REPTILIA: SQUAMATA: ANNIELLIDAE: Anniella

Anniella nigra Fischer

Black legless lizard

Photos & text by Dr. Robert Sprackland. Specimen at right from Sand City, Monterey County, California.

 
This specimen represents a copper-bodied, 
black-headed color morph.

Range: A very restricted area of Monterey County, California, on the 
Monterey peninsula from the Salinas River south to the Carmel River; a 
second population is recorded from Morro Bay.

Diagnosis: A pencil-long, very thin legless lizard with moveable eyelids, 
no ear openings, a black head and copper to black back and bright lemon-yellow belly. Maximum size about 8 inches / 25 cm.

Description:

Natural History: A secretive fossorial lizard found in loose sandy soils within 10 miles / 15 km of the ocean. Lizards may dig deep burrows, perhaps in excess of 3.2 feet / 1 meter, but are often collected near the surface under mock lupine and other broad shrubs. They are conspicuously absent from similar habitats inhabited by scorpions.

Black legless lizards feed on small insects and spiders.

Reproduction: One to four live young are produced in the summer, each measuring about 2 1/2 inches / 4 cm.

Taxonomy & Relationships: This taxon is almost always considered as a subspecies of the California legless lizard as Anniella pulchra nigra, but is considered a full species here because of its distinct coloring, restricted range and status as an endangered species.

Variation: There is considerable color variation in black legless lizards, with the dorsal coloring ranging from light copper with thin black lateral lines, to dark coffee brown to solid black. In all cases, adults have black heads, though neonates may resemble silver legless lizards.

Additional Comments:

Type Specimen:

Literature: Click on book to order a copy

Bezy, R and K. Wright. 1971. Karyotypic variation and relationships of the California legless lizard Anniella pulchra Gray (Reptilia: Anniellidae). Herpetological Review 3(4): 71-75.

Bury, R. Bruce. 1985. Status report: Anniella pulchra nigra Fischer, black legless lizard (Anniellidae: Sauria) in central California. Denver Wildlife Research Center.

Bury, R. Bruce and T. Balgooyen. 1976. Temperature selectiveness in the legless lizard, Anniella pulchra. Copeia 1976(1): 152-155.

Miller, Charles. 1944. Ecological relations and adaptations of the limbless lizards of the genus Anniella. Ecological Monographs 14(3): 271-289.

Smith, Hobart. 1946. Handbook of lizards; Lizards of the United States and of Canada. Comstock Publishing. ISBN: 0-8014-8236-4.