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Sceloporus occidentalis BAIRD & GIRARD, 1852

IUCN Red List - Sceloporus occidentalis - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaPhrynosomatidae, Sceloporinae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesSceloporus occidentalis biseriatus HALLOWELL 1854
Sceloporus occidentalis bocourtii BOULENGER 1885
Sceloporus occidentalis longipes BAIRD 1859
Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis BAIRD & GIRARD 1852
Sceloporus occidentalis taylori CAMP 1916 
Common NamesE: Western Fence Lizard, Pacific blue-bellied lizard
G: Westlicher Stachelleguan
S: Bejori de Cerca Occidental
biseriatus: San Joaquin Fence Lizard
bocourtii: Coast Range Fence Lizard
longipes: Great Basin Fence Lizard
occidentalis: Northwestern Fence Lizard
taylori: Sierra Fence Lizard 
SynonymSceloporus occidentalis BAIRD & GIRARD 1852
Sceloporus occidentalis — STEJNEGER 1893: 186
Sceloporus undulatus occidentalis — BURT 1933
Sceloporus occidentalis — STEBBINS 1985: 130
Sceloporus occidentalis — LINER 1994
Sceloporus occidentalis — WIENS et a. 2010
Sceloporus occidentalis — HEIMES 2022
Sceloporus occidentalis — HANSEN & SHEDD 2025

Sceloporus occidentalis biseriatus HALLOWELL 1854: 93
Sceloporus biseriatus var. A, azureus HALLOWELL, 1854: 93
Sceloporus occidentalis var. b, variegatus HALLOWELL 1854: 94
Sceloporus biseriatus nigro-ventris BOCOURT 1874: 199 (part.)
Sceloporus bi-seriatus — STEJNEGER 1893: 184
Sceloporus biseriatus —VAN DENBURGH 1895: 114
Sceloporus occidentalis biseriatus — VAN DENBURGH & SLEVIN 1921
Sceloporus undulatus biseriatus — BURT 1933
Sceloporus undulatus biseriatus — KNOWLTON & JANES 1934
Sceloporus occidentalis biseriatus — SMITH 1946
Sceloporus occidentalis biseriatus — CROTHER 2000
Sceloporus occidentalis biseriatus — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009

Sceloporus occidentalis bocourtii BOULENGER 1885
Sceloporus occidentalis bocourtii — BELL 1954
Sceloporus occidentalis bocourtii — CROTHER 2000
Sceloporus occidentalis bocourtii — BELL et al. 2003
Sceloporus occidentalis bocourtii — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009

Sceloporus occidentalis longipes BAIRD 1859: 254
Sceloporus longipes BAIRD 1859: 254
Sceloporus smaragdinus COPE in YARROW 1875: 572 (not BOCOURT)
Sceloporus biseriatus nigro-ventris BOCOURT 1874: 199 (part.)
Sceloporus occidentalis longipes — BELL 1954
Sceloporus occidentalis longipes — CROTHER 2000
Sceloporus longipes — PHILIPPS 2003
Sceloporus occidentalis longipes — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009
Sceloporus occidentalis longipes — BARTS 2018

Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis BAIRD & GIRARD 1852
Sceloporus frontalis BAIRD & GIRARD 1852: 175
Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis — CROTHER 2000
Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009

Sceloporus occidentalis taylori CAMP 1916: 65
Sceloporus occidentalis taylori — SMITH 1946
Sceloporus occidentalis taylori — CROTHER 2000
Sceloporus occidentalis taylori — BELL et al. 2003
Sceloporus occidentalis taylori — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009 
DistributionUSA (Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, W Utah),
Mexico (N Baja California Norte, Isla de Cedros)

biseriatus: S Idaho, southwest through Nevada and W Utah into California and the San Pedro Mártir Range in Baja California. Type locality: Borders of El Paso Creek and Tejon Valley. Restricted to El Paso Creek by SMITH & TAYLOR 1950. (El Paso Creek is in Kern Co., about ten miles
northeast of Ft. Tejon).

bocourti: USA (California). Type Locality: Restricted by Bell (1954), through lectotype designation, to Santa Cruz, Santa
Cruz Co., California.

longipes: Type Locality: Fort Tejon, California [Kern County].

taylori: Type Locality: Half-way between Merced Lake and Sunrise Trail (Echo Creek Basin), elevation 7500 feet, Yosemite National Park, California.

Type locality: “California and probably Oregon”; restricted to “Benicia, Solano County, California” by GRINNEL & CAMP 1917  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: USNM 2838, 2866, collected by Dr. J. S. Newberry during the U. S. Exploring Expedition in 1838-1842. No. 2838 is lost, and until 1996 No. 2866 was also thought to be lost (as implied by its absence in Cochran's 1961 list). Accordingly, Bell (1954) designated a neotype, MVZ 59874, collected by Robert C. Stebbins. After discovery of the existence of USNM 2866 (two syntypes), Bell et al. (2001) petitioned the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature for acceptance of the designated neotype as the name-bearer, rather than the rediscovered syntypes, as required by the Code (ICZN, 1999).
Lectotype: ANSP 8476 (Bell, 1954), collected by Dr. Heermann [biseriatus]
Lectotype: BMNH 1946.9.6.98 (formerly 1885.11.5, Santa Cruz, California, designated by Bell (1954) [bocourti].
Syntypes: (3) ANSP 8477-79; California, Tejon Valley, El Paso Creek [azureus]
Lectotype: USNM 4358 A, collected by John Xantus, designated by Bell (1954); SYNTYPE: INHS (= UIMNH) 40726 [longipes]
Syntypes; Four: USNM 8612, collected by Yarrow in 1872 [Sceloporus smaragdinus COPE in YARROW 1875]
Holotype: MVZ 5947, collected by Walter P. Taylor, 25 August 1915 [taylori]
Holotype: lost; was USNM 3072 [Sceloporus frontalis] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (occidentalis): This subspecies can be distinguished from members of the biseriatus exerge by its smaller size, and from all other subspecies by the possession of lateral, prominent, and distinctly separate blue gular semeions, or a large blue gular semeion divided by a single row of medial light scales. The chest, chin, and interabdominal semeion areas (IASA) are light-colored, often white. Five or more gular semeion scales are at least 50% blue in females, whereas at least 20 such scales are present in males (Bell & Price 1996).


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CommentSubspecies: S. o. becki has been elevated to full species.

Types: The Commission of Zoological Nomenclature has designated a neotype for Sceloporus occidentalis from the west coast ranges of North America. The neotype, originally designated in 1954, is a well preserved adult specimen of known provenance and replaces two missing syntypes which have recently been rediscovered but which are immature specimens and do not distinguish S. occidentalis from closely related taxa (Opinion 2024, Bull. Zool. Nomencl.).

Sceloporus smaragdinus COPE in YARROW 1875: 572 is a junior primary homonym of S. smaragdinus Bocourt (1873).

Illustrations: S. occidentalis was the most-photographed species in iNaturalist with >40,000 images in 2020 (Marshall et al. 2020).

S. o. longipes is the form sympatric with S. undulatus tristichus in the Pine Valley Mountains of southwestern Utah (Cole, 1983; Smith and Chiszar, 1989).

Distribution: see Leache 2009: 549 for a map.

Predation: this species seems to have developed some resistance to black widow spider venom (Thill et al. 2022).

Genome: Anusha et al. 2023. 
EtymologyNamed after the Latin words occidens, "the west," and -alis, "pertaining to".

S. o. azureus was named after Latinized French azur, "a blue color," and refers to the blue color of the dorsal scales of the syntypes.

S. o. biseriatus was named after Latin bis-, "two," and series, "series," and refers to the two, or double, dorsolateral light lines.

S. o. bocourtii was named after Marie-Firmin Bocourt, a French herpetologist most widely known for his major contributions to the “Mission Scientifique au Mexique”.

S. o. longipes was named after Latin long, "long," and pes, "foot," refer to the elongate toes.

S. o. taylori was named after the collector, Walter P. Taylor, widely travelled in the early twentieth century in Mexico as well as the United States as a member of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 
References
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