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Long-tailed brush lizard

Urosaurus graciosus · Lizards · Reptiles

Long-tailed brush lizard (Urosaurus graciosus): Small gray or tan lizard almost always seen on a tree or shrub, well camouflaged against branches. Tail more than twice the snout-vent length. 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
Urosaurus graciosus
Family
Phrynosomatidae
In North America
Native
Range
Southern Nevada south into northeastern Baja California and northwestern Sonora, and from southeastern California east to northwestern and south-central Arizona. Not in Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Small gray or tan lizard almost always seen on a tree or shrub, well camouflaged against branches. [1][2][3]

Tail more than twice the snout-vent length. [1][2][3]

Relatively large dorsal scales that change abruptly to granular side scales, with no row of smaller scales down the middle of the band of enlarged dorsal scales (unlike the tree lizard). [1][2][3]

Distinguishable from the other brush lizards (Urosaurus) by geography as well. [1][2][3]

Compared with the ornate tree lizard (urosaurus ornatus): Tail under twice the body length and a series of smaller scales down the middle of the enlarged dorsal band. [1][2][3]

Compared with the baja california brush lizard (urosaurus nigricaudus): Tail under twice the body length and only slightly enlarged dorsal scales that grade gradually into the granular side scales. [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 long-tailed brush lizard before you act. Compared with the ornate tree lizard (urosaurus ornatus): Tail under twice the body length and a series of smaller scales down the middle of the enlarged dorsal band.[1][2][3]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Desert flats, washes and riparian strips with loose sand and scattered shrubs or trees such as creosote bush, catclaw, mesquite, ironwood, paloverde and saltbush, up to about 1,070 m. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Sit-and-wait feeder: waits on bush or grass-clump perches for beetles, ants, bees, termites and spiders, moving fast within the vegetation; seldom comes to the ground. [1][2][3]

Not very active; relies on crypsis and spends days and nights in bushes and grass clumps, sleeping on branch tips. [1][2][3]

Becomes active mid-April and stays out until mid-summer or early fall; lays clutches of 1-6 (average 4) eggs May-July. [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 Nevada south into northeastern Baja California and northwestern Sonora, and from southeastern California east to northwestern and south-central Arizona. 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