THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-other lizards)    Anniellidae  

Big Spring Legless Lizard
Anniella campi Papenfuss and Parham, 2013
AN-ee-ELL-ah — CAMP-eye

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

(,   Museum Voucher) (,   Observation) (,   Literature Record), (,   Citizen Science), (  Fossil)
Open icons indicate questionable records; click on a marker to view details.
Occurrences:
55 Total
40 Museum
15 Other
Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.09.12.20.23.31)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.01 MB
The locality database contains over 7 million records, and geographic and taxonomic errors exist. Click on a marker to display the metadata and please report errors as you find them (to twtaggart@fhsu.edu).

Province/State Distribution:
United States: California

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named in honor of a herpetologist with major contributions to California herpetology.
Anniella — A patronym, honoring Anna, the wife of Spencer Fullerton Baird (according to some sources), or a feminine diminutive of the type locality's personal association. The name has unclear but anthropogenic origins.
campi — A patronym honoring Charles L. Camp (1893–1975), a vertebrate paleontologist and herpetologist who worked at the University of California and made significant contributions to the study of western reptiles.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Footless Lizard (Anniella pulchra: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1894 Baur, G. The relationship of the Lacertilian genus Anniella, Gray. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 17(1005):345-351
1932 Klauber, Laurence M. Notes on the silvery footless lizard, Anniella pulchra. Copeia 1932(1):4-6
1995 Bell, Christopher J., Jim I. Mead, and Leslie P. Fay. Neogene history of Anniella Gray, 1852 (Squamata, Anniellidae) with comments on postcranial osteology. Copeia 1995(3):719-726
2008 Hunt, Lawrence E. Anniella. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (848):11
2008 Hunt, Lawrence E. Anniella pulchra (California Legless Lizard). Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (850):1-14
2013 Papenfuss, Theodore J. and James F. Parham. Four new species of California Legless Lizards (Anniella). Breviora (536):1-17
2015 Wogan, Guinevere O.U., Julie Kapelke, Kevin A. Feldheim, Theodore J. Papenfuss, and Rauri C.K. Bowie. Isolation and characterization of nine tetranucleoide microsatellite loci for the secretive limbless lizards of the genus Anniella (Anguidae). Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 62:155-158

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 10 July 2026 15:38 CT