THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Phrynosomatidae  

Elegant Earless Lizard
Holbrookia elegans Bocourt, 1874 in Duméril, Mocquard, and Bocourt, 1870-1909
hole-bruk-EE-uh — el-EH-ganz

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Recent work by Mulcahy et al. (2022, PLoS One 17: e0264930) corroborates the findings of Blaine (2008, Ph.D. dissertation, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri ) of substantial mtDNA sequence divergence between H. e. thermophila and H. e. elegans, although a large sampling gap remains, and that H. e. pulchra is not separate from H. e. thermophila, as proposed previously by Duellman (1955, Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology University of Michigan 569: 1–14).

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2025.02.04.07.56.33)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.74 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: Arizona

First instance(s) of published English names:
Mexican Earless Lizard (Holbrookia elegans: 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.); Western Earless Lizard (Holbrookia maculata elegans: 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:
1874 Bocourt, Marie F. Etudes sur les reptiles. [Studies on reptiles.] Pages 113–192 in Duméril, Mocquard, and Bocourt, 1870-1909. Recherches Zoologiques pour servir a l'Histoire de Ia Faune de l'Amérique Centrale et du Mexique. Mission Scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amér. Livraison 3. [ Zoological Research to be used in the History of the Fauna of Central America and Mexico. Scientific Mission to Mexico and America. Delivery 3]. Imprimerie Impériale [Imperial Printing Office], Paris, France. pp.
1935 Smith, Hobart M. Notes on some Mexican lizards of the genus Holbrookia, with a description of a new species. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 22(8):185-201
1954 Axtell, Ralph W. The systematic relationships of certain lizards in two species groups of the genus Holbrookia. Thesis. University of Texas, Austin. pp.
1958 Axtell, Ralph W. A monographic revision of the Iguanid genus Holbrookia. Dissertation. University of Texas, Austin. pp.
1958 Norris, Kenneth Stafford. The evolution and systematics of the iguanid genus Uma and its relation to the evolution of other North American desert reptiles. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 114(3):247-326
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
1989 de Queiroz, Kevin. Morphological and biochemical evolution in the sand lizards. Dissertation. University of California, Berkeley. 491pp.
1993 Wiens, John J. Phylogenetic relationships of phrynosomatid lizards and monophyly of the Sceloporus group. Copeia 1993(2):287-299
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
2016 Flores-Villela, Oscar, Roger Bour, and Kraig Adler. Publication history of the Mission scientifique au Mexique et dans l’Amérique Centrale, reptiles and amphibians. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 87(2016):1162–1167
2017 Bezy, Robert L., Philip C. Rosen, Thomas R. Van Devender, and Erik F. Enderson. Southern distributional limits of the Sonoran Desert herpetofauna along the mainland coast of northwestern Mexico Mesoamerican Herpetology 4(1):138-167

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 13 June 2025 05:56 CT