{{Short description|Genus of lizards}} {{for|the genus of plants|Gambelia (plant)}} {{More citations needed|date=December 2009}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Long-nosed Leopard Lizard (8043739603) (cropped).jpg | image_caption = ''[[Gambelia wislizenii]]'', <br />long-nosed leopard lizard | taxon = Gambelia (lizard) | authority= [[Spencer Fullerton Baird|Baird]], 1859<ref>"''Gambelia'' ". ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System). www.itis.gov.</ref> }}

'''''Gambelia''''' is a [[genus]] of [[lizards]], commonly known as '''leopard lizards''', within the family [[Crotaphytidae]]. Leopard lizards are indigenous to arid environments of southwestern [[North America]]. Specifically, in San Joaquin Valley and southeastern Carrizo Plain in California, is where the endangered species inhabits as it lives in isolated populations.<ref name="Ivey 2020">{{cite journal|last1=Ivey |first1=Kathleen |display-authors=etal |title=Thermal ecology of the federally endangered blunt-nosed leopard lizard (''Gambelia sila'') |journal=Conservation Physiology |date=2020 |volume=8 |issue=1 |article-number=coaa014 |page=11 |doi=10.1093/conphys/coaa014 |doi-access=free |pmid=33649711 |pmc=7047230}}</ref> Furthermore, the ''Gambelia Sila'' or leopard lizard is active during the spring to early summer for 2.5 months after they estivate and goes back into hibernation soon after.<ref name="Ivey 2020" />

==Description== [[Species]] in the genus ''Gambelia'' superficially resemble those of the genus ''[[Crotaphytus]]''. However, one difference between the [[genus|genera]] ''Gambelia'' and ''Crotaphytus'' is that leopard lizards have fracture planes in their tails, allowing the tails to break off when grasped by predators.{{Citation needed|date=November 2014}}

==Etymology== The [[Genus|generic name]], ''Gambelia'', is in honor of [[Americans|American]] [[Natural history|naturalist]] [[William Gambel]].<ref>[[species:Bo Beolens|Beolens, Bo]]; [[species:Michael Watkins|Watkins, Michael]]; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. (Genus ''Gambelia'', p. 97).</ref>

==Species== Three species are recognized as being valid.<ref>{{EMBL genus|genus=Gambelia}} www.reptile-database.org.</ref> {| class="wikitable" |- ! Image !! Scientific name !! Common Name !! Distribution |- |[[File:Gambelia copei.jpg|120px]] || ''[[Gambelia copeii]]'' <small>([[H.C. Yarrow|Yarrow]], 1882)</small>||[[Edward Drinker Cope|Cope's]] leopard lizard || [[Baja California peninsula]] and adjacent southern [[California]]. |- |[[File:LIZARD, BLUNT-NOSED LEOPARD (Gambelia sila) (3-30-08) van metre wash, carrizo plain national monument, slo co, ca -2 (2380352944).jpg|120px]] || ''[[Gambelia sila]]'' <small>([[Leonhard Hess Stejneger|Stejneger]], 1890)</small>||blunt-nosed leopard lizard ||southern California. |- |[[File:LIZARD, LONG-NOSED LEOPARD (gambelia wislizenia) moab, grand co, utah (14790202096).jpg|120px]] || ''[[Gambelia wislizenii]]'' <small>([[Spencer Fullerton Baird|Baird]] & [[Charles Frédéric Girard|Girard]], 1852)</small>||long-nosed leopard lizard ||[[United States]] from [[Oregon]] to [[Idaho]] in the north and from [[California]] to [[Texas]] in the south, south to northern [[Mexico]] in [[Baja California]], [[Sonora]], [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], [[Coahuila]], and [[Zacatecas]]. |- |}

''[[Nota bene]]'': A [[Binomial nomenclature|binomial authority]] in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Gambelia''.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== {{commons category|Gambelia}} *[[Spencer Fullerton Baird|Baird SF]] (1859). ''United States and Mexican Boundary Survey, Under the Order of Lieu. Col. W.H. Emory, Major First Cavalry, and United States Commissioner''. [Volume 2, Part 2]. ''Reptiles of the Boundary, with Notes by the Naturalists of the Survey''. Washington, District of Columbia: Department of the Interior. 35 pp. + Plates I-XLI. (''Gambelia'', new genus, p.&nbsp;7). *[[Hobart Muir Smith|Smith HM]], [[species:Edmund Darrell Brodie Jr.|Brodie ED Jr]] (1982). ''Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification''. New York: Golden Press. 240 pp. {{ISBN|0-307-13666-3}}. (Genus ''Gambelia'', p.&nbsp;108).

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[[Category:Gambelia (lizard)| ]] [[Category:Lizard genera]] [[Category:Taxa named by Spencer Fullerton Baird]]

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