THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Phrynosomatidae  

Greater Earless Lizard
Cophosaurus texanus Troschel, 1852

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.08.12.46.07)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.44 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: Arizona New Mexico Texas

First instance(s) of published English names:
Texas Spotted Lizard (Holbrookia texana: 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); Texan Spotted Lizard (Holbrookia texana: Strecker, John K., Jr. 1922. An annotated catalogue of the amphibians and reptiles of Bexar County, Texas. Bulletin Scientific Society of San Antonio (4):1-31); Banded-tailed Earless Lizard (Holbrookia texana: 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.); Greater Earless Lizard (Holbrookia texana: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Arizona Earless Lizard (Holbrookia texana scitula: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Texas Earless Lizard (Holbrookia texana texana: 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:
1852 Troschel, F. H. Cophosaurus texanus, neue Eidechsengattung aus Texas. [Cophosaurus texanus, new genus of lizards from Texas.] Archiv für Naturgeschichte [Natural History Archives] 16(1):388-394
1963 Clarke, Robert F. The comparative behavior of the iguanid lizards, Callisaurus, Cophosaurus, and Holbrookia. Dissertation. University of Oklahoma, Norman. 136pp.
1965 Clarke, Robert F. An ethological study of the iguanid genera Callisaurus, Cophosaurus, and Holbrookia. Emporia State Research Studies 13(4):1-66
1987 Smith, D. D., P. A. Medica, and S. R. Sanborn. Ecological comparison of sympatric populations of sand lizards (Cophosaurus texanus and Callisaurus draconoides). Great Basin Naturalist 47:175-185
1989 de Queiroz, Kevin. Morphological and biochemical evolution in the sand lizards. Dissertation. University of California, Berkeley. 491pp.
1992 Howland, Jeffrey M. Life history of Cophosaurus texanus (Sauria: Iguanidae): Environmental correlates and interpopulatonal variation. Copeia 1992(1):82-93
1993 Wiens, John J. Phylogenetic relationships of phrynosomatid lizards and monophyly of the Sceloporus group. Copeia 1993(2):287-299
1995 Sugg, Derrick W., L. A. Fitzgerald, and H. L. Snell. Growth rate, timing of reproduction, and size dimorphism in the Southwestern Earless Lizard (Cophosaurus texanus scitulus). Southwestern Naturalist 40:193-202
2008 Blaine, Russell A. Biogeography of the North American Southwest sand lizards. Dissertation. Washington University, Saint Louis, Missouri. pp.
2011 Bezy, Robert L. Greater Earless Lizard, Cophosaurus texanus Troschel, 1852. Sonoran Herpetologist 24(5):42-46
2013 Lambert, Shea M. and John J. Wiens. Evolution of viviparity: A phylogenetic test of the cold-climate hypothesis in Phrynosomatid lizards. Evolution 67(9):2614–2630

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Sunday 27 April 2025 10:53 CT