Mystery Lizards – Herp Help Needed!

So on our trip to Arches National Park last weekend we saw a number of lizards, some of which I was able to identify and most of which I either had no idea or no confidence in my ID of. Any input from someone familiar with southwestern herps would be appreciated. Below are pictures and what I suspect they might be – feel free to laugh at me if I’m way off. All pictures are courtesy of Brian Switek and his very long lens.

My guess for this one is a common sagebrush lizard, Sceloporus graciosus, although I wouldn’t even dare to speculate about the subspecies. My other thought was eastern fence lizard, Sceloporus undulatus, because they are both very variable and look roughly similar to me. This guy we saw on Antelope Island but we saw a lot that looked the same in Arches as well.

This handsome fellow I’m fairly confident is a long-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia wislizenii), even though he has no red spots. From pictures it seems like either not all of them have them, or they only have them at certain times. Am I right?

This one is my favorite, and I think it’s a common-side blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana). The blotch in the picture could just be a shadow, but the rest of him really matches up too.

And last, but not least, the real mystery. I have no idea who this is, and the otherwise very helpful Utah Division of Wildlife website has not been able to assist me. We’ve seen a fair number of these, so it’s probably something really obvious. Any takers?

 

~ by lycaon on June 2, 2011.