Graphic Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus grammicus)
Description: Sceloporus grammicus is a flat-bodied lizard with a tail that is slightly longer than head-body length. Adult total body length varies between 3.9 and 6.9 inches. The dorsum is mottled olive or gray and has a pattern consisting of 3 to 6 dark crossbars. The forelegs and tail have narrow crossbars. Males differ from females by having blue patches and black mottling on throat, a dark line on each shoulder, and blue patches on sides of belly, sometimes bordered in black.
Habitat: This is an arboreal lizard that occupies large mesquite trees and oaks as well as other trees including nopaleras in arid and semi-arid terrain .
Range: Sceloporus grammicus is native to the southern United States in the state of Texas, and to Mexico in the states of Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, Coahuila, San Luis Potosí, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Querétaro, and Aguascalientes.
Found in these States:
TX
Diet: Eats insects and other invertebrates.
Reproduction: Sceloporus grammicus is viviparous. Litter size varies between 2 and 12. Females become sexually mature between 1.3 and 2.9 inches in snout–vent length.
Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of the relatively large and probably relatively stable extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, number of subpopulations, and population size. No major threats have been identified. Further taxonomic research is needed to clarify the status of various populations of the S. grammicus complex.
Subspecies: Four, with just one in the United States:
Mezquite Graphic Lizard - (Sceloporus grammicus disparilis)
Southern Mesquite Lizard - (Sceloporus grammicus grammicus)
Northern Mesquite Lizard - (Sceloporus grammicus microlepidotus)
Tamaulipas Graphic Lizard - (Sceloporus grammicus tamaulipensis)
»» Kingdom: Animalia - Animals
»» Phylum: Chordata - Chordates
»» Subphylum: Vertebrata - Vertebrates
»» Class: Reptilia - Reptiles
»» Order: Squamata - Lizards
»» Family: Phrynosomatidae - North American Spiny Lizards
»» Genus: Sceloporus
»» Species: Sceloporus grammicus - Graphic Spiny Lizard
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Sceloporus grammicus", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Content may have been omitted from the original, but no content has been changed or extended.
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