. Bulletin. Science; Natural history; Natural history. 74 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. Fig. 22. Typical Xantusia vigilis habitat from within the Sierra Santa Clara. the Sierra Santa Clara but not confirmed by us are Leptotyphlops humilis, Chilome- niscus cinctus, Masticophis flageUum, Lampropeltis getula, and Pituophis mela- noleuciis. We would be surprised if these latter taxa did not occur throughout the Vizcaino Peninsula owing to the wide range of habitats they occupy elsewhere in Baja California and the fact that they are known from other Vizcaino Desert localities further eas
. Bulletin. Science; Natural history; Natural history. 74 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. Fig. 22. Typical Xantusia vigilis habitat from within the Sierra Santa Clara. the Sierra Santa Clara but not confirmed by us are Leptotyphlops humilis, Chilome- niscus cinctus, Masticophis flageUum, Lampropeltis getula, and Pituophis mela- noleuciis. We would be surprised if these latter taxa did not occur throughout the Vizcaino Peninsula owing to the wide range of habitats they occupy elsewhere in Baja California and the fact that they are known from other Vizcaino Desert localities further east (Grismer 1994). We also suspect that Arizona eleganspacata and Scaphiopus couchii occur in this region as well, although they were not reported as being present by the ranchers. Arizona e. pacata ranges widely both north and south of the Vizcaino Peninsula along the Pacific coastal desert of Baja California (Dixon and Fleet 1976; Reynoso 1990), and S. couchii is known from sandy habitats throughout central Baja California (Wasserman 1970). We were very surprised at the apparent absence of Xantusia vigilis from the low-lying areas within the Sierra Santa Clara. This area supports a dense and extensive stand of Yucca valida (Fig. 22), a vegetational component with which this species is known to occur (Bezy 1982), but we were unable to find any specimens. We did note an unusally high density of the bark scorpion Centruroides exilicauda within the preferred microhabitat of X vigilis and perhaps this scorpion is competitively excluding X. vigilis. Also absent from the arroyos within the Sierra Santa Clara, as well as the Sierra Vizcaino, was Callisaurus draconoides crinitus. This subspecies is highly adapted to living on the extremely fine aeolian sand of the Vizcaino Desert (Norris 1958) and is widely distributed around the perimeter of these mountains. The substrate of the arroyo bottoms within these ranges is apparently too rocky and may prevent this habitat specialist from ent
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