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Aspidoscelis uniparens (WRIGHT & LOWE, 1965)

IUCN Red List - Aspidoscelis uniparens - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaTeiidae, Teiinae, Gymnophthalmoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Desert Grassland Whiptail
S: Huico de la Pradera del Desierto 
SynonymCnemidophorus uniparens WRIGHT & LOWE 1965
Cnemidophorus uniparens — STEBBINS 1985: 155
Cnemidophorus uniparens — MASLIN & SECOY 1986
Cnemidophorus uniparens — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 122
Cnemidophorus uniparens — LINER 1994
Aspidoscelis uniparens — REEDER et al. 2002
Aspidoscelis uniparens — LINER & CASAS-ANDREU 2008
Aspidoscelis uniparens — ENDERSON et al. 2009 
DistributionUSA (SE Arizona, SW New Mexico, W Texas),
Mexico (N Chihuahua, Sonora)

Type locality: Fairbank, Cochise County, Arizona.  
Reproductionoviparous; Parthenogenetic triploid species. 
TypesHolotype: UAZ 5278, University of Arizona, Department of Zoology
Holotype. MCZ R-194296 (1⁄4 SIMR 11089), a cloned adult female that also cloned herself at the SIMR; Paratypes. See Appendix 1 in Cole et al. 2017. Each individual of A. priscillae with a MCZ or AMNH catalog number, other than the holotype, is a paratype. Specimens with only a SIMR catalog number are not paratypes, as these were not included in morphological analyses, they were not preserved as permanent specimens, or they remain at the SIMR for now [priscillae] 
Diagnosis 
CommentCole et al. 2017 created a F1 female hybrid of Aspidoscelis uniparens x A. inornatus, resulting in what they called a new asexual species, A. priscillae.

Diagnosis (priscillae). A species of the Aspidoscelis sexlineatus species group as reviewed by Lowe et al. (1970) and Reeder et al. (2002). The species is distinguished from all others in the genus by the following combination of characters: mesoptychials moderately enlarged with mostly rounded corners; somewhat enlarged postantebrachials with corners rounded or angular; two frontoparietals; usually three parietals; four supra-oculars each side; unisexual (only females exist), with reproduction by parthenogenetic cloning; body with six conspicuous longitudinal yellow or cream stripes on dark brown, gray, or black ground color (some have a partial or complete seventh vertebral light stripe); body without spots; basically no ontogenetic change in color pattern except brightness of colors and development of blue ventrally on large adults; maximum snout–vent length (SVL) about 75 mm; tetraploid number of chromosomes is 92, with four haploid sets of the sexlineatus species group (n = 23), including the four largest chromosomes being metacentric. 
EtymologyNamed after the unisexual reproductive mode in this species, referring to the single parent each individual has. 
References
  • Bartlett, R. D. & Bartlett, P. 1999. A Field Guide to Texas Reptiles and Amphibians. Gulf Publishing Co., Houston, Texas, 331 pp.
  • Bateman, Heather L.; Howard L. Snell, Alice Chung-MacCoubrey, and Deborah M. Finch 2010. Growth, Activity, and Survivorship from Three Sympatric Parthenogenic Whiptails (Family Teiidae). Journal of Herpetology 44 (2): 301–306 - get paper here
  • Bezy, Robert L. 2020. John William Wright— Recollections of Juan Siempre Correcto. Sonoran Herpetologist 33 (3): 83-92
  • Cole, Charles J.; Harry L. Taylor, William B. Neaves, Diana P. Baumann, Aracely Newton, Robert Schnittker, AND Peter Baumann 2017. The Second Known Tetraploid Species of Parthenogenetic Tetrapod (Reptilia: Squamata: Teiidae): Description, Reproduction, Comparisons With Ancestral Taxa, And Origins Of Multiple Clones. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 161(8): 285-321 - get paper here
  • 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. 2005. Duration of movement as a lizard foraging movement variable. Herpetologica 61 (4): 363-372 - get paper here
  • Cordes, James E. and James M. Walker 2006. Evolutionary and Systematic Implications of Skin Histocompatibility Among Parthenogenetic Teiid Lizards: Three Color Pattern Classes of Aspidoscelis dixoni and One of Aspidoscelis tesselata. Copeia, 2006 (1):14-26 - get paper here
  • Cosentino, Bradley J.; Robert L. Schooley; Brandon T. Bestelmeyer; Herman Campos; Laura M. Burkett 2019. Does habitat disturbance promote geographical parthenogenesis in whiptail lizards? Evolutionary Ecology - 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
  • Cuellar, H.S. & O. Cuellar 1977. Evidence for endogenous rhythmicity in the reproductive cycle of the parthenogenetic lizard Cnemidophorus uniparens Copeia 1977 (3): 554-557. - get paper here
  • Degenhardt, William G. 1998. Geographic Distribution. Cnemidophorus uniparens. Herpetological Review 29 (1): 51 - 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.
  • Dessauer, H.C. & Cole, C.J. 1984. INFLUENCE OF GENE DOSAGE ON ELECTROPHORETIC PHENOTYPES OF PROTEINS FROM LIZARDS OF THE GENUS CNEMIDOPHORUS. Camp. Biochem. Physiol. 77B (1): 181-189 - get paper here
  • Dixon, James R. 2000. Amphibians and reptiles of Texas, second edition. Texas A&M University Press, 421 pp.
  • DOUGHTY, PAUL; GAYLEEN BOURKE, LEONARDO G. TEDESCHI, RENAE C. PRATT, PAUL M. OLIVER, RUSSELL A. PALMER, CRAIG MORITZ 2018. Species delimitation in the Gehyra nana (Squamata: Gekkonidae) complex: cryptic and divergent morphological evolution in the Australian Monsoonal Tropics, with the description of four new species. Zootaxa 4403 (2): 201–244 - get paper here
  • Eifler, D.A. 1996. Experimental manipulation of spacing patterns in the widely foraging lizard Cnemidophorus uniparens Herpetologica 52 (4): 477-486. - get paper here
  • Eifler, D.A. & M.A. Eifler 1998. Foraging Behavior and Spacing Patterns of the Lizard Cnemidophorus uniparens Journal of Herpetology 32 (1): 24-33. - get paper here
  • Enderson, Erik F.; Adrian Quijada-Mascareñas; Dale S. Turner; Philip C. Rosen & Robert L. Bezy 2009. The herpetofauna of Sonora, Mexico, with comparisons to adjoining states. Check List 5 (3): 632–672 - 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
  • 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, J.A., Walker, J.M. & Smith, H.M. 2017. Aspidoscelis uniparens (Desert Grassland Whiptail) Reproduction. Herpetological Review 48 (3): 639. - get paper here
  • Lowe, Charles H., Jr;Wright, John W. 1966. Evolution of parthenogenetic species of Cnemidophorus (Whiptail lizards) in western North America. Journal of the Arizona Academy of Science 4 (2): 81-87 - get paper here
  • Maslin, T. & Secoy, D.M. 1986. A checklist of the lizard genus Cnemidophorus (Teiidae). Contr. Zool. Univ. Colorado Mus. 1: 1-60
  • Maslin, T. Paul 1971. Conclusive evidence of parthenogenesis in three species of Cnemidophorus (Teiidae). Copeia 1971 (1): 156-158 - get paper here
  • Mitchell, J. C. 1979. Ecology of southeastern Arizona whiptail lizards (Cnemidophorus: Teiidae): population densities, resource partitioning, and niche overlap. Canadian Journal of Zoology 57 (7): 1487-1499 - get paper here
  • PERSONS, TREVOR B. & ANTHONY P. WRIGHT. 2021. ASPIDOSCELIS FLAGELLICAUDUS (Gila Spotted Whiptail), ASPIDOSCELIS UNIPARENS (Desert Grassland Whiptail), and ASPIDOSCELIS VELOX (Plateau Striped Whiptail). INTERSPECIFIC PSEUDOCOPULATION IN NATURE. Herpetological Review 52 (1): 139–140. - get paper here
  • Petix, S. 1996. Parthenogenesis: advantageous or not for a species? Reptile & Amphibian Magazine (Feb 1996): 72-78
  • REEDER, T.W.; CHARLES J. COLE AND HERBERT C. DESSAUER 2002. Phylogenetic Relationships of Whiptail Lizards of the Genus Cnemidophorus (Squamata: Teiidae): A Test of Monophyly, Reevaluation of Karyotypic Evolution, and Review of Hybrid Origins. American Museum Novitates 3365: 1-64 - get paper here
  • Stebbins,R.C. 1985. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
  • Tanner, W.W. 1987. Lizards and turtles of Western Chihuahua. Great Basin Naturalist. 47: 383-421 - get paper here
  • Turner, D. S., Van Devender, T. R., Hale, S. F., Zach, R., Martínez, R., Van Devender, R. W., ... & Paholski, C. 2022. Amphibians and reptiles of Rancho Las Playitas area, Sonora, Mexico. Sonoran Herpetologist, 35, 50-59 - get paper here
  • Walker, James M.; Julio A. Lemos-Espinal, James E. Cordes, and Hobart M. Smith 2018. Abundance, color pattern variation, life cycle, and reproduction of the triploid parthenogenetic lizard Aspidoscelis uniparens (Squamata: Teiidae) in Chihuahua, Mexico. Phyllomedusa 17 (1): 83-99 - get paper here
  • Wright, John W. & Lowe, Charles H. 1965. The rediscovery of Cnemidophorus arizonae Van Denburgh. Journal of the Arizona Academy of Science 3 (3): 164-168 - get paper here
 
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