Sceloporus magister | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Suborder: | Lacertilia |
Family: | Phrynosomatidae |
Genus: | Sceloporus |
Species: | S. magister |
Binomial name | |
Sceloporus magister Hallowell, 1854[1] |
Sceloporus magister, also known as the desert spiny lizard, is a reptile of the family Phrynosomatidae, which is native to the Chihuahuan Desert and the Sonoran Desert.
Contents |
In the United States it is found in the states of Arizona, California, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. It is also found in the Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Durango.[2]
Males have vivid ventral colorings that easily demarcate them from other species.
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 so it is not so easily seen by predators.
Like many desert reptiles, the desert spiny lizard spends most of the day inactive in burrows. Burrows are much cooler than temperatures on the ground's surface.
Desert spiny lizards eat insects and, rarely, small plants.
Five subspecies of Sceloporus magister, including the nominate race, are recognized.
One former subspecies (Sceloporus magister monserratensis Van Denburgh & Slevin, 1921) was elevated to a species (Sceloporus monserratensis Van Denburgh & Slevin, 1921) by herpetologist Ernest A. Liner in 1994.