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California lyresnake

Trimorphodon lyrophanes · Snakes · Reptiles

California lyresnake (Trimorphodon lyrophanes): Brown snake with irregular blotches that camouflage it against rocky desert ground; adults reach about 47 in (1,200 mm) snout-vent length per the San Diego atlas. 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.

California lyresnake — verified North Ground species photograph
North Ground · All rights reserved
Scientific name
Trimorphodon lyrophanes
Family
Colubridae
In North America
Native
Range
Southern California generally west of the Salton Trough (north to near Los Angeles on the coast and in the Mojave Desert to the Argus and Amargosa mountains) south through most of the Baja California peninsula and several Gulf of California islands.
Biology

How to identify it

Brown snake with irregular blotches that camouflage it against rocky desert ground; adults reach about 47 in (1,200 mm) snout-vent length per the San Diego atlas. [1][2][3]

Compared with the sonoran lyresnake (trimorphodon lambda): Sonoran lyresnake occurs east of the Salton Trough; specimens from contact zones in southeastern California or southern Nevada may be difficult to identify. [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 california lyresnake before you act. Compared with the sonoran lyresnake (trimorphodon lambda): Sonoran lyresnake occurs east of the Salton Trough; specimens from contact zones in southeastern California or southern Nevada may be difficult to identify.[1][2][3]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Chiefly rocky areas of lowlands, canyons, mesas and lower mountain slopes: desert grassland, desert scrub, chaparral, pinyon-juniper and oak woodland, open conifer forest, thornscrub and thornforest; usually rocky uplands, much less often rockless lowland desert. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Rock-dwelling: in daytime sits in crevices or similar refuges. [1][2][3]

Ambush predator of geckos and granite night lizards, but eats other available prey. [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

Southern California generally west of the Salton Trough (north to near Los Angeles on the coast and in the Mojave Desert to the Argus and Amargosa mountains) south through most of the Baja California peninsula and several Gulf of California islands.

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 · reviewed 2026-09-30

    San Diego Natural History Museum

  3. San Diego Natural History Museum · reviewed 2026-09-30

    San Diego Natural History Museum