Main Menu

Class Reptilia
Order Squamata
Suborder Sauria
Family Anguidae

Anguidae—Glass and Alligator Lizards

The Anguidae include three genera in North America. Only one species is represented as a fossil in our region, however, and that may be Holocene rather than Pleistocene.

Elgaria kingii Gray 1838—Madrean Alligator Lizard

Synonyms. Gerrhonotus kingii.

Van Devender and Worthington (1977) reported the Madrean Alligator Lizard as a fossil from Howell's Ridge Cave and also as occurring at present in a nearby wash. Most modern occurrences, however, were said to be in somewhat more mesic, montane situations.

Fig. 1. Madrean Alligator Lizard (Elgaria kingii). Photograph by Carl S. Lieb.

Sites.

Late Wisconsin/Holocene: Howell's Ridge Cave (Van Devender and Worthington 1977).

Literature. Van Devender and Worthington 1977.

Last Update: 4 Nov 2008