Species of Xantusia are small to medium-sized, viviparous (live-bearing) lizards found in the U.S. Southwest and in northern Mexico.

Rock dwellers generally have brighter coloration, longer limbs and digits, and larger size than plant dwellers, which are generally duller, smaller, and have shorter limbs.

Species of the genus Xantusia are remarkably disjunct, with populations scattered throughout the deserts and mountains of the far western borderlands with only a handful of recorded cases of interspecific allopatry.

Based on the most current phylogenetic analyses of Xantusiid lizards, The earliest-diverging species of the genus is Xantusia riversiana.

[5] The Southern Xantusia contains X. gilberti, X. sherbrookii, X. gracilis, X. henshawi, X. bolsonae, X. extorris, and X. sanchezi.