Sceloporus grammicus
male S. g. microlepidotus, Mexico
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Iguania
Family: Phrynosomatidae
Genus: Sceloporus
Species:
S. grammicus
Binomial name
Sceloporus grammicus
Wiegmann, 1828
Synonyms
  • Tropidurus grammicus
    – Wagler, 1830
  • Tropidolepis pleurostictus
    Gray, 1831
  • Tropidolepis grammicus
    – Gray, 1831
  • Sceloporus grammicus
    – Boulenger, 1885
male S. g. microlepidotus, Mexico

Sceloporus grammicus is a species of lizard from Mexico and the southern United States. It is sometimes referred to as the mesquite lizard or graphic spiny lizard.[1][2]

Geographic range

Sceloporus grammicus is native to the southern United States in the state of Texas, and to Mexico in the states of Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, Coahuila, San Luis Potosí, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Querétaro, and Aguascalientes.[2]

Description

Mesquite lizard (Sceloporus grammicus) ventral view of a male

Sceloporus grammicus is a flat-bodied lizard with a tail that is slightly longer than head-body length. Adult total body length varies between 10 and 17.5 cm (3.9 and 6.9 in). The dorsum is mottled olive or gray and has a pattern consisting of 3–6 dark crossbars. The forelegs and tail have narrow crossbars. Males differ from females by having blue patches and black mottling on throat, a dark line on each shoulder, and blue patches on sides of belly, sometimes bordered in black.[3]

Reproduction

Sceloporus grammicus is viviparous.[2][4] Litter size varies between 2 and 12.[3][4] Females become sexually mature between 34 and 74 mm (1.3 and 2.9 in) in snout–vent length.[4]

Subspecies

There are four recognized subspecies of Sceloporus grammicus including the nominate race:[2]

  • Sceloporus grammicus disparilis Stejneger, 1916 — mesquite graphic lizard
  • Sceloporus grammicus grammicus Wiegmann, 1828 — southern mesquite lizard
  • Sceloporus grammicus microlepidotus Wiegmann, 1834 — northern mesquite lizard
  • Sceloporus grammicus tamaulipensis Sites & Dixon, 1981 — Tamaulipas mesquite lizard

References

  1. 1 2 Hammerson, G.A.; Vazquez Díaz, J.; Quintero Díaz, G.E. (2007). "Sceloporus grammicus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2007: e.T64107A12744035. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2007.RLTS.T64107A12744035.en. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Sceloporus grammicus at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 25 February 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Graphic Spiny Lizard". Herps of Texas. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 Ramírez-Bautista, Aurelio; Jiménez-Cruz, Elsa; Marshall, Jonathon C. (2004). "Comparative life history for populations of the Sceloporus grammicus complex (Squamata: Phrynosomatidae)". Western North American Naturalist. 64 (2): 175–183. JSTOR 41717360.

Further reading

  • Wiegmann, A.F.A. 1828. Beyträge zur Amphibienkunde. Isis (Oken) 21(4):364-383.
  • Wiegmann, A.F.A. 1834. Herpetologia Mexicana, seu descriptio amphibiorum novae hispaniae, quae itineribus comitis de Sack, Ferdinandi Deppe et Chr. Guil. Schiede in Museum Zoologicum Berolinense Pervenerunt. Pars prima, saurorum species. Berlin, Lüderitz, iv + 54 pp.
  • Stejneger, L.H. 1916. A new lizard in the genus Sceloporus from Texas. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 29:227-230.
  • Sites, J.W. and Dixon, J.R. 1981. A new subspecies of the Iguanid lizard, Sceloporus grammicus, from Northeastern Mexico, with comments on its evolutionary implications and the status of S. g. disparilis. Journal of Herpetology 15(1):59-69.
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