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Zebra-tailed lizard

Callisaurus draconoides · Lizards · Reptiles

Zebra-tailed lizard (Callisaurus draconoides): Relatively large, long-legged lizard (snout-vent 65-93 mm) with a flattened tail and long hind limbs. Grey to brown back with yellow blotches and dark spots on both sides of the mid-dorsal line. 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
Callisaurus draconoides
Family
Phrynosomatidae
In North America
Native
Range
Deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico: northwestern Nevada and southwestern Utah south through southeastern California, Arizona and extreme southwestern New Mexico to Baja California and Sinaloa; sea level to about 1,520 m. Not in Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Relatively large, long-legged lizard (snout-vent 65-93 mm) with a flattened tail and long hind limbs. [1][2]

Grey to brown back with yellow blotches and dark spots on both sides of the mid-dorsal line. [1][2]

Tail and limbs have 4-8 dark cross bands, and the tail underside is boldly black and white striped. [1][2]

Both sexes have a dark throat with radiating black lines; males also have sky to navy blue patches on each side of the belly, which females lack. [1][2]

Males show metallic green-blue (sometimes orange and yellow) on the sides in breeding season. [1][2]

Field knowledge

Where it lives

Open, sparsely vegetated desert with loose sandy soil: washes, dunes, floodplains and desert pavement, often among shrubs. [1][2]

Uses boulders as basking perches and, at higher elevation, sometimes rocky shaded leaf-litter areas. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Diurnal and heat-tolerant: often basks and is active in midday heat when other lizards shelter; most active about 0900-1300 in Nevada. [1][2]

Wags and curls the black-and-white tail as a display to other lizards and when a predator is near. [1][2]

Active in warm months and hibernates roughly October to April; digs burrows, usually under shrubs, for shelter and night retreats. [1][2]

Eats mostly small invertebrates (ants, flies, spiders, scorpions), plus some plant material. [1][2]

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

Deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico: northwestern Nevada and southwestern Utah south through southeastern California, Arizona and extreme southwestern New Mexico to Baja California and Sinaloa; sea level to about 1,520 m. Not in Canada.

Biology

Sources

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

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    University of Michigan Museum of Zoology