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Sceloporus pyrocephalus COPE, 1864

IUCN Red List - Sceloporus pyrocephalus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaPhrynosomatidae, Sceloporinae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Boulder Spiny Lizard, Red-headed Spiny Lizard
S: Lagartija de Cabeza de Pira 
SynonymSceloporus pyrocephalus COPE 1864: 177
Sceloporus pyrrhocephalus – COPE 1885: 394 (nom. emendat.)
Sceloporus pyrrhocephalus — BOULENGER 1885: 235
Sceloporus pyrrhocephalus — BOULENGER 1897
Sceloporus pyrocephalus — SMITH 1939: 368
Sceloporus pyrocephalus — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 139
Sceloporus pyrocephalus — LINER 1994
Sceloporus pyrocephalus — BELL et al. 2003
Sceloporus pyrocephalus — LINER & CASAS-ANDREU 2008
Sceloporus pyrocephalus — HEIMES 2022 
DistributionMexico (Jalisco southeastward to Guerrero on the western escarpment of the plateau; Michoacán, Colima)

Type locality: Near Colima, Colima.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: USNM 31495, collected by John Xantus in 1863, was stated by Cochran (1961) to be the lectotype; Syntypes: USNM, INHS (= UIMNH) 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Smith 1939: 368.


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CommentThe original spelling was pyrocephalus (= fire-headed). SMITH 1939 corrected the common spelling pyrrhocephalus (= red-headed). 
EtymologyThe Greek pyro-, "fire," and kephale, "head," refer to the reddish head coloration, especially in females. 
References
  • 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
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 2, Second edition. London, xiii+497 pp. - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1897. A revision of the lizards of the genus Sceloporus. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1897: 474-522 - get paper here
  • Calisi, RM; Hews, DK 2007. Steroid correlates of multiple color traits in the spiny lizard, Sceloporus pyrocephalus. Journal of Comparative Physiology B 177 (6): 641-654 - get paper here
  • Cole, Charles J. 1971. Karyotypes and relationships of the pyrocephalus group of lizards in the genus Sceloporus. Herpetologica 27 (1): 1-8 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1864. Contributions to the herpetology of tropical America. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 16: 166-181. - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1885. A contribution to the herpetology of Mexico. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 22: 379-404 - 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
  • García, A. & Ceballos, G. 1994. GUIA DE CAMPO DE LOS REPTILES Y ANFIBIOS DE LA COSTA DE JALISCO, MEXICO. FUNDACION ECOLOGICA DE CUIXMALA, A.C. INSTITUTO DE BIOLOGIA, UNAM - get paper here
  • Garduño-Montes de Oca EU, López-Caballero JD, Mata-López R 2017. New records of helminths of Sceloporus pyrocephalus Cope (Squamata, Phrynosomatidae) from Guerrero and Michoacán, Mexico, with the description of a new species of Thubunaea Seurat, 1914 (Nematoda, Physalopteridae). ZooKeys 716: 43-62 - get paper here
  • Heimes, P. 2022. LIZARDS OF MEXICO - Part 1 Iguanian lizards. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt Am Main, 448 pp. - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. & Heimes, P. 2002. Stachelleguane. Herpeton-Verlag (Offenbach), 174 pp.
  • Leaché, A.D. 2009. 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 [print 2010] - 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 conservation checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of the State of Mexico, Mexico with comparisons with adjoining states. ZooKeys 953: 137-159 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR, Pierce LJS, Painter CW 2020. The amphibians and reptiles of Colima, Mexico, with a summary of their conservation status. ZooKeys 927: 99-125 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal, Julio A.; Christopher B. Dayer, Christopher J. Dibble, Allison Headly, Kyle H. Sheetz, Wesley O. Smith, Andrew J. Terlecky, Christy M. McCain & Geoffrey R. Smith 2025. Sexual Size Dimorphism of Two Species of the Sceloporus Pyrocephalus Species Group from Mexico Current Herpetology Aug 2025 Vol. 44, No. 2: 210-218 - get paper here
  • Oliver, James A. 1937. Notes on a collection of amphibians and reptiles from the State of Colima, Mexico. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan (360): 1-28 - get paper here
  • Palacios-Aguilar, Ricardo & OSCAR FLORES-VILLELA 2018. An updated checklist of the herpetofauna from Guerrero, Mexico. Zootaxa 4422 (1): 1-24 - get paper here
  • Ramírez-Bautista, A. & V. Olvera-Becerril 2004. Reproduction in the Boulder Spiny Lizard, Sceloporus pyrocephalus (Sauria: Phrynosomatidae), from a Tropical Dry Forest of México Journal of Herpetology 38 (2): 225-231. - get paper here
  • Schmidt, Karl P.;Shannon, Frederick A. 1947. Notes on amphibians and reptiles of Michoacan, Mexico. Zoological Series of Field Museum of Natural History 31 (9): 63-85
  • 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. & 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
 
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