Crotaphytus

Crotaphytus
Crotaphytus collaris
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Iguania
Family: Crotaphytidae
Genus: Crotaphytus
Holbrook, 1842

Crotaphytus is a genus of lizards, commonly known as collared lizards, in the family Crotaphytidae. Member species are small to medium-sized predators indigenous to the American southwest, Baja peninsula, and Mexico. Including the tail, they can be as small as 7 in (18 cm) or as long as 14 in (36 cm), and are characterized by distinct bands of black or brown around the neck, to which their common names refer.

Species[edit]

A collared lizard posing on a rock in Colorado

The following species and subspecies are recognized as being valid.[1]

Image Scientific name Common name Distribution
Crotaphytus antiquus Axtell & Webb, 1995 venerable collared lizard Sierra San Lorenzo, Sierra Texas, and Sierra Solis in extreme southwestern Coahuila state, Mexico
Crotaphytus bicinctores N.M. Smith & W.W. Tanner, 1972 Great Basin collared lizard or desert collared lizard Western United States
Crotaphytus collaris (Say, 1823) common collared lizard Mexico and the south-central United States (Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas)
Crotaphytus dickersonae K.P. Schmidt, 1922 Sonoran collared lizard Mexico
Crotaphytus grismeri McGuire, 1994 Grismer's collared lizard Baja California, Mexico
Crotaphytus insularis Van Denburgh & Slevin, 1921 eastern collared lizard Mexico
Crotaphytus nebrius Axtell & Montanucci, 1977 Sonoran collared lizard U.S. state of Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora
Crotaphytus reticulatus Baird, 1858 reticulated collared lizard US state of Texas, Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas)
Crotaphytus vestigium N.M. Smith & W.W. Tanner, 1972 Baja California collared lizard California (United States) and Baja California (Mexico)

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses or a trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species or subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Crotaphytus.

Symbol[edit]

In 1969, Oklahoma designated its first state reptile when it chose the collared lizard.[2]

References[edit]

Citations
  1. ^ Genus Crotaphytus at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
  2. ^ Shearer 1994, p. 309
Bibliography
  • Holbrook JE (1842). North American Herpetology; or, A Description of the Reptiles Inhabiting the United States. Vol. II. (Second edition). Philadelphia: J. Dobson. 142 pp. (Crotaphytus, new genus, p. 79).
  • Shearer, Benjamin F.; Shearer, Barbara S. (1994). State Names, Seals, Flags, and Symbols (2nd ed.). Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-28862-3.

External links[edit]