Elgaria

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Lepidosauromorpha
Superordo: Lepidosauria
Ordo: Squamata
Cladus: Unidentata, Episquamata, Toxicofera
Subordo: Anguimorpha
Infraordo: Neoanguimorpha
Superfamilia: Diploglossa

Familia: Anguidae
Subfamilia: Gerrhonotinae
Genus: Elgaria
Species (7): E. cedrosensis – E. coerulea – E. kingii – E. multicarinata – E. panamintina – E. paucicarinata – E. velazquezi
Name

Elgaria Gray, 1838: 390

Type species: Cordylus (Gerrhonotus) multicarinatus Blainville, 1835, by subsequent designation by Tihen (1949: 593).

Synonyms

Trachypeltis Fitzinger, 1843: 21 [as subgenus]
Type species: Gerrhonotus multicarinatus Blainville, 1835, by original designation.

References
Primary references

Gray, J.E. 1838. Catalogue of the slender-tongued saurians, with descriptions of many new genera and species. Part 2. Annals of Natural History. Series 1 1(5): 388–394. DOI: 10.1080/00222933809512320 Paywall; BHL Reference page.
Fitzinger, L. 1843. Systema Reptilium. Fasciculus primus. Amblyglossae. Braumüller et Seidel: Wien. vi + 106 pp. BHL Reference page.
Tihen, J.A. 1949. The Genera of Gerrhonotine Lizards. The American Midland Naturalist 41(3): 580–601. DOI: 10.2307/2421775 Paywall; JSTOR Hybrid open access journal Reference page.

Additional references

Fitch, H.S. 1938. A Systematic Account of the Alligator Lizards (Gerrhonotus) in the Western United States and Lower California. American Midland Naturalist 20(2): 381–424. DOI: 10.2307/2420638 Paywall; JSTOR Hybrid open access journal Reference page.
Stebbins, R.C. 1958. A new alligator lizard from the Panamint Mountains, Inyo County, California. American Museum Novitates 1883: 1–27. hdl: 2246/4672 Open access Reference page.
Waddick, J.W. & Smith, H.M. 1974. The significance of the scale characteristics in evaluation of the lizard genera Gerrhonotus, Elgaria, and Barisia. Great Basin Naturalist 34(4): 257–266. DOI: 10.2307/41711438 Paywall; JSTOR Hybrid open access journal Reference page.
Good, D.A. 1988. Phylogenetic Relationships Among Gerrhonotine Lizards: An Analysis of External Morphology. In University of California Publications in Zoology volume 121. University of California Press: Berkeley & Los Angeles. 139 pp. ISBN 9780520097445 Reference page.
Good, D.A. 1988. Allozyme variation and phylogenetic relationships among the species of Elgaria (Squamata: Anguidae). Herpetologica 44(2): 154–162. DOI: 10.2307/3892512 Paywall; JSTOR Hybrid open access journal Reference page.
Grismer, L.L. 1988. Geographic Variation, Taxonomy, and Biogeography of the Anguid Genus Elgaria (Reptilia: Squamata) in Baja California, México. Herpetologica 44(4): 431–439. DOI: 10.2307/3892409 Paywall; JSTOR Hybrid open access journal Reference page.
Grismer, L.L. & Hollingsworth, B.D. 2001. A taxonomic review of the endemic Alligator Lizard Elgaria paucicarinata (Anguidae: Squamata) of Baja California, México with a description of a new species. Herpetologica 57(4): 488–496. DOI: 10.2307/3893055 Paywall; JSTOR Hybrid open access journal Reference page.
Feldman, C.R. & Spicer, G.S. 2006. Comparative phylogeography of woodland reptiles in California: repeated patterns of cladogenesis and population expansion. Molecular Ecology 15(8): 2201–2222. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2006.02930.x Paywall Reference page.
Leavitt, D.H., Marion, A.B., Hollingsworth, B.D. & Reeder, T.W. 2017. Multilocus phylogeny of alligator lizards (Elgaria, Anguidae): Testing mtDNA introgression as the source of discordant molecular phylogenetic hypotheses. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 110: 104–121. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2017.02.010 Paywall Reference page.

Links

Uetz, P. & Hallermann, J. 2021. Elgaria . The Reptile Database. Accessed on 7 September 2020.

Vernacular names
English: Western Alligator Lizards

Elgaria is a genus of New World lizards in the family Anguidae. Their common name is western alligator lizards.[1]

Geographic range

Species in the genus Elgaria are distributed in western North America, from Mexico to Canada.[2]
Species

There are seven species:[2]

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	Elgaria cedrosensis (Fitch, 1934)	Cedros Island Alligator Lizard	Mexico (Cedros Island, and coastal S Baja California Norte)
	Elgaria coerulea (Wiegmann, 1828)	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 Gray, 1838	Madrean alligator Lizard	southwestern United States and adjacent northwestern Mexico
	Elgaria multicarinata (Blainville, 1835)	southern alligator lizard	Baja California to the state of Washington
	Elgaria panamintina (Stebbins, 1958)	Panamint alligator lizard	California
	Elgaria paucicarinata (Fitch, 1934)	San Lucan alligator lizard	Mexico
	Elgaria velazquezi Grismer & Hollingsworth, 2001	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.
References

"Elgaria Gray, 1838". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.

Elgaria at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 14 May 2014.

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. ISBN 978-0-395-98272-3. (Genus Elgaria, p. 331).