THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-other lizards)    Teiidae  

Little Striped Whiptail
Aspidoscelis arizonae (Van Denburgh, 1896)
as-pid-OSS-uh-lis — air-ih-ZOH-nye

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Barley et al. (2021, American Naturalist, 198: 295–309) presented phylogenetic evidence that the populations of whiptails in the United States formerly referred to A. inornatus constitute a separate species, the oldest available name for which is A. arizonae. This taxon assumes the former standardized English name of “Aspidoscelis inornata” as the only populations formerly referred to that species that occur north of Mexico. (de Queiroz, Kevin and Lauren M. Chan. 2025. Squamata (excluding snakes) – Lizards. Pages 23-37 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2024.07.02.15.00.50)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.21 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: New Mexico Texas

Taxonomic Etymology:
A whiptail lizard native to Arizona.
Aspidoscelis — Greek aspis = “shield” + skelos = “leg” — “shield leg,” likely referring to the scaly limbs.
arizonae — Latinized toponym meaning “from Arizona.”

First instance(s) of published English names:
No historic English names have been assigned to this taxon yet.

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1896 Van Denburgh, John. A list of some reptiles from Southeastern Arizona, with a description of a new species of Cnemidophorus. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 2(6):338-349
1931 Burt, Charles E. A study of the teiid lizards of the genus Cnemidophorus with special reference to their phylogenetic relationships. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (154):1-286
1968 Wright, John W. Variation in three sympatric sibling species of whiptail lizards, genus Cnemidophorus. Journal of Herpetology 1(1-4):1-20
1970 Gorman, George C. Chromosomes and the systematics of the family Teiidae (Sauria, Reptilia). Copeia 1970(2):230-245
1971 Christiansen, James L., William G. Degenhardt, and James E. White. Habitat preferences of Cnemidophorus inornatus and C. neomexicanus with reference to conditions contributing to their hybridization. Copeia 1971(2):357-359
1971 Christiansen, J. L. Reproduction of Cnemidophorus inornatus and Cnemidophorus neomexicanus (Sauria, Teiidae) in northern New Mexico. American Museum Novitates 2442:1-48
1996 Walker, James M., James E. Cordes, Fernando Mendoza Quijano, and Efrain Hernandez Garcia. Implications of extraordinary variation in the little striped whiptail lizard, Cnemidophorus inornatus Baird (Sauria: Teiidae) in Chihuahua, Mexico. Journal of Herpetology 30(2):271-275
2002 Reeder, Tod W., Charles J. Cole, and Herbert C. Dessauer. Phylogenetic relationships of Whiptail lizards of the genus Cnemidophorus (Squamata: Teiidae): A test of monophyly, reevaluation of karyotypic evolution, and review of hybrid origins. American Museum Novitates (3365):1-61
2015 Cole, Charles J. Harry L. Taylor, and Carol R. Townsend. Morphological variation in a unisexual whiptail lizard (Aspidoscelis exsanguis) and one of its bisexual parental species (Aspidoscelis inornata) (Reptilia: Squamata: Teiidae): Is the clonal species less variable? American Museum Novitates (3849):1-20
2021 Walker, J. Martin, Brian K. Sullivan, and James E. Cordes. Sanctioned nomenclature for triploid parthenogenetic Colorado Checkered Whiptail and for other taxa of the lizard genus Aspidoscelis (Family Teiidae). Herpetological Review 52(3):550–558
2021 Barley, Anthony J., Tod W. Reeder, Adrián Nieto Montes de Oca, Charles J. Cole, Robert C. Thomson. A new diploid parthenogenetic whiptail lizard from sonora, mexico, is the “missing link” in the evolutionary transition to polyploidy. American Naturalist 198(2):295-309
2025 Taylor, Harry L., William B. Neaves, Diana P. Baumann, Charles J. Cole, and Peter Bauman. Two new color-pattern classes in the parthenogenetic Teiid Lizard Aspidoscelis exsanguis (Chihuahuan Spotted Whiptail), their ontogenetic origins, and a redefinition of pattern class T. Herpetological Review 55(3):341–349

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 15:52 CT