Lesser Earless Lizard (Holbrookia maculata)

Adult Size: 4" to 5¼"

Description: A small lizard with smooth granular back scales, 3 folds across the throat and no external ears. Coloration is gray to brownish, depending on the color of the earth. Usually has lengthwise rows of dark blotches separated by pale stripe down the center of the back and dorsolateral light stripes. No spots under the tail. Males have a pair of bllue bordered black marks on each side of the belly behind the foreleg. Females have orange throat during breeding season.

Habitat: Sandy soil areas in grassy prairie, cultivated fields, dry streambeds, and desert grasslands.

Breeding: Mates during spring and summer. Lays an average of 5 to 7 eggs in April to September; hatchlings appear May to October.

Range: Southern South Dakota through the Great Plains to central Texas, west through most of New Mexico and Arizona into Mexico.

Diet: It subsists on insects and small spiders.

Behavior: Diurnal. Loss of the external ear may be an adaptation to this lizard's habit of burrowing headfirst into sand.

Video

Conservation Status:

Additonal Notes:

Subspecies: Five in our area

Northern Lesser Earless Lizard (H.m. maculata) - found in southern South Dakota to the Texas panhandle, west into eastern New Mexico, Colorado, and extreme southeastern Wyoming. Photo...

Eastern Lesser Earless Lizard (H.m. perspicua) - east-central Kansas south through to central Texas. Photo...

Speckled Lesser Earless Lizard (H.m. approximans) - found in central Arizona through New Mexico to extreme western Texas, south into Mexico. Photo...

Western Lesser Earless Lizard (H.m. thermophila) - Found in southern Arizona below 5,000 feet and south into Mexico. Photo...

Bleached Lesser Earless Lizard (H.m. ruthveni) - restricted to the White Sands region (Otero County), New Mexico. Photo...