61-(12):2879–2897
2014 Grimes, Adam J., Gwynne Corrigan, David J. Germano, and Paul T. Smith. Mitochondrial phylogeography of the endangered Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard, Gambelia sila. The Southwestern Naturalist 59(1):38-46
2017 Richmond, Jonathan Q., Dustin A. Wood, Michael F. Westphal, Amy G. Vandergast, Adam D. Leaché, Lawrence R. Saslaw, H. Scott Butterfield, Robert N. Fisher. Persistence of historical population structure in an endangered species despite near-complete biome conversion in California's San Joaquin Desert. Molecular Ecology 26(14):3618-3635

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 15:57 CT