You are here » home advanced search Holbrookia elegans

Holbrookia elegans BOCOURT, 1874

IUCN Red List - Holbrookia elegans - Least Concern, LC

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Holbrookia elegans?

Add your own observation of
Holbrookia elegans »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaPhrynosomatidae, Phrynosomatinae, Callisaurini; Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesHolbrookia elegans elegans BOCOURT 1874
Holbrookia elegans thermophila BARBOUR 1921 
Common NamesE: Elegant Earless Lizard
S: Lagartija Sorda Elegante 
SynonymHolbrookia elegans BOCOURT 1874
Holbrookia elegans — BOULENGER 1885: 209
Holbrookia elegans — SCHMIDT 1922: 714
Holbrookia elegans elegans — SMITH 1935: 191
Holbrookia elegans elegans — TAYLOR 1938: 517
Holbrookia maculata elegans — LEWIS 1956
Holbrookia maculata elegans — HARDY 1969: 125
Holbrookia elegans elegans — WEBB 1984
Holbrookia elegans — LEMOS-ESPINAL et al. 2002
Holbrookia elegans — LEMOS-ESPINAL & SMITH 2007
Holbrookia elegans — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009
Holbrookia elegans — HEIMES 2022

Holbrookia elegans thermophila BARBOUR 1921
Holbrookia thermophila BARBOUR 1921
Holbrookia elegans thermophila — SMITH 1935: 194
Holbrookia elegans thermophila — TAYLOR 1938: 482
Holbrookia maculata thermophila — SMITH 1946
Holbrookia maculata thermophila — CROTHER 2000: 46
Holbrookia elegans thermophila — LEMOS-ESPINAL et al. 2004
Holbrookia elegans thermophila — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009
Holbrookia elegans thermophila — CROTHER et al. 2012
Holbrookia elegans thermophila — SCHULZ 2021 
DistributionUSA (New Mexico, Arizona), Mexico (Chihuahua, Durango, Nayarit) (LEMOS-ESPINAL et al. 2002, HR 33: 225, Sonora)

elegans: Mexico (Sinaloa); Type locality: Mazatlan, Mexico.

thermophila: Mexico (Sonora)  
Reproductionoviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) 
TypesTypes: unlocated; not in MNHN (Ivan Ineich, pers. comm. 21 Dec 2013).
Holotype: MCZ R-14281 [thermophila] 
Diagnosis 
CommentHolbrookia maculata thermophila is closely related to the Mexican endemic H. m elegans and these two may be considered as a separate species (H. elegans) and subspecies (H. e. thermophila) fide WILGENBUSCH & DE QUEIROZ 2000 and CROTHER 2000.

Habitat and range: H. elegans appears to be a Pacific lowland species while approximans is an upland species, found in the Sierra Madre Occidental and areas eastward. 
EtymologyFrom the Latin ēlegāns meaning elegant. 
References
  • Axtell, Ralph W. 1956. A solution to the long neglected Holbrookia lacerata problem, and the description of two new subspecies of Holbrookia. Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of Sciences 10 (11): 163-179
  • 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
  • Barbour, T. 1921. A new lizard from Guaymas, Mexico. Proc. New England Zool. Club. 7: 79-80 - get paper here
  • Bezy, R. L., P. C. Rosen, T. R. Van Devender, and E. F. Enderson. 2017. Southern distributional limits of the Sonoran Desert herpetofauna along the mainland coast of northwestern Mexico. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4(1): 138–167 - get paper here
  • Bezy, R.L. 2010. Elegant Earless Lizard, Holbrookia elegans Bocourt, 1874. Herpetofauna of the 100 Mile Circle. Sonoran Herpetologist 23 (12):177-180. - 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
  • 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
  • Burt, Charles E. 1933. Some lizards from the Great Basin of the West and adjacent areas, with comments on the status of various forms. American Midland Naturalist 14: 228-250 - get paper here
  • Burt, Charles E. 1935. Further records of the ecology and distribution of amphibians and reptiles in the middle west. American Midland Naturalist 16 (3): 311-336 - 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.
  • Cope, E.D. 1880. On the zoological position of Texas. Bull. US Natl. Mus., No. 17: 1-51 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1883. Notes on the geographical distribution of batrachia and reptilia in western North America. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 35: 10-35 - get paper here
  • Crother, B. I. 2000. Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North America north of Mexico, with comments regarding confidence in our understanding. Herpetological Circular 29: 1-82
  • 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
  • de Queiroz, K. 1989. Morphological and biochemical evolution in the sand lizards. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley. [
  • 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.
  • Dost, W. 2005. Stichpunktartige Bemerkungen zu Pflege und zucht diverser Iguaniden. Iguana Rundschreiben 18 (1): 16-24
  • Duellman, William E. 1955. Notes on reptiles and amphibians from Arizona. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan (569): 1-14 - get paper here
  • Eaton, Theodore H., Jr 1935. Report on amphibians and reptiles of the Navajo country. Bulletin 3. Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley Expedition : 1-20 - get paper here
  • 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
  • FLESCH, AARON D.; DON E. SWANN, DALE S. TURNER, AND BRIAN F. POWELL 2010. HERPETOFAUNA OF THE RINCON MOUNTAINS, ARIZONA. Southwestern Naturalist 55(2):240–253 - get paper here
  • Günther, A. C. L. G. 1885. Reptilia and Batrachia. Biologia Centrali-Américana. Taylor, & Francis, London, 326 pp. [published in parts from 1885-1902; reprint by the SSAR 1987] - get paper here
  • Hardy, L.M., & McDiarmid, R.W. 1969. The amphibians and reptiles of Sinaloa, Mexico. Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist. 18 (3): 39-252. - get paper here
  • Heimes, P. 2022. LIZARDS OF MEXICO - Part 1 Iguanian lizards. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt Am Main, 448 pp.
  • 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
  • Jones, L.L.C. 2010. Taxonomic turbulence for Holbrookia in southeastern Arizona. Sonoran Herpetologist 23 (12):170-174. - get paper here
  • Jones, L.L.C. 2010. Color patterns of Holbrookia elegans in southeastern Arizona. Sonoran Herpetologist 23 (12):174-177. - get paper here
  • Jones, Lawrence L. C. 2011. Holbrookia elegans (elegant earless lizard) pattern and reproduction. Herpetological Review 42 (3): 429-430 - get paper here
  • Jones, S. M.;Ballinger, R. E. 1987. Comparative life histories of Holbrookia maculata and Sceloporus undulatus in western Nebraska. Ecology 68 (6): 1828-1838 - get paper here
  • Laxalt, Robert 1970. New Mexico: The golden land. National Geographic 138(3):299-345
  • 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, J. A., H. M. Smith & D. Chiszar 2000. New distributional and variational data on some speices of lizards from Chihuahua, Mexico. Bull. Chicago Herp. Soc. 35(8):181-187 - 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, Julio A. (ed.) 2015. Amphibians and Reptiles of the US - Mexico Border States / Anfibios y Reptiles de los Estados de la Frontera México - Estados Unidos. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas. x + 614 pp.; ISBN 978-1-62349-306-6. - get paper here
  • 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
  • Lewis, Thomas H. and Murray L. Johnson 1956. Notes on a Herpetological Collection from Sinaloa. Herpetologica 12 (4): 277-280 - 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
  • McCranie, J.R. & Wilson, L.D. 2001. The herpetofauna of the Mexican State of Aguascalientes. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 230: 1-57
  • Moll, Edward O. 2007. XV. Holbrookia maculata Girard, 1851 - Common Lesser Earless Lizard. Sonoran Herpetologist 20 (3): 26-30 - get paper here
  • Muñiz-Martinez, Raul, Rosaura Valdez-Lares and David Ramírez-Noya. 2014. Geographical Distribution: Holbrookia elegans (Pacific earless lizard). Herpetological Review 45 (4): 659-660 - get paper here
  • Nevárez-de los Reyes; Manuel, David Lazcano, Javier Banda-Leal and Ian Recchio 2014. Notes on Mexican Herpetofauna 22: Herpetofauna of the Continental Portion of the Municipality of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. Bull. Chicago Herp. Soc. 49(8):105-115 - 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
  • Rosenblum, Erica Bree; Holger Römpler; Torsten Schöneberg, and Hopi E. Hoekstra 2010. Molecular and functional basis of phenotypic convergence in white lizards at White Sands. PNAS 107 (5): 2113–2117 - get paper here
  • Schmidt, K.P. 1921. New species of North American lizards of the genera Holbrookia and Uta. American Museum Novitates 22: 1, 6 - get paper here
  • Schmidt, Karl Patterson 1922. A review of the North American genus of lizards Holbrookia. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 46 (12): 709-725 - get paper here
  • Schulte, J.A. & de Queiroz, K. 2008. PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS AND HETEROGENEOUS EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES AMONG PHRYNOSOMATINE SAND LIZARDS (SQUAMATA, IGUANIDAE) REVISITED. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 47: 700-716 - get paper here
  • Schulz, Joschka 2021. Der Elegante Taubleguan (Holbrookia elegans thermophila) vom Wildfang über die deutsche Erstnachzucht bis zur F2 im Terrarium – oder: nix für Terraristikgegner. Elaphe 2021 (4): 66-76
  • Smith, H.M., J.A. Lemos-Espinal & D. Chiszar 2004. The Pacific Earless Lizard (Holbrookia elegans) in Chihuahua Bull. Maryland Herpetol. Soc., 40(2): 70-75. - get paper here
  • Smith, Hobart M. 1935. Notes on some Mexican lizards of the genus Holbrookia, with a description of a new species. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 22 (8): 185-201 - get paper here
  • Smith, Hobart M. 1943. The White Sands earless lizard. Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Zool. Ser.,Vol. 24: 342 - get paper here
  • Smith, Hobart M. 1946. Handbook of Lizards: Lizards of the United States and of Canada. Comstock, Ithaca, NY, xxii + 557 pp.
  • Smith, Hobart M.; Chiszar, David 1993. Holbrookia m. maculata (Northern earless lizard). USA: Nebraska. Herpetological Review 24 (4): 155 - get paper here
  • Smith, Hobart M.; Chiszar, David; Henke, Clint; Van Breukelen, Frank; Lemos-Espinal, Julio A. 1998. Geographic Distribution. Holbrookia maculata bunkeri. Herpetological Review 29 (2): 110 - get paper here
  • Smith, Hobart M.;Leonard, Arthur B. 1934. Distributional records of reptiles and amphibians in Oklahoma. American Midland Naturalist 15: 190-196 - get paper here
  • Stebbins,R.C. 1985. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
  • Taylor, Edward Harrison 1938. Notes on the herpetological fauna of the Mexican state of Sonora. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 24 (19): 475-503 [1936] - 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
  • Vázquez Díaz, Joel;Quintero Díaz, Gustavo E. 2005. Anfibios y Reptiles de Aguascalientes [2nd ed.]. CONABIO, CIEMA, 318 pp.
  • 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
  • Werning, H. 2018. Nordamerikanische Kleinleguane – Die Familie Phrynosomatidae. Reptilia 23 (131): 14-19
  • Werning, Heiko 2012. Die Reptilien und Amphibien des Südwestens. Draco 13 (50): 18-60 - get paper here
  • Wilgenbusch, J. & de Queiroz, K. 2000. Phylogenetic relationships among the phrynosomatid sand lizards inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences generated by heterogeneous evolutionary processes. Systematic Biology 49: 592-612 - get paper here
  • Zimin, A., Zimin, S. V., Shine, R., Avila, L., Bauer, A., Böhm, M., Brown, R., Barki, G., de Oliveira Caetano, G. H., Castro Herrera, F., Chapple, D. G., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Doan, T. M., Glaw, F., Grismer, L. L., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton 2022. A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–16 - get paper here
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:


Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator