Archives of The Cold Blooded News

The Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society

Volume 31, Number 6;   June, 2004

Zebra-Tailed Lizard (Callisaurus draconoides)

by Sue Mills

C. draconoides is a gray-sand colored lizard with paired dusky spots going down its back. These spots become striking black crossbands encircling its tail. The male of the species has a pair of black bars at or in front of the body. The black bars, midpoint on its sides, extend into blue blotches on its belly. The females are about the same color but lack the spots. The bars are faint to nonexistent. It has a dusky-colored throat that often has pink or orange coloration at the center. Its slim body goes into a long and flat tail. At times it can curls its tail over its head and "wag". As with some other iguanids, it can change its body color to thermoregulate (getting darker when the air temperature is low so it can absorb more heat and vice versa).

As I mentioned earlier, this lizard at times will curl its tail over its head and "wag" it. Ben Dail (1986) noted in his study of two other closely related species Holbrookia texana and Holbrookia propinqua, that this tail curling behavior occurred most often when a potential predator was from 3 1/2 to 4 meters away from the lizard. The lizard would point its tail toward the predator, curl it up, and shake it.

When the predator moved toward the lizard, it would run forward about the same distance as the predator. It would then stop, wag its tail and begin the cycle again. However, when the predator came closer or attempted to come toward it very quickly, Holbrookia texana, in particular, would not curl its tail: it just ran! But when he backed away, the lizard would again begin its tail curling behavior. Dail stated he believed that the tail-wagging behavior was a signal to predators that the lizard could get away and they should not waste their energy pursuing him. The tail-curl-wagging was done only when the distance between predator and prey exceeded that which was necessary for escape.

You will most often find zebra-tailed lizards on hard-packed soil with little or no vegetation, in washes, or on desert pavement. Sometimes they are found on fine windblown sand or occasionally among small rocks. They are diurnal and fairly unsocial except during mating season. After mating, the females will lay a clutch of 2-8 (the average is 4) white, leathery-shelled eggs which are buried. The egg depositing takes place from June to August. Hatching usually occurs from July to November. Multiple clutches of up to five are common in the southern part of its range. Their range is Southwestern United States down to the tip of Baja California. They have also been found on at least one of the islands in the Gulf of California.

Callisaurus draconoides is basically omnivorous. It eats anything: insects, spiders, small lizards, and will even eat flowers and other plant material when nothing else is available. It is preyed upon by hawks, roadrunners, snakes, and coyotes.

The next time you go walking in our local desert and see a "striped blur" or a cute little lizard wagging its tail at you, take heed. You are being watched by the zebra-tailed lizard and he doesn't intend to be preyed upon by you!