Holbrookia maculata GIRARD, 1851
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Holbrookia maculata
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| Higher Taxa | Phrynosomatidae, Phrynosomatinae, Callisaurini; Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | Holbrookia maculata bunkeri SMITH 1935 Holbrookia maculata campi SCHMIDT 1921 Holbrookia maculata dickersonae SCHMIDT 1921 Holbrookia maculata flavilenta COPE 1883 Holbrookia maculata maculata GIRARD 1851 Holbrookia maculata perspicua AXTELL 1956 Holbrookia maculata pulchra SCHMIDT 1921 Holbrookia maculata ruthveni SMITH 1943 |
| Common Names | E: Lesser Earless Lizard bunkeri: Bunker’s Earless Lizard maculata: Northern Earless Lizard perspicua: Eastern Earless Lizard pulchra: Huachuca Earless Lizard, Huachuca Mountain Earless Lizard ruthveni: Bleached Earless Lizard thermophila: Western Earless Lizard S: Lagartija Sorda Pequeña |
| Synonym | Holbrookia maculata GIRARD 1851: 201 Holbrookia maculata — BOULENGER 1885: 209 Holbrookia maculata — STEBBINS 1985: 116 Holbrookia maculata — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 100 Holbrookia maculata — LINER 1994 Holbrookia maculata — ROSENBLUM et al. in JONES & LOVICH 2009: 154 Holbrookia maculata campi SCHMIDT 1921 Holbrookia maculata campi — SCHMIDT 1922 Holbrookia maculata campi — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009 Holbrookia maculata flavilenta COPE 1883 Holbrookia maculata flavilenta — COPE 1900 Holbrookia maculata flavilenta — SCHMIDT 1922: 720 Holbrookia maculata flavilenta — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009 Holbrookia maculata bunkeri SMITH 1935 Holbrookia bunkeri SMITH 1935: 185 Holbrookia maculata bunkeri — WILLIAMS et al. 1960 Holbrookia maculata bunkeri — CROTHER 2000: 45 Holbrookia maculata bunkeri — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009 Holbrookia maculata dickersonae SCHMIDT 1921 Holbrookia dickersonae SCHMIDT 1921: 2 Holbrookia dickersonae — SCHMIDT 1922: 724 Holbrookia dickersonae — SMITH 1935: 188 Holbrookia maculata dickersonae — SMITH & MITTLEMAN 1943: 243 Holbrookia maculata dickersonae — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 83 Holbrookia maculata dickersonae — WILLIAMS et al. 1960 Holbrookia maculata dickersonae — ETHERIDGE 1964 Holbrookia maculata perspicua AXTELL 1956 Holbrookia maculata perspicua — NICKERSON & KRAGER 1973 Holbrookia maculata perspicua — CROTHER 2000: 45 Holbrookia maculata perspicua — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009 Holbrookia maculata pulchra SCHMIDT 1921 (see comment) Holbrookia pulchra SCHMIDT 1921 Holbrookia pulchra — SCHMIDT 1922 Holbrookia pulchra — GLOYD 1937 Holbrookia maculata pulchra — CROTHER 2000: 46 Holbrookia maculata pulchra — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009 Holbrookia maculata ruthveni SMITH 1943 Holbrookia maculata flavilenta COPE 1883 Holbrookia maculata ruthveni — LAXALT 1970 Holbrookia maculata ruthveni — CROTHER 2000: 46 Holbrookia maculata ruthveni — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009 Holbrookia maculata ruthveni — WAPELHORST 2014 |
| Distribution | USA (Arizona, New Mexico, N/W Texas, SE Utah, SW/E Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, S South Dakota, SE Wyoming, Missouri), Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Zacatecas, Guanajuato) Type locality: “opposite Grand Island, Platte River, Colorado” (SCHMIDT 1922: 719) bunkeri: Mexico (Chihuahua); Type locality: 15 miles south of Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico; campi: Arizona; Type locality: 8 miles N.W. of Adamana, Apache County, Arizona, USA. dickersonae: Mexico (Coahuila); Type locality: Castanuelas and Alamos de Parras, Coahuila, Mexico. elegans: USA (New Mexico), Mexico: Chihuahua (LEMOS-ESPINAL et al. 2002, HR 33: 225) flavilenta: N Arizona, W New Mexico; Type locality: Lake Valley, New Mexico (SCHMIDT 1922), 32°43' N, 107°34' W [Malnate 1971: 358]. maculata: N Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma perspicua: USA (N Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri) pulchra: USA (Arizona) ruthveni: USA (New Mexico) |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: SNOMNH (Sam Noble Museum, Oklahoma, also as OMNH) 10953 fide OMNH catalog; Syntype: MCZ R-167931, R-542 Holotype: KU 19236 David H. Dunkle and Hobart M. Smith; June 19, 1934. Formerly this specimen was H. M. Smith No. 80, as given in the original description [bunkeri] Holotype: AMNH 7990 [campi] Holotype: USNM [dickersonae] Lectotype: ANSP 12664 [flavilenta] Holotype: SNOMNH (Sam Noble Museum, also as OMNH or UOMZ) 10953, collected 1931 [perspicua] Holotype: AMNH 14777 [pulchra] Holotype: FMNH 29452, female; paratypes: FMNH, AMNH, UMMZ [ruthveni] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (maculata): Holbrookia maculata is in general characterized by a short tail, a character which distinguishes it fairly well from all of the species of Holbrookia except lacerata and dickersonae. From lacerata it is distinguished by the tubercular, subcarinate scales and the coloration; from dickersonae by the absence of the blue lateral patches in which the latero-ventral black markings of that species are placed. The characteristic coloration of the subspecies maculata maculata has been noted by Cope (1900, p. 293); there is usually a fairly distinct light mid-dorsal line and two dorsolateral lines, separating the dorsal series of markings, which thus appear to lie in a broad band of ground color. This color character separates it from the other subspecies of maculata. In all of the subspecies of maculata, the females usually have distinct lateroventral spots. In a series of nineteen females of m. maculata from Colorado (A. M. N. H. Nos. 1453-1471), ten have two spots on each side, four have two on one side and three on the other, five have three on each side, and one has three on one side and four on the other. Structurally, m. maculata is distinguishable from m. approximans and m. campi by having more slender and elongate upper labials, which are usually fewer in number. Fromm. approximans and m. campi and m. flavilenta as well, it is distinguished by a tendency to have smaller scales on the upper surface of the snout, usually three or four scales between the enlarged supranasals, while the other three subspecies usually have two or three internasal scales. (Schmidt 1922: 719). Description (flavilenta): “Stejneger (1890, N. A. Fauna, No. 3, pp. 109-110) has (provisionally) applied the name flavilenta to the race of Holbrookia maculata which occupies [...] northern Arizona and western New Mexico, distinguishing it from approximans, which borders its range on the south, by the more posteriorly situated lateroventral spots in the latter subspecies. The description of Cope 1900: 292 of "dorsal spots obscure or wanting, back yellow speckled" applies exactly to a series of six specimens collected by Ruthven at Alamogordo, New Mexico, about one hundred miles east of the type locality (Lake Valley, New Mex.). Specimens from the Colorado Plateau do not have this coloration, or have it only exceptionally; and to this plateau form I have applied a new name. The labials of the six specimens of flavilenta collected by Ruthven are decidedly more elongate than those of m. approximans, and in this respect they approach m. maculata. In correlation with this character, the number of upper labials, counted to include the last one which exceeds the adjacent lower labial in size, is less than in m. approximans or m. campi, which usually have six labials. In the six m. ftavilenta, five labials occur nine times, six labials three times. In m. campi, five occur six times, six occur fourteen times (Schmidt 1922: 720). DIAGNOSIS (pulchra). A slender, medium-sized species, allied to H. elegans with tail considerably longer than the body, the hindleg averaging about four-fifths of the body length; dorsal scales flat; ventral scales large, 59 to 70 from collar to anus; femoral pores few, average 11.6; dorsal spots usually sharply defined, the dorsal and lateral series often confluent, enlarged supraoculars and frontals separated by scales not much smaller than either (Schmidt 1921). DIAGNOSIS (campi). Characters of Holbrookia maaculata. Distinguished from H. m. maculata by coloration, which resembles that of approximans, and by the fewer, wider and more oblique upper labials, also as in approximans; distinguished from m. flavilenta by the same characters; distinguished from m. approximans by the longer tail and hind leg, especially of the female; tail/total length varies from .46 to .50 in female m. campi, averaging .48, .42 to .48 in female m. approximans, averaging .44; length of leg/body length ranges from .77 to .88 in female m. campi, averaging .83, .65 to .78 in female m. approximans, averaging .71 (Schmidt 1921). DIAGNOSIS (dickersonae). A large, stout bodied species, with a slightly flattened tail equal to or slightly shorter than the body; snout very obtuse; dorsal scales small, slightly convex; small granular scales between the enlarged supraoculars and the frontals; labials very short and at a high angle with the horizontal, strongly keeled, strbngly projecting; femoral pores 9-13; coloration of H. m. approximans, but with three lateroventral black spots entirely surrounded by a patch of blue, which is equally distant from axilla and groin and covers more than half the distance between (Schmidt 1921). |
| Comment | Subspecies: Holbrookia maculata pulchra has been considered a synonym of H. m. thermophila by DUELLMAN (1955) and subsequent authors. The subspecies is not listed by Crother et al. 2012. H. m. thermophila is closely related to the Mexican endemic H. m elegans and these two have been considered as a separate species (H. elegans) and subspecies (H. e. thermophila) fide WILGENBUSCH & DE QUEIROZ 2000 and CROTHER 2000. For a discussion of flavilenta see CMIWEB. Holbrookia maculata approximans is now considered as a valid species. Phylogenetics: Schulte & DE QUEIROZ (2008) showed that Holbrookia maculata is shown to be paraphyletic with respect to Holbrookia propinqua. Type species: Holbrookia maculata GIRARD 1851 is the type species of the genus Holbrookia GIRARD 1851. Distribution: based on the map in ROSENBLUM et al. in JONES & LOVICH 2009: 154 (which does not show any subspecies). Not listed for San Luis Potosí by Lemos-Espinal & Dixon 2013. Not in Sonora fide Lemos-Espinal et al. 2019. Not listed for San Luis Potosí by Lemos-Espinal et al. 2018 (checklist SLP). Not in Durango fide Lemos-Espinal (2018). |
| Etymology | Named after John Edwards Holbrook (1794-1871) and its spotted pattern (Latin “maculata”). See Moll (2007) for a short biography. Holbrookia maculata dickersonae was named after Mary Cynthia Dickerson (1866-1923), former curator of Ichthyology and Herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History (1909-1921). H. m. campi was named after Mr. Charles Lewis Camp, the collector of the type series. |
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