Aspidoscelis uniparens (WRIGHT & LOWE, 1965)
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Aspidoscelis uniparens
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| Higher Taxa | Teiidae, Teiinae, Gymnophthalmoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Desert Grassland Whiptail S: Huico de la Pradera del Desierto |
| Synonym | Cnemidophorus uniparens WRIGHT & LOWE 1965: 167 Cnemidophorus uniparens — STEBBINS 1985: 155 Cnemidophorus uniparens — MASLIN & SECOY 1986 Cnemidophorus uniparens — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 122 Cnemidophorus uniparens — LINER 1994 Aspidoscelis uniparens — REEDER et al. 2002 Aspidoscelis uniparens — LINER & CASAS-ANDREU 2008 Aspidoscelis uniparens — ENDERSON et al. 2009 Aspidoscelis priscillae COLE et al. 2017 |
| Distribution | USA (SE Arizona, SW New Mexico, W Texas), Mexico (N Chihuahua, Sonora) Type locality: Fairbank, Cochise County, Arizona. |
| Reproduction | oviparous; Parthenogenetic triploid species. |
| Types | Holotype: UAZ 5278, University of Arizona, Department of Zoology Holotype. MCZ R-194296 (1⁄4 SIMR 11089), a cloned adult female that also cloned herself at the SIMR; Paratypes. See Appendix 1 in Cole et al. 2017. Each individual of A. priscillae with a MCZ or AMNH catalog number, other than the holotype, is a paratype. Specimens with only a SIMR catalog number are not paratypes, as these were not included in morphological analyses, they were not preserved as permanent specimens, or they remain at the SIMR for now [priscillae] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A striped, unspotted uniparental member of the sexineatus group, with six primary light stripes and usually with some vestige of a seventh (mid-dorsal) that is not as distinct as the adjacent paravertebral stripes of the primary six. Dorsal ground color reddish-brown to black; venter immaculate; tail color bluish-green to olive-green; stripes yellowish to white; chin with bluish suffusion. Postantebrachial scales enlarged and angular; mesoptychial scales enlarged and angular; SPV, 8 or less (96%); SPV/SAB X 100, less than 11.0 (97%); femoral pores, 32 or more (95%). (Wright & Lowe 1965) 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 5135 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Cole et al. 2017 created a F1 female hybrid of Aspidoscelis uniparens x A. inornatus, resulting in what they called a new asexual species, A. priscillae. Diagnosis (priscillae). A species of the Aspidoscelis sexlineatus species group as reviewed by Lowe et al. (1970) and Reeder et al. (2002). The species is distinguished from all others in the genus by the following combination of characters: mesoptychials moderately enlarged with mostly rounded corners; somewhat enlarged postantebrachials with corners rounded or angular; two frontoparietals; usually three parietals; four supra-oculars each side; unisexual (only females exist), with reproduction by parthenogenetic cloning; body with six conspicuous longitudinal yellow or cream stripes on dark brown, gray, or black ground color (some have a partial or complete seventh vertebral light stripe); body without spots; basically no ontogenetic change in color pattern except brightness of colors and development of blue ventrally on large adults; maximum snout–vent length (SVL) about 75 mm; tetraploid number of chromosomes is 92, with four haploid sets of the sexlineatus species group (n = 23), including the four largest chromosomes being metacentric. Etymology: A. priscillae, a noun in the genitive singular case, honors Priscilla W. Neaves, who participated equally with WBN in the capture of all whiptail lizards in the 1960s that contributed early insights into the molecular genetics, origins, and speciation of parthenogens through hybridization (Neaves and Gerald, 1968, 1969; Neaves, 1969, 1971). During the first decade of the 2000s, she also participated in capturing A. inornatus and A. uniparens in New Mexico for the laboratory hybridization project that produced most of the tetraploid lineages described in Cole et al. 2017. (A. priscillae has been considered as a synonym of A. uniparens) |
| Etymology | Named after the unisexual reproductive mode in this species, referring to the single parent each individual has, from Latin parens = procreator, progenitor. |
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