Aspidoscelis scalaris (COPE, 1892)

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Higher Taxa	Teiidae, Teiinae, Gymnophthalmoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies	Aspidoscelis scalaris scalaris (COPE 1892) Aspidoscelis scalaris septemvittatus (COPE 1892)
Common Names	E: Rusty-rumped Whiptail S: Corredora Pinta Occidental E: Mexican Plateau Spotted Whiptail [septemvittata]
Synonym	Cnemidophorus gularis scalaris COPE 1892: 47 Cnemidophorus gularis semifasciatus COPE 1892 Cnemidophorus scalaris — GADOW 1906: 335 Cnemidophorus sackii scalaris — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 182 Cnemidophorus octolineatus SCHMIDT & SMITH 1944: 85 (non BAIRD) Cnemidophorus sackii semifasciatus — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 184 Cnemidophorus scalaris scalaris — WEBB 1984 Cnemidophorus gularis scalaris — MASLIN & SECOY 1986 Aspidoscelis gularis scalaris — REEDER et al. 2002 Aspidoscelis scalaris — LINER & CASAS-ANDREU 2008 Aspidoscelis scalaris — LEAVITT in JONES & LOVICH 2009: 378 Aspidoscelis scalaris septemvittatus (COPE 1892) Cnemidophorus septemvittatus COPE 1892: 40 Cnemidophorus septemvittatus — GADOW 1906: 335 Cnemidophorus sackii semifasciatus — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 184 Cnemidophorus gularis septemvittatus — MASLIN & SECOY 1986 Cnemidophorus septemvittatus septemvittatus — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 125 Cnemidophorus septemvittatus — WRIGHT 1993 Cnemidophorus septemvittatus septemvittatus — BARTLETT & BARTLETT 1999 Cnemidophorus septemvittatus — CROTHER 2000 Aspidoscelis gularis septemvittata — REEDER et al. 2002 Aspidoscelis scalaris septemvittatus — LINER & CASAS-ANDREU 2008 Aspidoscelis septemvittata — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009 Aspidoscelis gularis septemvittata — TAYLOR et al. 2012 Aspidoscelis septemvittatus — PYRON & BURBRINK 2013 Aspidoscelis scalaris septemvittatus — CROTHER et al. 2017 Aspidoscelis gularis semptemvittata — RODRÍGUEZ-CANSECO et al. 2013 (in error) Aspidoscelis scalaris septemvittata — NICHOLSON et al. 2025
Distribution	USA (SW Texas), Mexico (N/E Chihuahua, Coahuila, Zacatecas) Type locality: Not specifically designated. either “Mexican Plateau south of Chihuahua” or “City of Chihuahua”. Restricted to Chihuahua, Chihuahua by SMITH & TAYLOR 1950. semifasciatus: Big bend area or Texas and adjacent Coahuila. Type locality: Agua nueva, Coahuila (fide SMITH & TAYLOR 1950). septemvittata: USA (Texas), Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila; Type locality: “El Dorado County, California” (in error). Restricted to Marfa, Presidio County, Texas (fide SMITH & TAYLOR 1950).
Reproduction	oviparous
Types	Lectotype: USNM 14302a; paralectotypes: USNM 8319, 14302. Holotype: USNM 9248 [semifasciatus] Holotype: USNM 42141 (fide SMITH & TAYLOR 1950) [septemvittatus]
Diagnosis	Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 2072 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details.
Comment	Synonymy partly after SMITH & TAYLOR 1950. Not listed by CROTHER 2000 for North America. See also discussion in CROTHER 2000 for Cnemidophorus septemvittatus. Subspecies: LINER & CASAS-ANDREU 2008 listed 6 subspecies of Aspidoscelis gularis, most of which are now included in A. gularis. Distribution: Not listed for San Luis Potosí by Lemos-Espinal & Dixon 2013, nor Lemos-Espinal et al. 2018 (checklist SLP). Not in Durango fide Lemos-Espinal (2018).
Etymology	Presumably named after Latin scalaris, of or belonging to a flight of steps or a ladder, in reference to the ladder-like dorsal pattern in at least some specimens.
References	Baeza-Tarín, F., Hernández, T., Herr, M., Giovanetto, L., Lazcano, D., & Graham, S. P. 2025. NEW DISTRIBUTION RECORDS OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF MADERAS DEL CARMEN, COAHUILA, MEXICO. The Southwestern Naturalist, 68(4), 257-262 - get paper here Barley, A. J., Nieto-Montes de Oca, A., Manríquez-Morán, N. L., & Thomson, R. C. 2024. Understanding Species Boundaries that Arise from Complex Histories: Gene Flow Across the Speciation Continuum in the Spotted Whiptail Lizards. Systematic Biology, syae040 - get paper here Cope, E.D. 1892. A synopsis of the species of the teiid genus Cnemidophorus. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. (ser. 2) 17 (1): 27-52 [1893] - get paper here Cope, E.D. 1892. Color patterns in Cnemidophorus. Am. Nat. 25 [1891]: 1135-1136 Crother, B. I. (ed.) 2012. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians, Seventh Edition. Herpetological Circular 39: 1-92 Gadow,H. 1906. A contribution to the study of evolution based upon the Mexican species of Cnemidophorus. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1906: 277-375 (+ maps) - get paper here Jones, L.L. & Lovich, R.E. 2009. Lizards of the American Southwest. A photographic field guide. Rio Nuevo Publishers, Tucson, AZ, 568 pp. [review in Reptilia 86: 84] - get paper here Leavitt, Daniel J. , Stephen R. Goldberg, Charles R. Bursey and Christopher M. Ritzi. 2010. Aspidoscelis scalaris septemvittata: Endoparasites. Herpetological Review 41 (3): 351-352 - get paper here Maslin, T. & Secoy, D.M. 1986. A checklist of the lizard genus Cnemidophorus (Teiidae). Contr. Zool. Univ. Colorado Mus. 1: 1-60 Pilliod, D., Jeffries, M., Arkle, R. and Olson, D. 2024. Climate Futures for Lizards and Snakes in Western North America May Result in New Species Management Issues. Ecol Evol, 14: e70379 - get paper here REEDER, T.W.; CHARLES J. COLE AND HERBERT C. DESSAUER 2002. Phylogenetic Relationships of Whiptail Lizards of the Genus Cnemidophorus (Squamata: Teiidae): A Test of Monophyly, Reevaluation of Karyotypic Evolution, and Review of Hybrid Origins. American Museum Novitates 3365: 1-64 - get paper here Rivera, J.O.; Roelke, C.E.; Fujita, M.K. 2024. Natural history notes: Aspidoscelis scalaris (Plateau Spotted Whiptail). Behavior. Herpetological Review 55 (1): 96. Schmidt, Karl P.; Smith, Tarleton F. 1944. Amphibians and reptiles of the Big Bend region of Texas. Zoological Series of Field Museum of Natural History 29 (5): 75-96 - get paper here Smith, H.M. et al. 1996. Relative priority of names for members of the Eastern and Central Spotted Whiptail lineages of the lizard genus Cnemidophorus in North America. Herpetological Review 27 (3): 129-130 - get paper here Tanner, W.W. 1987. Lizards and turtles of Western Chihuahua. Great Basin Naturalist. 47: 383-421 - get paper here Taylor, Edward H. 1952. Third contribution of the herpetology of the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 34 (13): 793-815 - get paper here Valdez-Lares, R.; R. Muñiz-Martínez; E.Gadsden; G. Aguirre-León; G. Castañeda-Gaytán; R. Gonzalez-Trápaga 2013. Checklist of amphibians and reptiles of the state of Durango, México. Check List 9 (4):714-724 - get paper here WALKER, J. M., J. A. LEMOS-ESPINAL, JAMES E. CORDES, H. L. TAYLOR & H. M. SMITH 2001. Allocation of populations of whiptail lizards to septemvittatus Cope, 1892 (genus Cnemidophorus) in Chihuahua, México, and the scalaris problem. Copeia 2001 (3): 747-765 - get paper here Webb, R.G. 1984. Herpetogeography in the Mazatlán-Durango Region of the Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico. Vetrebrate Ecology and Systematics - A ribute to Henry S. Fitch; Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas, Lawrence, pp. 217-241 Zweifel, Richard G. 1959. Variation in and distribution of lizards of western Mexico related to Cnemidophorus sacki. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 117 (2): 57-116 - get paper here Zweifel, Richard G. 1961. Relationship of two whiptail lizards (genus Cnemidophorus) in western Mexico. Copeia 1961 (1): 98-103 - get paper here
External links	National Center for Biotechnology Information https://www.utep.edu/leb/chklist/herps/herps.htm http://www.wildherps.com/species/A.scalaris.html Google images

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