THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-other lizards)    Teiidae  

Desert Grassland Whiptail
Aspidoscelis uniparens (Wright and Lowe, 1965)
as-pid-OSS-uh-lis — yoo-nih-PAIR-enz

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Cole et al. (2017, Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 161: 285–321) identified two putative natural hybrids between this species and A. arizonae (as A. inornatus); the laboratory-generated species A. priscillae is a product of hybridization between members of the same two species. (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: 2023.04.08.10.28.09)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.31 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Arizona New Mexico Texas

Taxonomic Etymology:
A parthenogenetic whiptail species composed entirely of females.
Aspidoscelis — Greek for “shield leg.”
uniparens — Latin uni- = “one” + parens = “parent” — meaning “one parent,” referring to its unisexual (parthenogenetic) reproduction.

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:
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 Wright, John W. and Lowe, Charles H. The rediscovery of Cnemidophorus arizonae Van Denburgh. Journal of the Arizona Academy of Science 3(3):164-168
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 Maslin, T. Paul. Conclusive evidence of parthenogenesis in three species of Cnemidophorus (Teiidae). Copeia 1971(1):156-158
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
2024 Pillod, David S., Michelle I. Jeffries, Robert S. Arkle, and Deanna H. Olson. Climate futures for lizards and snakes in western North America may result in new species management issues Ecology and Evolution 14(10):1-23

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 15:53 CT