MythscribeMundus
THE NATURAL & IMAGINED WORLDAn illustrated compendium
mythscribe.cloudSearch/
NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Island Night Lizard

Xantusia riversiana Cope, 1883

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Adult female Island Night Lizard photographed on San Nicolas Island, California, as part of a mark-recapture and genetic study, on 14 October 2012. Photograph by Ryan P. O'Donnell.

Adult female Island Night Lizard photographed on San Nicolas Island, California, as part of a mark-recapture and genetic study, on 14 October 2012. Photograph by Ryan P. O'Donnell.

Tsirtalis · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image source

Provider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.

Open encyclopedia reference

The island night lizard (Xantusia riversiana) is a species of lizard in the family Xantusiidae. The species is native to three of the Channel Islands of California: San Nicolas Island, Santa Barbara Island, and San Clemente Island. A small population of the island night lizard also lives on Sutil Island, near Santa Barbara Island.

Wikipedia contributors, Island night lizard; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:21:58.949994+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Xantusia riversiana Cope, 1883
Name authority
Cope, 1883
Common name
Island Night Lizard
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Reptilia
Order
Squamata
Family
Xantusiidae
Genus
Xantusia
Extinction status
Not supplied by this source

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. megaclassTetrapoda
  8. classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
  9. orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
  10. suborderAutarchoglossa
  11. familyXantusiidae
  12. subfamilyXantusiinae
  13. genusXantusia
  14. speciesXantusia riversiana Cope, 1883

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Xantusia. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Arizona Night LizardXantusia arizonae Klauber, 1931XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Bolson Night LizardXantusia bolsonae Webb, 1970XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Baja California Night LizardXantusia gilberti Van Denburgh, 1895XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Sandstone Night LizardXantusia gracilis Grismer & Galvan, 1986XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Granite Night LizardXantusia henshawi Stejneger, 1893XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Xantusia jaycolei Bezy, Bezy & Bolles, 2008XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Sanchez's Night LizardXantusia sanchezi Bezy & Flores-Villela, 1999XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Xantusia sherbrookei Bezy, Bezy & Bolles, 2008XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Desert Night LizardXantusia vigilis Baird, 1859XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Bezy's Night LizardXantusia bezyi Papenfuss, Macey & Schulte, 2001XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Durangoan Night LizardXantusia extorris Webb, 1965XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Wiggins' Desert Night LizardXantusia wigginsi Savage, 1952XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 35 records assigned to Xantusiidae.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

USA (San Clemente, Santa Barbara, San Nicolas Islands off S California)

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

  1. https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Xantusia&species=riversiana Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:5C8P7. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.