Desert Grassland Whiptail Lizard

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How to read a taxobox
Desert Grassland Whiptail Lizard

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Sauria
Family: Teiidae
Genus: Aspidoscelis - formerly Cnemidophorus
Species: A. uniparens
Binomial name
Aspidoscelis uniparens
Wright and Lowe, 1965

The Desert Grassland Whiptail lizard (Aspidoscelis uniparens) is an all-female species. These reptiles reproduce by parthenogenesis; eggs undergo a chromosome doubling after meiosis and develop into lizards without being fertilized. However, ovulation is enhanced by female-female courtship and "mating" (pseudocopulation) rituals that imitate the behavior of closely related species that reproduce sexually.

The lizard lives in dry deserts from central Arizona to west Texas and south into Mexico.