Holbrookia maculata

Holbrookia maculata
Holbrookia maculata, lesser earless lizard
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptiliaia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Iguania
Family:	Phrynosomatidae
Genus:	Holbrookia
Species:	H. maculata
Binomial name
Holbrookia maculata Girard, 1851

Holbrookia maculata, commonly known as the lesser earless lizard, is a species of phrynosomatid lizard endemic to the southwestern and central United States and northern Mexico.

Geographic range

H. maculata is found in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming, as well as in the Mexican states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, and Nuevo León.

Subspecies

The nine recognized subspecies of Holbrookia maculata, many of which in the past held full species status, are:

• H. m. approximans Baird, 1858 – speckled earless lizard
• H. m. bunkeri H.M. Smith, 1935 – Bunker's earless lizard
• H. m. dickersonae K.P. Schmidt, 1921 – Dickerson's earless lizard
• H. m. elegans Bocourt, 1874 – Mexican earless lizard
• H. m. maculata Girard, 1851 – northern earless lizard
• H. m. perspicua Axtell, 1956 – eastern earless lizard
• H. m. pulchra K.P. Schmidt, 1921 – Huachuca earless lizard
• H. m. ruthveni H.M. Smith, 1943 – bleached earless lizard
• H. m. thermophila Barbour, 1921 – western earless lizard

References

• Species Holbrookia maculata at The Reptile Database

• Animals of White Sands National Monument

Further reading

• Boulenger GA. 1885. Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume II. Iguanidæ, ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 497 pp. + Plates I-XXIV. (Holbrookia maculata, p. 209).

• Conant R. 1975. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. xviii + 429 pp. + Plates 1-48. ISBN 0-395-19977-8 (paperback), ISBN 0-395-19979-4 (hardcover). (Holbrookia maculata, pp. 96-97 + Plate 14 + Map 58).

• Girard CF. 1851. On a New American Saurian Reptile. Proc. American Assoc. Advance. Sci. 4: 200-202. (Holbrookia maculata, new species).

• Smith HM, Brodie ED Jr. 1982. Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification. New York: Golden Press. 240 pp. ISBN 0-307-13666-3 (paperback), ISBN 0-307-47009-1 (hardcover). (Holbrookia maculata, pp. 128-129).

• Stebbins RC. 2003. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, Third Edition. The Peterson Field Guide Series ®. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin. xiii + 533 pp. ISBN 978-0-395-98272-3. (Holbrookia maculata, p. 278 + Plate 28 on p. 90 + Map 80 on p. 484).