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Sceloporus oberon SMITH & BROWN, 1941

IUCN Red List - Sceloporus oberon - Vulnerable, VU
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Higher TaxaPhrynosomatidae, Sceloporinae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Oberon Spiny Lizard
S: Lagartija Menor Negra 
SynonymSceloporus jarrovii oberon SMITH & BROWN 1941: 253.
Sceloporus jarrovii oberon —TRAVIÑO-SALDANA 1988
Sceloporus oberon – WIENS, REEDER & NIETO MONTES DE OCA 1999
Sceloporus jarrovii oberon — WIENS & PENKROT 2002
Sceloporus oberon — LAZCANO VILLARREAL & DIXON 2002
Sceloporus minor oberon — BELL et al. 2003
Sceloporus ornatus oberon — MARTINEZ-MENDEZ & MENDEZ-DE LA CRUZ 2007
Sceloporus oberon — LEMOS-ESPINAL & SMITH 2007
Sceloporus oberon — BANDA-LEON et al. 2015
Sceloporus oberon — LEMOS-ESPINAL et al. 2016
Sceloporus oberon — HEIMES 2022 
DistributionMexico (Nuevo Léon, SE Coahuila)

Type locality: Arteaga, Coahuila.  
Reproductionviviparous (ovoviviparous) 
TypesHolotype: USNM 105823, collected by H. M. and R. B. Smith, 15 November 1938; paratypes: FMNH, USNM 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions are available for collaborators and contributors. We will relaease that material sometime next year. Please contact us if you need any of this data earlier than that. 
CommentSynonymy: MARTINEZ-MENDEZ & MENDEZ-DE LA CRUZ 2007 synonymized S. oberon with S. ornatus or suggested to recognize it as subspecies, S. ornatus oberon, if subspecies are recognized. Given that ornatus and oberon are quite different, many recent authors haven’t accepted this synonymy though.

Distribution: Not in Nuevo León fide Nevárez-de los Reyes et al. 2016 (who consider it as a synonym or subspecies of Sceloporus ornatus, Nevárez-de los Reyes et al. 2016, pers. comm., 13 Feb 2019). Not in Coahuila fide Lazcano et al. 2019.

Habitat: Whereas S. oberon occurs in oak woodlands, S. o. ornatus lives at lower altitude in desert regions (MARTINEZ-MENDEZ & MENDEZ-DE LA CRUZ 2007). 
EtymologyNamed after Old High German oberon, "king of the fairies", applied in reference to the black dorsal color of the subspecies-a color shared with the fabulous king. 
References
  • Baird, S.F. 1859. Description of new genera and species of North American lizards in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 10: 253-256 [1858] - get paper here
  • Banda-Leal, Javier, David Lazcano, Manuel Nevárez-De Los Reyes, Carlos Solis-Rojas and Rodolfo Antonio Rojas-Malacara. 2015. Sceloporus oberon (royal lesser minor lizard) diet. Herpetological Review 46 (3): 438 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Dixon, James R. 2000. Amphibians and reptiles of Texas, second edition. Texas A&M University Press, 421 pp.
  • 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, Cruz A 2016. Amphibians and Reptiles of the state of Nuevo León, Mexico. ZooKeys 594: 123-141, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.594.8289 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal, J.A. & Smith, H.M. 2007. Amphibians and reptiles of the state of Coahuila, Mexico. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 550 pp.
  • 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
  • Ramírez-Albores, J. E., Cruz-Bazan, E. J., Encina-Domínguez, J. A., Chavez-Lugo, E. G., & Cruz-García, F. 2026. Comprehensive Terrestrial Vertebrates Inventory and Conservation Implications in the Sierra de Zapalinamé State Natural Reserve, Northeastern Mexico. Wild, 3(3), 29 - 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. 1936. Two new subspecies of Mexican lizards of the genus Sceloporus. Copeia 1936 (4): 223-230 - 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. & Brown, Bryce C. 1941. A new subspecies of Sceloporus jarrovii from Mexico. Zoological Series of Field Museum of Natural History 24 (23): 253-257 - 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
  • 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
 
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