(Juvenile) San Diego Alligator Lizard

Description:

"The eyes are light yellow. (Compare with the darker eyes of Elgaria coerulea.) The head is usually mottled with dark color. The head of a male is broader than a female's with a more triangular shape. Usually there are dark lines running lengthwise on the underside which run through the middle of the scales. Young lack the dark barring with a plain copper or brown band on the back. Adult color is brown, grey, or yellowish above, sometimes with reddish or orange coloring on the middle of the back. Usually there are 9 - 13 dark bands on the back, sides, and tail, with adjacent white spots. On some lizards these dark bands are very pronounced, on others they are covered with reddish or yellowish color. Scales are keeled on the back, sides, and legs, with 14 rows of scales across the back at the middle of the body. The scales of this subspecies are more heavily keeled than with other subspecies, with the temporal scales also keeled." - California Herps

Habitat:

This youngster was hiding in some beach chairs in the backyard and was spotted when I was cleaning them up for an outing. One of my teen nature enthusiasts picked it up so I could take photo's. "The subspecies Elgaria multicarinata webbii ranges from the border in San Diego County, north, primarily west of the transverse mountain ranges, to an intergrade range in Ventura County, and north along the Tehachapi mountains and the Sierra foothills to roughly Sacramento County. Also ranges north on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains through the Owens valley where it is found in some isolated populations at Grant Lake, the Alabama Hills near Independence, Walker pass, and Walker Creek near Olancha. Also found in the Mojave Desert along the Mojave River, and on Santa Catalina and San Nicolas Islands." - California Herps

Notes:

The adult can be seen at my other spotting: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/101...