Description: Sonoran Spiny Lizards (Sceloporus clarkii clarkii) are large (6-inches snout-vent length), stocky lizards with a large head, thick neck, and blunt snout. The scales are large and spiny. Coloration is gray-brown (can be darker) with blue-green accents. The side of the neck is marked with a dark bar bordered by white. The dorsal pattern is unmarked in males, but juveniles and females have crossbars. Males have a blue patch on each side of the belly and one under the chin; females lack blue patches. Diagnostic for this species are dark bands on the forearm, described at bracelet-like crossbars.

Habitat: This lizard occurs primarily in wooded habitats of lower mountain: oak-pine woodland, tropical deciduous forest, subtropical thornforest, riparian woodland communities that penetrate into more arid landscapes from forested mountains; it also inhabits rocky areas at the lower edges of foothills and in oak-grassland communities as low as 1,060 meters. It is primarily a tree-dweller (climbs high into trees) but also can be found on the ground among rocks. Woodrat nests in trees may be used as refuges.

Range: The range encompasses central and southeastern Arizona (and disjunctly southwestern and northwestern Arizona) and southwestern New Mexico and extends southward to northern Jalisco, Mexico, including Islas Tiburon and San Pedro Nolasco in the Gulf of California. Elevational range extends from sea level to about 6,060 feet

Found in these States: AZ | NM

Diet: Feeds on insects, occasionally leaves, buds and flowers.

Reproduction: Central Arizona: eggs laid June to mid-July; most females produce 1 clutch annually, some lay second clutch in July; clutch size averages 20; females sexually mature in 22 months

Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of the relatively large and stable extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, number of subpopulations, and population size. No major threats have been identified.

Taxonomy: