Petrosaurus mearnsi
(Stejneger, 1894)
PET-roh-SAWR-us — MERNZ-eye
SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
Gottscho (2015, Ph.D. dissertation, University of California at Riverside and San Diego State University), based on RADseq data, found that P. mearnsi samples were divided into northern and southern clades and populations, with P. slevini included within the southern population and sister to the remaining members of that population.
(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: 2023.04.10.08.04.19)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.37 MB
Province/State Distribution:
United States: California
Taxonomic Etymology:
Named in honor of a U.S. Army naturalist.
Petrosaurus — From Greek petra (πέτρα), “rock,” and sauros (σαῦρος), “lizard.” The name means “rock lizard,” referring to its habitat preference for rocky outcrops and cliffs.
mearnsi — A patronym honoring Edgar Alexander Mearns (1856–1916), a U.S. Army surgeon and naturalist who collected extensively in the southwestern United States and Mexico.
First instance(s) of published English names:
Mearns's Lizard (Uta mearnsi: Van Denburgh, John. 1897. The reptiles of the Pacific Coast and Great Basin: An account of the species known to inhabit California, and Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences 5():9-236);
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
The Reptile Database
GenBank
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database
Selected References:
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1894
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Stejneger, Leonhard H. Description of Uta mearnsi. A new lizard from California. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 17:589-591
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1990
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Jennings, Mark R. Petrosaurus Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (494):1-2
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1990
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Jennings, Mark R. Petrosaurus mearnsi Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (495):1-3
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