Elgaria Explained

Elgaria is a genus of New World lizards in the family Anguidae. Their common name is western alligator lizards.

Geographic range

Species in the genus Elgaria are distributed in western North America, from Mexico to Canada.

Species

There are seven species:

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	Elgaria cedrosensis	Cedros Island Alligator Lizard	Mexico (Cedros Island, and coastal S Baja California Norte)
	Elgaria coerulea	northern alligator lizard	Pacific Coast and in the Rocky Mountains from southern British Columbia through Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana south through Oregon to the coastal range and the Sierra Nevada in central California
	Elgaria kingii	Madrean alligator Lizard	southwestern United States and adjacent northwestern Mexico
	Elgaria multicarinata	southern alligator lizard	Baja California to the state of Washington
	Elgaria panamintina	Panamint alligator lizard	California
	Elgaria paucicarinata	San Lucan alligator lizard	Mexico
	Elgaria velazquezi	Central Peninsular Alligator Lizard	Mexico

Nota bene

A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Elgaria.

Further reading

• Gray JE (1838). Catalogue of the Slender-tongued Saurians, with Descriptions of many new Genera and Species. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., First Series 1: 274–283, 388–394. (Elgaria, new genus, p. 390).
• Gray JE (1845). Catalogue of the Specimens of Lizards in the Collection of the British Museum. London: Trustees of the British Museum. (Edward Newman, printer). xxviii + 289 pp. (Genus Elgaria, p. 46).
• Stebbins RC (2003). A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, Third Edition. The Peterson Field Guide Series ®. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin. xiii + 533 pp. . (Genus Elgaria, p. 331).