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Baja California collared lizard

Crotaphytus vestigium · Lizards · Reptiles

Baja California collared lizard (Crotaphytus vestigium): Slender white transverse bars across the back (NatureServe). Widely separated posterior collars; no black pigment lining the mouth (NatureServe). This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Baja California collared lizard — verified North Ground species photograph
North Ground · All rights reserved
Scientific name
Crotaphytus vestigium
Family
Crotaphytidae
In North America
Native
Range
Desert slopes of the Peninsular Ranges in southern California north to the San Jacinto Mountains near Palm Springs, and much of Baja California; an isolated Tecate Mountain (San Diego County) population needs confirmation (NatureServe; theNAT).
Biology

How to identify it

Slender white transverse bars across the back (NatureServe). [1][2][3]

Widely separated posterior collars; no black pigment lining the mouth (NatureServe). [1][2][3]

Adult males: strongly laterally compressed tail with a white or off-white dorsal stripe, pale patternless head, and enlarged dark inguinal patches (NatureServe). [1][2][3]

Up to about 5 in (127 mm) snout-vent length (theNAT). [1][2][3]

Compared with the great basin collared lizard: Great Basin lacks the widely separated posterior collars and slender white dorsal bars (NatureServe); listed as similar species by theNAT. [1][2][3]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a baja california collared lizard before you act. Compared with the great basin collared lizard: Great Basin lacks the widely separated posterior collars and slender white dorsal bars (NatureServe); listed as similar species by theNAT.[1][2][3]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Rocky areas in arid and semiarid country, usually with scant vegetation: hillsides, alluvial fans, canyons and lava flows (NatureServe). [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Eats arthropods, small lizards and sometimes plant material (NatureServe). [1][2][3]

Seasonal activity begins in March-April; members of the genus can lay two clutches a year (NatureServe). [1][2][3]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Desert slopes of the Peninsular Ranges in southern California north to the San Jacinto Mountains near Palm Springs, and much of Baja California; an isolated Tecate Mountain (San Diego County) population needs confirmation (NatureServe; theNAT).

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. San Diego Natural History Museum (theNAT Amphibian and Reptile Atlas of Peninsular California) · reviewed 2026-09-30

    San Diego Natural History Museum (theNAT Amphibian and Reptile Atlas of Peninsular California)

  3. Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology