Anniella stebbinsi

The former A. pulchra was divided into five species by Papenfuss and Parham (2013). Some of the standard English names proposed by Papenfuss and Parham (2013) have been changed in the interest of brevity and descriptive accuracy (Crother 2017).

Range extends from southwestern California to northwestern Baja California; dozens of extant occurrences, but much habitat has been lost/degraded by urbanization in southern coastal California; locally common in remaining habitat; continuing decline in extent and quality of habitat.

Range includes southwestern California south of the Transverse Ranges, with disjunct populations to the north in the Tehachapi Mountains and Piute Mountains (Papenfuss and Parham 2013), and northwestern Baja California; south to Arroyo Pabellon, northwestern Baja California (Stebbins 2003), and inland in Baja California to at least La Rumarosa north of the Sierra Juarez (Hunt 1983, Grismer 2002); also Los Coronados and Todos Santos islands in Baja California. Elevational range extends from sea level to at least 900 meters (Papenfuss and Parham 2013).

Continuous sandy habitat extends along Caliente Creek between Caliente Post Office and the Sand Ridge Preserve, the type locality for A. grinnelli. Additional fieldwork is needed to document the location of an almost certain contact between these two species. Contact between A. stebbinsi and A. pulchra is likely along the coast of California between the cities of Santa Barbara and Oxnard and along the southeastern slope of the Tehachapi Mountains, where A. pulchra is common in Joshua-tree/juniper woodland (Papenfuss and Parham 2013).

This species appears to be represented by a somewhat large number of occurrences and locations (as defined by IUCN).

The species has been extirpated from much of southern California as a result of urbanization and agricultural development (Jennings and Hayes 1994). These factors have fragmented the habitat. Excessive human recreational use and invasive exotic plants (e.g., "ice plant") may degrade the habitat of coastal dune populations. Much of the coastal dune habitat of this species between Ventura County (California) and the U.S.-Mexico border has been destroyed by urban development (Papenfuss and Parham 2013). In Baja California, the population is being negatively impacted by urbanization between Tijuana and Ensenada. However, most localities for this species are not along the coast (e.g., see map in Jennings and Hayes 1994). Other potentially significant threats include degradation of habitat by sand mining and off-road vehicle use (Stebbins 2003).