''Sauromalus ater'', also known as the common chuckwalla or northern chuckwalla, is a species of

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

in the family

Iguanidae The Iguanidae is a family of lizards composed of the iguanas, chuckwallas, and their prehistoric relatives, including the widespread green iguana. Taxonomy Iguanidae is thought to be the sister group to the Crotaphytidae, collared lizards (fam ...

. It inhabits the Sonoran and

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

s of the

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...

and northwestern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. Its range extends from eastern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

south to

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

and

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

Taxonomy

The common name "chuckwalla" (or chuckawalla) is derived from the

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...

word ''tcaxxwal'', or ''caxwal'', the form used by the

Cahuilla The Cahuilla, also known as ʔívil̃uqaletem or Ivilyuqaletem, are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the various tribes of the Cahuilla Nation, living in the inland areas of southern California. ...

of southeastern California. Its

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

name, ''Sauromalus'', is said to be a combination of two

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

words: ''sauros'' meaning "lizard" and ''omalus'' meaning "flat". The proper ancient Greek word for "flat" is however ''homalos'' (ὁμαλός) or ''homalēs'' (ὁμαλής). Its

specific Specific may refer to: * Specificity (disambiguation) * Specific, a cure or therapy for a specific illness Law * Specific deterrence, focussed on an individual * Specific finding, intermediate verdict used by a jury in determining the final ...

name is ''ater'',

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "black" or "dark" The United States populations of the species were previously known as ''Sauromalus obesus''; although that name is no longer officially recognized, it is still very common in the literature and it remains in many standard

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

references for North America. In 1998, Bradford D. Hollingsworth examined variations in ''Sauromalus'' and concluded that only five species should be recognized. He regarded ''S. obesus'' as conspecific with ''S. ater'', and he used ''S. ater'', which has priority, as the specific name of the combined taxon. Based primarily on the extensive use of the name ''S. obesus'', a petition to give that name precedence over that of ''S. ater'' was submitted to the

ICZN The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its formal author, t ...

. However, this reasoning was dubious and the priority of ''S. ater'' was maintained. In 2004, ICZN ruled that the name ''Sauromalus ater'' was first described by zoologist

Auguste Duméril Auguste Henri André Duméril (30 November 1812 – 12 November 1870) was a French zoologist. His father, André Marie Constant Duméril (1774–1860), was also a zoologist. In 1869 he was elected as a member of the Académie des sciences. Dum ...

in 1856, thus had precedence over the name ''Sauromalus obesus'' which was not named until 1858 by Baird.

Subspecies

Five

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognized:

Description

The common chuckwalla is a large, flat-bodied lizard with a large, rounded belly, and a wide-based, blunt-tipped tail. Reaching a total length of 20 in and a weight of . Small scales cover its body, with larger scales protecting the ear openings. The coloration of these lizards varies by location and between juveniles and adults, as well as between males and females. In adult males, the head, shoulder, and pelvic regions are black, while the midbody is light tan speckled with brown. Adult females are brownish in color with a scattering of dark red spots. Young chuckwallas have four or five broad bands across their bodies, and three or four on the tail which are lost in adulthood by males, but retained somewhat by females.

Behavior

Harmless to humans, these lizards are known to run from potential threats. When disturbed, the chuckwalla enters crevices between rocks and inflates its lungs using a gular pump. Lung inflation distends its body and wedges the lizard tightly in place.Stebbins, Robert C.,(2003) ''A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians'', 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, Males are seasonally and conditionally territorial; an abundance of resources tends to create a hierarchy based on size, with one large male dominating the area's smaller males. Chuckwallas use a combination of color and physical displays, namely "push ups", head-hobbing, and gaping of the mouth to

communicate Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not only transmit ...

and defend their territory. Chuckwallas are diurnal animals, and as they are

ectothermic An ectotherm (), more commonly referred to as a "cold-blooded animal", is an animal in which internal physiological sources of heat, such as blood, are of relatively small or of quite negligible importance in controlling body temperature.Daven ...

, spend much of their mornings and cooler days basking. These lizards are well adapted to desert conditions; they are active at temperatures up to 102 °F (39 °C). Chuckwallas

brumate Dormancy is a period in an organism's life cycle when growth, development, and (in animals) physical activity are temporarily stopped. This minimizes metabolic activity and therefore helps an organism to conserve energy. Dormancy tends to be cl ...

during cooler months and emerge in February. Mating occurs from April to July, with five to 16 eggs laid between June and August. The eggs hatch in late September.

Diet

Primarily

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat n ...

, the chuckwalla eats

creosote bush ''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush, greasewood, and chaparral is a medicinal herb. In Sonora, it is more commonly called ''hediondilla''; Spanish ''hediondo'' = "smelly". It is a flowering plant in the family Zygophyllaceae. The specific ...

flowers, leaves, fruit, and occasionally insects.

Gallery

File:Collared and chuckwallah lizards arp.jpg, With a common collared lizard (''Crotaphytus collaris'') at the Bristol Zoo. File:Common Chuckwalla (Sauromalus ater), Giant Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma asio), Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum).jpg, With a

giant horned lizard The giant horned lizard (''Phrynosoma asio'') is a species of phrynosomatid lizard which is endemic to the Pacific coast of southern Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmo ...

and a

gila monster The Gila monster (''Heloderma suspectum'', ) is a species of venomous lizard native to the Southwestern United States and the northwestern Mexico, Mexican state of Sonora. It is a heavy, slow-moving reptile, up to long, and it is the only ve ...

, at the

Bronx Zoo The Bronx Zoo (also historically the Bronx Zoological Park and the Bronx Zoological Gardens) is a zoo within Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. It is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area and the largest Metropolis, metropol ...

. File:Sauromalus ater 1.jpg File:Juvenile common chuckwalla.jpg File:Sauromalus ater 2.jpg

References

External links

Taxonomic controversy
{{Taxonbar, from=Q656553 ater Lizards of North America Reptiles of Mexico Reptiles of the United States Fauna of the Sonoran Desert Fauna of the Mojave Desert Fauna of the Colorado Desert Fauna of the Southwestern United States Reptiles described in 1856 Taxa named by Auguste Duméril