THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-other lizards)    Teiidae  

Common Checkered Whiptail
Aspidoscelis tesselatus (Say in James, 1822 "1823")
as-pid-OSS-uh-lis — tes-seh-LAY-tus

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 A. dixoni was removed from the 8th edition of this list based on the results of Cordes and Walker (2006, Copeia 2006: 14–26). Hall (2016, Ph.D, dissertation, University Texas at Arlington) corroborated their inference that A. dixoni and A. tesselatus resulted from a single hybridization event based on phylogenetic analysis of whole mt genomes and also found no evidence of differentiation between A. dixoni and A. tesselatus based on population structure analysis of RADseq data. For the change in the ending of the species name, see note under Aspidoscelis. (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: 2023.04.08.10.28.46)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.4 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: California Colorado New Mexico Oklahoma Texas

Taxonomic Etymology:
A parthenogenetic species with a distinctive checkered or tiled pattern.
Aspidoscelis — Greek for “shield leg.”
tesselatus — Latin tessellatus = “tiled” or “checkered,” referring to the dorsal scale pattern.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Checkered Ameiva (Teius tesselata: Gray, John E. 1830. A synopsis of the species of the class reptilia. Pages 1-110 in The Animal Kingdom Arranged in Conformity with its Organization by the Baron Cuvier, member of teh Institute of France, with Additional Descriptions of all the Species Hitherto Named, and of many not before noticed. Ninth Volume. Whittaker, Treacher, and Company, London, England. pp.); Tessellated Lizard (Cenemidophorus tessellatus tessellatus: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Tesselated Lizard (Cnemidophorus tessellatus: Brown, Arthur, E. 1902. Report of the Board of Directors. Pages 5-22 in Thirtieth Annual Report of the Board of Directors of the Zoological Society of Philadelphia. Allen, Lane, and Scott, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. pp.); California Whip-tail Lizard (Cnemidophorus tessellatus mundus: Van Denburgh, John. 1922. The Reptiles of Western North America: An Account of the Species Known to Inhabit California and Oregon, Washinton, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, British Columbia, Sonora, and Lower California. Volume I. Lizards. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. 556pp.); Stejneger's Whip-tail Lizard (Cnemidophorus tessellatus stejnegeri: Van Denburgh, John. 1922. The Reptiles of Western North America: An Account of the Species Known to Inhabit California and Oregon, Washinton, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, British Columbia, Sonora, and Lower California. Volume I. Lizards. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. 556pp.); Desert Whip-tail Lizard (Cnemidophorus tessellatus tessellatus: Van Denburgh, John. 1922. The Reptiles of Western North America: An Account of the Species Known to Inhabit California and Oregon, Washinton, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, British Columbia, Sonora, and Lower California. Volume I. Lizards. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. 556pp.); Checkered Race Runner (Cnemidophorus tessellatus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1822 "1823" James, Edwin. Account of an expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819 and ‘20, by order of the Hon. J. C. Calhoun, Sec’y of War: under the command of Major Stephen H. Long. From the notes of Major Long, Mr. T. Say, and other gentlemen of the exploring party. Compiled by Edwin James, botanist and geologist for the expedition. In two vols. – with an atlas. [Volume 2]. Henry Charles Carey and Isaac Lea, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 442, with supplementary chapters and an appendix.pp.
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
1965 Zweifel, Richard G. Variation in and distribution of the unisexual lizard, Cnemidophorus tesselatus. American Museum Novitates (2235):1-49
1970 Gorman, George C. Chromosomes and the systematics of the family Teiidae (Sauria, Reptilia). Copeia 1970(2):230-245
1971 Maslin, T. Paul. Conclusive evidence of parthenogenesis in three species of Cnemidophorus (Teiidae). Copeia 1971(1):156-158
1973 Scudday, James F. A new species of lizard of the Cnemidophorus tesselatus group from Texas. Journal of Herpetology 7(4):363-371
1986 Price, Andrew H. Cnemidophorus tesselatus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (398):1-2
1996 Dundee, Harold A. Some reallocations of type localities of reptiles and amphibians described from the Major Stephen H. Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, with comments on some of the statements made in the account written by Edwin James. Tulane Studies in Zoology and Botany 30:75–89
1996 Taylor, Harry L., James M. Walker, and James E. Cordes. Systematic implications of morphologically distinct populations of parthenogenetic whiptail lizards: Cnemidophorus tesselatus pattern class D. Herpetologica 52(2):254-262
1997 Taylor, Harry L., James M. Walker, and James E. Cordes. Reproductive characteristics and body size in the parthenogenetic Teiid lizard Cnemidophorus tesselatus: Comparison of sympatric color pattern classes C and E in De Baca County, New Mexico. Copeia 1997(4):863-868
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
2003 Cordes, James E., and James M. Walker. Skin histocompatibility between syntopic pattern classes C and D of parthenogenetic Cnemidophorus tesselatus in New Mexico. Journal of Herpetology 37(1):185-188
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

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