Isla Mejia is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...

east of the Baja California Peninsula. The island is uninhabited and is part of the

Mexicali Municipality Mexicali Municipality is a municipality (Mexico), municipality ( es, link=no, municipio) in the Mexican States of Mexico, state of Baja California. Its municipal seat ( es, link=no, cabecera municipal) is located in the city of Mexicali. As of 20 ...

Biology

Isla Mejia has six species of

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

s: '' Hypsiglena ochrorhyncha'' (coast night snake), ''

Lichanura trivirgata The desert rosy boa (''Lichanura trivirgata'') is a species of snake in the family Boidae. The desert rosy boa is native to the American Southwest and Baja California and Sonora in Mexico. The desert rosy boa is one of four species in the boa fa ...

'' (rosy boa), '' Petrosaurus slevini'' (Slevin's banded rock lizard), ''

Phyllodactylus nocticolus The peninsula leaf-toed gecko (''Phyllodactylus nocticolus'') is a medium-sized gecko. It is found in southern California (USA) and Baja California (Mexico), including many islands in Gulf of California as well as Islas Magdalena and Santa Marg ...

'' (peninsular leaf-toed gecko), ''

Sauromalus hispidus The Angel Island chuckwalla (''Sauromalus hispidus''), also known as the spiny chuckwalla, is a species of chuckwalla lizard belonging to the family Iguanidae endemic to Isla Ángel de la Guarda (Guardian Angel Island) in the Gulf of California. T ...

'' (spiny chuckwalla), and ''

Uta stansburiana The common side-blotched lizard (''Uta stansburiana'') is a species of side-blotched lizard in the family Phrynosomatidae. The species is native to dry regions of the western United States and northern Mexico. It is notable for having a unique fo ...

'' (common side-blotched lizard).

References

*{{cite book , last1 = Williams , first1 = J.H. , title = Baja Boaters Guide II: Sea of Cortez. , publisher = H.J. Williams Publications , pages = 214-215 , date = August 1996 , isbn = 0-9616843-8-0 Islands of Mexicali Municipality Islands of Baja California Islands of the Gulf of California Uninhabited islands of Mexico