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Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Phrynosomatidae  

Desert Spiny Lizard
Sceloporus magister Hallowell, 1854

Current SSAR Comments:
Pavón-Vázquez et al. (2024, Systematic Biology 73: 323–342) inferred three lineages within the part of the Sceloporus magister complex that occurs north of Mexico: one in the Mojave Desert, Great Basin Desert, and Colorado Plateau, a second in the Sonoran Desert, and a third in the Chihuahuan Desert. Their results indicated both earlier divergence and less gene flow between the Chihuahuan Desert lineage and the other two lineages than between those two lineages. Although the authors treated all three lineages as a monotypic S. magister, their results would seem more accurately summarized by continuing (from the previous version of this list) to recognize the Chihuahuan Desert lineage as a separate species, S. bimaculosus, and the other two lineages (which were treated as separate species in the previous version of this list) as subspecies of S. magister. The standard English names of the subspecies have been changed to reflect the geographic distributions of the lineages.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.10.13.21.21)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.69 MB

First instance(s) of published English names:
Great Fence Lizard (Sceloporus magister: Cooper, James G. 1869. The fauna of California and its geographical distribution. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 4():61-81); Fence Lizard (Sceloporus magister: Cooper, James G. 1869. The naturalist in California. The American Naturalist 3(9):470-481); Scaly Lizard (Sceloporus magister: 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); Desert Scaly Lizard (Sceloporus magister: 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 Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus magister: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Desert Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus magister magister: 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

Pertinent LIterature:
1854 Hallowell, Edward. Descriptions of new reptiles from California. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 7():91–97

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Thursday 30 January 2025 02:11 CT