HERPETOLOGY OF ZUNI MOUNTAINS — GEHLBACH 283 



To these may now be added several localities in San Juan and Mc- 

 Kinley counties (see below). It seems doubtful that S. g. graciosus is 

 common south of the Colorado Plateau; specimens have yet to be 

 found in Valencia County. Small, disjunct populations inhabit the 

 sand dunes of Chaves County, New Mexico, and Ward and Winkler 

 counties, Texas (Sabath, 1960). 



Many herpetologists have followed VanDenburgli (1922, p. 262) in 

 separating the three subspecies of S. graciosus as follows: S. g. 

 graciosus has 42-53 (x 47.8) dorsal scales from occiput to rump, 

 S. g. gracilis has 52-68 (60.8), and S. g. vandenburghianus has 48-66 

 (54.8). It is significant that the dorsal scale count is high in Zuni 

 material (table 5). The same is true of San Juan County specimens, 

 for 16 from the vicmity of Blanco (CU 5617, UCM 7274-79) have 

 51-58 (x 54.3 ±0.57) dorsals and 10 taken south of Bloomfield (UCM 

 7280-87, 7348-49) have 51-58 (54.9 ±0.86). Zuni and San Juan 

 County series approximate S. g. vandenburghianus in number of 

 dorsal scales, but the males resemble S. g. graciosus with their widely 

 separated, bright-blue belly patches and distinctly striped dorsum. 



The specimens at hand represent variation that remains to be 

 studied thoroughly. The entire polytypic complex is in need of 

 revision as further evidenced by specimens from northern Arizona 

 (Durham, 1956, p. 222) with equally high dorsal scale counts and by 

 "nominate graciosus" from northeastern Utah (Legler, 1960, p. 180) 

 with confluent belly patches. It is possible that Colorado Plateau 

 specimens are subspecifically distinct from those of the Great Basin; 

 hence, the present racial allocation is tentative. 



Since a pallid, arenicolous form of S. graciosus is known from 

 southeastern New Mexico and adjacent Texas, it is of interest to re- 

 port similar variation in northwestern New Mexico. Specimens 

 collected on white sand along Choukai Wash, San Juan County 

 (UMMZ 120283), approximate the description of aS'. g. graciosus pro- 

 vided by Sabath (1960). The dark-brown dorsal stripes seen in 

 Zuni specimens are lacking or are indicated only faintJy. These sage- 

 brush lizards are light beige but retain the four white dorsal stripes. 

 Two males have very light belly patches and throat mottling; the 

 latter feature is apparently absent in southeastern New Mexico 

 (Sabath, 1960). 



The terrestrial nature of S. g. graciosus is well documented (Eaton, 

 1935, p. 12; Woodbury and Woodbury, 1945) and is particularly 

 evident in the Zunis, where this lizard was observed in open, rela- 

 tively level situations marked by the saltbush-sage association or 

 pure stands of big sagebrush and loose clay or moderately sandy 

 soil. In only one instance was S. g. graciosus abundantly associated 

 with S. undulatus. At the base of the Vermilion Cliffs north of 

 Prewitt, it was at least five times more common than its congener 



