You are here » home › advanced search › search results › Sceloporus poinsettii

Sceloporus poinsettii BAIRD & GIRARD, 1852

IUCN Red List - Sceloporus poinsettii - Least Concern, LC
iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Sceloporus poinsettii?

Add your own observation of
Sceloporus poinsettii »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

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.


Additional details (33454 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
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
  • Axtell, Ralph W. 1959. AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF THE BLACK GAP WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA, BREWSTER COUNTY, TEXAS. Southwestern Naturalist 4 (2): 88-109
  • Baird, S.F. and Girard,C. 1852. Characteristics of some new reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, part 2. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 6: 125-129 - get paper here
  • Bartlett, R. D. & Bartlett, P. 1999. A Field Guide to Texas Reptiles and Amphibians. Gulf Publishing Co., Houston, Texas, 331 pp.
  • Bell, E.L.; Smith, H.M. & Chiszar, D. 2003. AN ANNOTATED LIST OF THE SPECIES-GROUP NAMES APPLIED TO THE LIZARD GENUS SCELOPORUS. Acta Zoologica Mexicana (n.s.) 90: 103-174 - get paper here
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Bezy, Robert L. and Charles J. Cole 2014. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Madrean Archipelago of Arizona and New Mexico. American Museum Novitates (3810): 1-24 - get paper here
  • Bonetti, Mathilde 2002. 100 Sauri. Mondadori (Milano), 192 pp. - get paper here
  • Cole, Charles J.; Lowe, Charles H.;Wright, John W. 1967. Sex chromosomes in lizards. Science 155: 1028-1029 - get paper here
  • Collins, J.T. and T. W. Taggart 2009. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians, Sixth Edition. Center for North American Herpetology, 48 pp.
  • Conant,R. & Collins,J.T. 1991. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern/Central North America, 3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin (Boston/New York), xx + 450 p.
  • Cooper Jr., W.E.; Vitt, L.J.; Caldwell, J.P. & Fox, S.F. 2005. Relationships among foraging variables, phylogeny, and foraging modes, with new data for nine North American lizard species. Herpetologica 61 (3): 250-259 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Cruz-Sáenz, D., F. J. Muñoz-Nolasco, V. Mata-Silva, J. D. Johnson, E. García-Padilla, and L. D. Wilson. 2017. The herpetofauna of Jalisco, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4(1): 23–118 - get paper here
  • Davis DR, LaDuc TJ 2018. Amphibians and reptiles of C. E. Miller Ranch and the Sierra Vieja, Chihuahuan Desert, Texas, USA. ZooKeys 735: 97-130 - get paper here
  • Degenhardt, William G.; C. W. Painter, and A. H. Price 1996. Amphibians and reptiles of New Mexico. Univ. New Mexico Press, 431 pp.
  • Dixon, James R. 2000. Amphibians and reptiles of Texas, second edition. Texas A&M University Press, 421 pp.
  • Enderson, Erik F.; Thomas R. Van Devender, Robert L. Bezy 2014. Amphibians and reptiles of Yécora, Sonora and the Madrean Tropical Zone of the Sierra Madre Occidental in northwestern Mexico. Check List 10 (4): 913-926 - get paper here
  • Etheridge, Richard 1964. The skeletal morphology and systematic relationships of sceloporine lizards. Copeia 1964 (4): 610-631 - get paper here
  • Fitch, H. S. 1978. Sexual size differences in the genus Sceloporus. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 51 (13): 441-461 - get paper here
  • Giermakowski, J. T. & Christman, B. L. 2012. Geographic distribution: Sceloporus poinsettii (crevice spiny lizard). Herpetological Review 43: 619 - get paper here
  • Gloyd, Howard K.;Smith, Hobart M. 1942. Amphibians and reptiles from the Carmen Mountains, Coahuila. Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of Sciences 6 (13): 231-235
  • Goldberg, S. R. 2012. Sceloporus poinsetti (crevice spiny lizard) reproduction. Herpetological Review 43: 338-339 - get paper here
  • Greene, H. W. 1970. Beobachtungen zur Fortpflanzung von Sceloporus poinsettii (Reptilia, lguanidae). Salamandra 6 (1-2): 48-50 - get paper here
  • Heimes, P. 2022. LIZARDS OF MEXICO - Part 1 Iguanian lizards. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt Am Main, 448 pp. - get paper here
  • Jameson, David H.;Flury, Alvin G. 1949. The reptiles and amphibians of the Sierra Vieja Range of southwestern Texas. Texas Journal of Science 1 (2): 54-77 - 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
  • Knowlton, G.F. 1948. Some Insect Food of Sceloporus poinsettii B. & G. Herpetologica 4 (4): 151-152. - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. & Heimes, P. 2002. Stachelleguane. Herpeton-Verlag (Offenbach), 174 pp.
  • Lazcano D, Nevárez-de los Reyes M, García-Padilla E, Johnson JD, Mata-Silva V, DeSantis DL, Wilson LD. 2019. The herpetofauna of Coahuila, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13(2) [General Section]: 31–94 (e189) - get paper here
  • Leaché, A.D. 2010. Species trees for spiny lizards (Genus Sceloporus): Identifying points of concordance and conflict between nuclear and mitochondrial data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 54: 162–171 - get paper here
  • Leaché, A.D. & J.W.Sites, Jr. 2009. Chromosome Evolution and Diversification in North American Spiny Lizards (Genus Sceloporus). Cytogenet Genome Res 127: 166-181 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR 2020. A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Sinaloa, Mexico with a conservation status summary and comparisons with neighboring states. ZooKeys 931: 85-114 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR, Gadsden-Esparza H, Valdez-Lares R, Woolrich-Piña GA 2018. Amphibians and reptiles of the state of Durango, Mexico, with comparisons with adjoining states. ZooKeys 748: 65-87 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR, Rorabaugh JC 2019. A conservation checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Sonora, Mexico, with updated species lists. ZooKeys 829: 131-160 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR, Woolrich-Piña GA 2018. Amphibians and reptiles of the state of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, with comparisons with adjoining states. ZooKeys 753: 83-106 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal, J.A. & Smith, H.M. 2007. Amphibians and reptiles of the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 613 pp.
  • Lemos-Espinal, J.A. & Smith, H.M. 2007. Amphibians and reptiles of the state of Coahuila, Mexico. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 550 pp.
  • Lemos-Espinal, J.A., D. Chiszar & H. M. Smith 2002. The 2001 collection of Sceloporus (Reptilia: Sauria) from Chihuahua, Mexico. Bull. Chicago Herp. Soc. 37: 163-167 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal, J.A., G.R. Smith, J.B. Iverson & J.M.M. Sandoval 2014. Lack of Sexual Size Dimorphism in Sceloporus poinsettii from Durango, Mexico Bull. Maryland Herpetol. Soc., 50(1-2): 8-11. - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal, Julio A. and James R. Dixon 2013. Amphibians and Reptiles of San Luis Potosí. Eagle Mountain Publishing, xii + 300 pp.
  • Lemos-Espinal, Julio A., David Chiszar, and Hobart M. Smith 2004. Selected Records of 2003 Lizards from Chihuahua and Sonora, Mexico. Bull. Chicago Herp. Soc. 39 (9): 164-168 - get paper here
  • Liner, Ernest A.;Montanucci, Richard R.;González-Alonso, Arturo;Mendoza Quijano, Fernando 1993. An additional contribution to the herpetology of Northern Coahuila, Mexico. Bol. Soc. Herpetol. Mex. 5 (1): 9-11 - get paper here
  • Loc-Barragán JA, Smith GR, Woolrich-Piña GA, Lemos-Espinal JA 2024. An updated checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Nayarit, Mexico with conservation status and comparison with adjoining States. Herpetozoa 37: 25-42 - get paper here
  • Lukefahr, William D., Jerry D. Johnson, Vicente Mata-Silva, Arturo Rocha, Ross Couvillon and Fernanda de la Cerda. 2011. Sceloporus poinsettii (crevice spiny lizard) ectoparasites. Herpetological Review 42 (3): 433-434 - get paper here
  • Marr, John C. 1944. Notes on amphibians and reptiles from the Central United States. American Midland Naturalist 32: 478-490 - get paper here
  • Martínez-Méndez, N. & Méndez-De la Cruz, F.R. 2007. Molecular phylogeny of the Sceloporus torquatus species-group (Squamata: Phrynosomatidae). Zootaxa 1609: 53-68 - get paper here
  • McDiarmid, R.W., Copp, J.F., & Breedlove, D.E. 1976. Notes on the herpetofauna of western Mexico: new records from Sinaloa and the Tres Marias Islands. Contributions in Science, Los Angeles (275): 1-17 - get paper here
  • Moll, E.O. 2006. Sceloporus poinsettii Baird and Girard, 1852 – Crevice Lizard. Patronyms of the Pioneer West. Sonoran Herpetologist 19 (2):14-17. - get paper here
  • Nevárez-de-los-Reyes, Manuel, David Lazcano, Elí García-Padilla, Vicente Mata-Silva, Jerry D. Johnson and Larry David Wilson. 2016. The Herpetofauna of Nuevo León, Mexico: Composition, Distribution, and Conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 3 (3): 558–638 - get paper here
  • Olson, R. E. 1998. Sceloporus poinsetti: Its taxonomic affinity with mucronatus. Bull. Maryland Herp. Soc., 34 (3): 76-82 - get paper here
  • Pflugmacher, S. 1988. Sceloporus poinsetti BAIRD & GIRARD - ein lebendgebährender Leguan. Sauria 10 (3): 7-11 - get paper here
  • Ramsey, L.W. & E.T. Donlon 1949. The Young of the lizard Sceloporus poinsettii Copeia 1949 (3): 229. - get paper here
  • Rorabaugh, J C; Turner, D; van Devender, T R; Hugo-Cabrera, V; Maynard, R J; Van Devender, R W; Villa, R A; Hamilton, P; Hale, S F; Aguilar-Morales, C; Blanco-Gutiérrez, A; Wallace, E & Hedgcock, C; 2019. Herpetofauna of the Mesa Tres Ríos area in the Northern Sierra Madre Occidental of Sonora, Mexico. Herpetological Review 50 (2): 251-259 - get paper here
  • Schmidt, K.P., and D. Owens. 1944. Amphibians and reptiles of northern Coahuila, Mexico. Field Museum of Natural History, Zoological Series. Chicago. 29: 97-115. - get paper here
  • Smith, D.D. & W.W. Milstead 1971. Stomach Analyses of the Crevice Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus poinsetti) Herpetologica 27 (2): 147-149. - get paper here
  • Smith, H. M. 1939. The Mexican and Central American lizards of the genus Sceloporus. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser. 26: 1-397. - get paper here
  • Smith, H.M. & CHRAPLIWY,P.S. 1958. New and noteworthy Mexican herptiles from the Lidicker collection. Herpetologica 13: 267-271 - get paper here
  • Smith, H.M. & Taylor,E.H. 1950. An annotated checklist and key to the reptiles of Mexico exclusive of the snakes. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 199: 1-253 - get paper here
  • Smith, Hobart M. 1939. An annotated list of the Mexican amphibians and reptiles in the Carnegie Museum. Annals of the Carnegie Museum 27: 311-320
  • Smith, Hobart M. 1946. Handbook of Lizards: Lizards of the United States and of Canada. Comstock, Ithaca, NY, xxii + 557 pp.
  • Smith, Hobart M. McCarthy, C. and David Chiszar 2000. Some enigmatic identifications in Boulenger’s 1897 Sceloporus monograph (Reptilia: Sauria). Bull. Maryland Herp. Soc. 36 (4): 124-132 - get paper here
  • Stebbins,R.C. 1985. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
  • Tanner, W. W. 1970. A catalogue of the fish, amphibian, and reptile types in the Brigham Young University Museum of Natural History. Great Basin Naturalist 30 (4): 219-226 - get paper here
  • Tanner, W.W. 1987. Lizards and turtles of Western Chihuahua. Great Basin Naturalist. 47: 383-421 - get paper here
  • Treviño-Saldana, C. H. 1988. A new montane lizard (Sceloporus jarrovi cyaneus) from Nuevo León, Mexico. Revista de Biologia Tropical 36: 407-411 - 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
  • Van Devender, Thomas R.; Lowe, Charles H. Lowe, Jr. 1977. Amphibians and reptiles of Yepomera, Chihuahua, Mexico. Journal of Herpetology 11 (1): 41-50 - 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
  • Webb, R.G. 2006. Variation in the Crevice Spiny Lizard, Sceloporus poinsettii Baird and Girard. Bull. Maryland Herp. Soc. 42 (2): 65-114 - get paper here
  • Webb, R.G. 2008. Sceloporus poinsettii (Crevice Spiny Lizard). Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (856): 1-18 - get paper here
  • Webb, Robert G. 1988. Type and type locality of Sceloporus poinsettii Baird and Girard (Sauria: Iguanidae). Texas Journal of Science 40 (4): 407-415 - get paper here
  • Werning, H. 2017. Der große Treck – Teil 5. Don’t mess with Texas. Reptilia (Münster) 22 (128): 68-79 - get paper here
  • Werning,H. 2000. Sceloporus poinsetti BAIRD & GIRARD. Sauria (Suppl.) 23 (3): 535-540 - get paper here
  • Wiens, J.J. & Penkrot, T.A. 2002. Delimiting species using DNA and morphological variation and discordant species limits in Spiny Lizards (Sceloporus). Systematic Biology 51 (1): 69-91 - get paper here
  • Wiens, John J.; Caitlin A. Kuczynski, Saad Arif & Tod W. Reeder 2010. PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS OF PHRYNOSOMATID LIZARDS BASED ON NUCLEAR AND MITOCHONDRIAL DATA, AND A REVISED PHYLOGENY FOR SCELOPORUS. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 54: 150-161 - get paper here
  • Woolrich-Piña, Guillermo A, Paulino Ponce-Campos, Jesús Loc-Barragán, Juan Pablo Ramírez-Silva, Vicente Mata-Silva, Jerry D. Johnson, Elí García-Padilla and Larry David Wilson. 2016. The herpetofauna of Nayarit, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 3 (2): 376-448 - get paper here
  • Zorn, H. 2004. Die Wüste im eigenen Haus. Reptilia (Münster) 9 (48): 41-44 - get paper here
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:

As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Sceloporus&species=poinsettii

without field 'search_param'. Field 'search_param' is used for browsing search result.



Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator