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Reptilia    Squamata (part-other lizards)    Xantusiidae  
Sandstone Night Lizard
Xantusia gracilis Grismer and Galvan, 1986
zan-TOO-see-ah — GRASS-ih-lis
Taxon Links
iNaturalist
The Reptile Database
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
NatureServe
GenBank
USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

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

(,   Museum Voucher) (,   Observation) (,   Literature Record), (,   Citizen Science), (  Fossil)
Open icons indicate questionable records, including those with coordinate uncertainty greater than 10,000 m (approximately 6 miles). Click a marker to view metadata.
Occurrences:; 47 Total; 29 Museum; 18 Other

The locality database contains 8,094,832 records, and geographic and taxonomic errors exist. Logged-in, registered users may report a potential issue directly from the marker popup.
Shaded range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH. (Version: 2023.04.10.13.42.07)
Download map data (GeoJSON):
Polygon Range File Museum Literature Fossil Personal Observation Citizen Science

Province/State Distribution:
United States: California

Taxonomic Etymology:
Name reflecting its delicate build.
Xantusia — Named in honor of John Xantus de Vesey (1825–1894), a Hungarian-born zoologist and collector who worked in California and Mexico. Many reptiles and other animals bear his name.
gracilis — From Latin gracilis, meaning “slender,” “thin,” or “graceful.” Refers to the species’ more delicate appearance compared to other Xantusia.

First instance(s) of published English names:
No historic English names have been assigned to this taxon yet.


Selected References:
1986 Grismer, L. Lee and Mark A. Galvan. A new night lizard (Xantusia henshawi) from a sandstone habitat in San Diego County, California. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 21(10):155-165
1986 Crother, Brian I., Michael M. Miyamoto, and William F. Presch. Phylogeny and biogeography of the lizard family Xantusiidae. Systematic Zoology 35(1):37-45
2003 Lovich, Robert E. and Grismer, L. Lee. Xantusia gracilis. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (772):1-2
2013 Noonan, Brice P., Jennifer B. Pramuk, Robert L. Bezy, Elizabeth A. Sinclair, Kevin de Queiroz, and Jack W. Sites, Jr. Phylogenetic relationships within the lizard clade Xantusiidae: Using trees and divergence times to address evolutionary questions at multiple levels. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 69(2013):109-122

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