''Sceloporus magister'', also known as the desert spiny lizard, is a

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 ...

species of the family Phrynosomatidae, native to the Chihuahuan Desert and Sonoran Desert of North America.

Geographic range

In the United States it is found in the states of

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

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 ...

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 ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

. It is also found in the Mexican states of

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 ...

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 ...

, Chihuahua,

Coahuila Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza, is one of the 31 states of Mexico. The largest city and State Capital is the city of Saltillo; the second largest is Torreón and the thi ...

, and

Durango Durango, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Durango, is one of the 31 states which make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in the northwest portion of the country. With a population of 1,832,650 ...

Description

An adult male desert spiny lizard usually have conspicuous blue/violet patches on the belly and throat, and a green/blue color on their tails and sides."Lizards" 28. Science Reference Center Females and juveniles have large combined dark spots on their back and belly areas, and the blue/violet and green/blue coloring is absent. Both sexes have brownish/yellow triangular spots on their shoulders. A female desert spiny lizard will lay anywhere from 4 to 24 eggs during the summertime. A fully grown desert spiny lizard will reach a body length of up to 5.6 inches. Besides their bright colors, the desert spiny lizard changes to darker colors during the winter to allow them to absorb more heat from the sunshine, and become lighter during the summer to reflect the Sun's radiation. It is frequently seen doing push-ups, pushing its body up and down, as a form of territorial display. The first recorded case of Leukemia in the family Phrynosomatidae was found in this species.

Distribution

The desert spiny lizard ranges across the deserts of southern Arizona and the northeastern plateaus at elevations ranging from near sea level along the Colorado River to about 5,000 feet.

Behavior

Like many desert lizards, desert spiny lizards adjust their internal temperature by changing color so they are darker during cool times, which allows them to absorb more heat from the sun, and become lighter during warm times so they reflect more solar radiation. The desert spiny lizard also uses

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

so it is not so easily seen by predators. Usually, during the morning hours, it will be out basking in the sun on rocks or any hard surface that is in direct sunlight, but like many desert reptiles, it will seek shelter, usually underground in burrows or any suitable cover that provides shade, during the hottest part of the day in the summertime, as shade provides cooler temperatures than on the ground's surface. It hibernates in late fall and during the cold months of winter before re-emerging in spring.

Habitat

Biotic communities including Sonoran Desertscrub, Great Basin Desertscrub, Semidesert Grassland, Interior

Chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...

, and woodlands are home to this lizard. It is usually encountered on lower slopes, bajadas, plains, and low valleys, often in the branches of trees or in the vicinity of ground cover such as wood piles, rock piles, and

pack rat A pack rat or packrat, also called a woodrat or trade rat, are any species in the North and Central American rodent genus ''Neotoma''. Pack rats have a rat-like appearance, with long tails, large ears, and large, black eyes. Pack rats are notice ...

nests. The desert spiny lizard is a primarily arboreal species that prefer cottonwood, yucca, Joshua trees, and ironwood.

Diet

The desert spiny lizard feeds on a variety of insects including ants, beetles, and caterpillars. It also feeds on spiders, centipedes, and small lizards.

Subspecies

Four

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 ...

of ''Sceloporus magister'', including the nominate race, are recognized. * ''S. m. bimaculosus'' Phelan & Brattstrom, 1955 * ''S. m. cephaloflavus'' W. Tanner, 1955 * ''S. m. magister'' Hallowell, 1854 * ''S. m. transversus'' Phelan & Brattstrom, 1955 ''Sceloporus magister monserratensis'' ( Van Denburgh & Slevin, 1921) was elevated to 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), ...

('' Sceloporus monserratensis'') by

herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

Ernest A. Liner in 1994. ''Sceloporus magister uniformis'' was elevated to species status in 2006 ('' Sceloporus uniformis)'', when genetic analysis revealed that it is sufficiently distinct to merit classification as its own species.

References

* * * "Desert Spiny Lizard." Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Craig Ivanyi. Web.23 Mar. 2015 "Lizards." Reptiles & Amphibians Of The West (1974): 28. Science Reference Center. Web. 23 Mar. 2015. Brennan, Thomas C. "Desert Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus Magister) - Reptiles of Arizona." Desert Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus Magister) - Reptiles of Arizona. N.p., 2008. Web. 13 May 2015.

External links

* {{Authority control Sceloporus Reptiles of Mexico Reptiles of the United States Fauna of the Sonoran Desert Fauna of the Southwestern United States Taxa named by Edward Hallowell (herpetologist) Reptiles described in 1854