In a Disjunct, Montane Sky Island of the Southern Sagebrush Lizard

Sceloporus graciosus vandenburgianus. It's funny: I didn't know at first what species this lizard was, but I should have guessed since I found him in the Sage bush out front. He darted into the adjacent Rosemary, where I snapped these pictures. He's a tiny little guy, maybe about three to four inches long including the tail. Isn't he handsome, though?

I figured he was either the Southern Sagebrush Lizard or the Western Fence Lizard. Because there's no yellow or orange on the back of the hind legs but there is the blue/white throat, he's most likely the male Sagebrush. There's a great comparison of the two similar species at the California Herps site.

Okay, now I'm sure he's the Sagebrush Lizard. John Sullivan at the Wild Herps site notes the orange side stripe, which you can see in my picture above. It's settled, then!

To close, I must note that The San Diego Natural History Museum's description features some fantastic language: "The distribution of the Southern Sagebrush Lizard extends in a series of disjunct, montane sky islands from Los Angeles County, southward to...." Don't "disjunct, montane sky islands" sound like a half awesome, half really scary place to live?