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Desert night lizard

Xantusia vigilis · Lizards · Reptiles

Desert night lizard (Xantusia vigilis): Very small lizard (average adult total length about 8 cm, about 1.3 g) with soft granular scales on the back. Grey, yellow-brownish or olive, often uniform but sometimes dark-spotted; can shift from light olive in the evening to dark brown by day. 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.

Scientific name
Xantusia vigilis
Family
Xantusiidae
In North America
Native
Range
Southern Utah, western Arizona, southern Nevada and southern California south to southwestern Sonora and Baja California. Not in Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Very small lizard (average adult total length about 8 cm, about 1.3 g) with soft granular scales on the back. [1][2][3]

Grey, yellow-brownish or olive, often uniform but sometimes dark-spotted; can shift from light olive in the evening to dark brown by day. [1][2][3]

Usually 12 longitudinal rows of rectangular ventral scales; males are lighter and shorter with a stouter tail and enlarged femoral pores. [1][2][3]

Usually found under fallen yucca and Joshua tree logs or in rock-outcrop crevices rather than in the open. [1][2][3]

Compared with the arizona night lizard (xantusia arizonae): Granite-adapted rather than yucca-dwelling; Arizona populations formerly called X. vigilis are now split among X. arizonae, X. bezyi and X. wigginsi. [1][2][3]

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a desert night lizard before you act. Compared with the arizona night lizard (xantusia arizonae): Granite-adapted rather than yucca-dwelling; Arizona populations formerly called X. vigilis are now split among X. arizonae, X. bezyi and X. wigginsi.[1][2][3]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Arid and semiarid habitats among fallen yucca, agave and Joshua tree logs, in rock crevices and under foothill pine bark, into pinyon-juniper, sagebrush-blackbrush and chaparral-oak; 300-2,070 m in California. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Secretive: lives most of its life under cover, typically yucca logs, and is diurnal despite the name, sometimes active at night in summer. [1][2][3]

Waits for termites, small beetles, ants, flies, spiders and other arthropods to wander by rather than actively searching. [1][2][3]

Active from early April (low elevations) or May (higher) to late summer; gives live birth, about 2 young (1-3) in September-October. [1][2][3]

Adult and young stay in family groups; groups of a few individuals aggregate under logs in winter. [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 Utah, western Arizona, southern Nevada and southern California south to southwestern Sonora and Baja California. Not in Canada.

Biology

Sources

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

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. California Department of Fish and Wildlife · reviewed 2026-09-30

    California Department of Fish and Wildlife

  3. Wikipedia · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Wikipedia