''Holbrookia subcaudalis'', commonly known as the southern spot-tailed earless lizard, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of lizard in the genus ''

Holbrookia ''Holbrookia'' is a genus of earless lizards, known commonly as the lesser earless lizards, in the Family (biology), family Phrynosomatidae. The genus contains six recognized species, which are found throughout the Southwestern United States, ...

''. It was previously considered a subspecies of

Holbrookia lacerata ''Holbrookia lacerata'', commonly known as the spot-tailed earless lizard, is a species of phrynosomatid lizard. Geographic range It is native to Mexico, in the states of Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, and to the United States, in south- ...

Geographic range

It is found in northern

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 ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in southern

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Description

The southern spot-tailed earless lizard is overall light grayish tan in color, with two paravertebral rows of transverse light-edged dark blotches, one row down either side of the back and a second lateral row of dark, pale-edged blotches that are usually not connected to the paravertebral blotches. Adults are in total length. They have round, dark spots on the ventral surface of the

tail The tail is the elongated section at the rear end of a bilaterian animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage extending backwards from the midline of the torso. In vertebrate animals that evolution, evolved to los ...

, a characteristic which gives them both their common and scientific names. As with all species and subspecies of

earless lizard Earless lizards are two genera of small lizards native to the semiarid and grassland habitats of the Southwestern United States and Mexico. The genus '' Cophosaurus'' and the genus '' Holbrookia'' are both characterized by having no external ear ...

, they have no external

ear In vertebrates, an ear is the organ that enables hearing and (in mammals) body balance using the vestibular system. In humans, the ear is described as having three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear co ...

openings. When

gravid In biology and medicine, gravidity and parity are the number of times a female has been pregnant (gravidity) and carried the pregnancies to a viable gestational age (parity). These two terms are usually coupled, sometimes with additional terms, t ...

, females will often turn greenish yellow on neck and trunk.

Behavior

As with all earless lizards, the southern spot-tailed earless lizard is diurnal and

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores we ...

Habitat

Their preferred

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

is subhumid agricultural and nonagricultural flatlands and very low rolling hills with sparse vegetation such as small patches of grass on dark clay loam soils, with a few mesquite trees

mesquite Mesquite is a common name for some plants in the genera ''Neltuma'' and '' Strombocarpa'', which contain over 50 species of spiny, deep-rooted leguminous shrubs and small trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. Until 2022, these ge ...

, but not prickly pear cactus.

Reproduction

They are

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...

References