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Sceloporus poinsettii BAIRD & GIRARD, 1852

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Higher TaxaPhrynosomatidae, Sceloporinae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesSceloporus poinsettii poinsettii BAIRD & GIRARD 1852
Sceloporus poinsettii amydrus WEBB 2006
Sceloporus poinsettii axtelli WEBB 2006
Sceloporus poinsettii macrolepis SMITH & CHRAPLIWY 1958
Sceloporus poinsettii polylepis SMITH & CHRAPLIWY 1958 
Common NamesE: Crevice Spiny Lizard
S: Lagartija de las Grietas
poinsettii: Northern Crevice Spiny Lizard
macrolepis: Western Crevice Lizard
polylepis: Southern Crevice Lizard
G: Stachelleguan 
SynonymSceloporus poinsettii BAIRD & GIRARD 1852
Sceloporus poinsettii — SMITH 1939: 223
Sceloporus poinsettii — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 125
Sceloporus poinsetti — ETHERIDGE 1964
Sceloporus poinsettii — STEBBINS 1985: 127
Sceloporus poinsettii poinsettii — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 104
Sceloporus poinsettii — LINER 1994
Sceloporus poinsettii — WIENS et a. 2010
Sceloporus poinsettii poinsettii — CROTHER et al. 2012
Sceloporus poinsettii — CRUZ-SÁENZ et al. 2017
Sceloporus poinsettii — HEIMES 2022

Sceloporus poinsettii amydrus WEBB 2006
Sceloporus poinsettii amydrus WEBB 2006
Sceloporus poinsettii amydrus — WEBB 2008

Sceloporus poinsettii axtelli WEBB 2006
Sceloporus poinsettii axtelli WEBB 2006
Sceloporus poinsettii axtelli — WEBB 2008
Sceloporus poinsettii axtelli — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009

Sceloporus poinsettii macrolepis SMITH & CHRAPLIWY 1958
Sceloporus poinsettii macrolepis SMITH & CHRAPLIWY 1958
Sceloporus poinsettii macrolepis — WEBB 1984
Sceloporus poinsettii macrolepis — TANNER 1987
Sceloporus poinsettii robisoni TANNER 1987 (fide LEMOS-ESPINAL et al. 2002)
Sceloporus poinsettii macrolepis — BELL et al. 2003
Sceloporus poinsettii macrolepis — LEMOS-ESPINAL et al. 2004
Sceloporus poinsettii macrolepis — LINER & CASAS-ANDREU 2008
Sceloporus poinsettii macrolepis — WEBB 2008

Sceloporus poinsettii polylepis SMITH & CHRAPLIWY 1958
Sceloporus poinsettii polylepis — TANNER 1987
Sceloporus poinsettii polylepis — BELL et al. 2003
Sceloporus poinsettii polylepis — LINER & CASAS-ANDREU 2008
Sceloporus poinsettii polylepis — WEBB 2008 
DistributionUSA (S New Mexico, W/C Texas),
Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Jalisco, Nayarit, Sinaloa)

axtelli: New Mexico and Texas. Type locality: 21 road miles south (TX Hwy 118) of Alpine, Brewster County, Texas. The full verbatim locality in the UTEP catalog adds the phrase “at roadcut.” Using a by-road offset distance from Alpine, that roadcut was determined for this catalog entry, based on a 2020 inspection of the site, to be at 30°07.060'N, 103°34.938'W.

poinsetti: USA (west of the Rio Grande in New Mexico, Texas (according to WEBB 2006), Mexico (Coahuila); Type locality: Rio San Pedro of the Rio Grande del Norte, and the province of Sonora. Restricted to “either the southern part of the Big Burrow Mountains or the vicinity of Santa Rita, Grant Co., New Mexico, USA” (WEBB 1988)

macrolepis: Mexico (Durango); Type locality: El Salto, Durango, Mexico.

polylepis: Type locality: 18 mi. N Escalon, Chihuahua, Mexico.

robisoni: Type locality: Cuiteco, Chihuahua, Mexico.  
Reproductionviviparous (ovoviviparous) 
TypesLectotype: USNM 2952; paralectotype: USNM 2948, designated by Webb 1988
Holotype: UTEP 6190, female, collected by Robert G. Webb, 15 July 1977. [amydrus]
Holotype: UTEP 10613, adult male, collected by Jerry D. Johnson, 17 May 1985 [axtelli]
Holotype: INHS (= UIMNH) 35455, collected in 1952-3 by Barden and I. L. Firschein; paratypes: KU, BYU [macrolepis]
Holotype: INHS (= UIMNH) 21464, collected 25 June 1934 by David Dunkle and Hobart M. Smith [polylepis]
Holotype: BYU 14287, collected 19 July 1958 by W. W. Tanner and W. G. Robison [robisoni]. 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Smith 1939: 223. 
CommentOLSON 1998 synonymizes Sceloporus mucronatus with Sceloporus poinsettii.

Similar species: S. torquatus (see SMITH et al. 2000). 
EtymologyThis Latin genitive singular honors the Hon. Joel Roberts Poinsett, who promoted science and the useful arts while Secretary of War of the United States, 1837-1841, and for whom the plant genus Poinsettia was named.

Etymology (amydrus) The subspecies (and common) name is from the Greek amydros (amydr-, indistinct, dim, obscure) in allusion to the indistinct or disrupted (or absent) crossbanded pattern on the body.

Etymology (axtelli). The subspecies name honors Ralph W. Axtell, long-time summer field companion since the early 1960s, who provided most vehicular transportation, who donated many specimens of Sceloporus poinsettii (UTEP) from his private collection, and whose industry has contributed to our knowledge of Texas lizards.

Etymology (macrolepis): The Greek makros, "long," (but often mistakenly, as here, used to mean "large") and lepis, "scale," pertain to the relatively large dorsal scales in this subspecies, compared with other members of the species.

Etymology (polylepis): The Greek polys, "many," and lepis, "scale," refer to the smaller and more numerous dorsal scales in this subspecies than in the nominotypical subspecies.

Etymology (robisoni): This Latin genitive singular honors W. G. Robison, who worked with W. W. Tanner, and earned a Ph. D. at the University of California at Berkeley. 
References
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