Spiny lizards is a common name for the genus Sceloporus in the family Phrynosomatidae. The genus is endemic to North America, with various species ranging from New York, to Washington, and one occurring as far south as northern Panama. The greatest diversity is found in Mexico. This genus includes some of the most commonly seen lizards in the United States. Other common names for lizards in this genus include fence lizards, scaly lizards, bunchgrass lizards, and swifts.
The western fence lizard is a common lizard of Arizona, New Mexico, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Northern Mexico, and the surrounding area. As the ventral abdomen of an adult is characteristically blue, it is also known as the blue-belly.
Edward Harrison Taylor was an American herpetologist from Missouri.
Sceloporus magister, also known as the desert spiny lizard, is a lizard species of the family Phrynosomatidae, native to the Chihuahuan Desert and Sonoran Desert of North America.
Sceloporus poinsettii, the crevice spiny lizard, is a species of small, phrynosomatid lizard.
The eastern fence lizard is a medium-sized species of lizard in the family Phrynosomatidae. The species is found along forest edges, rock piles, and rotting logs or stumps in the eastern United States. It is sometimes referred to as the prairie lizard, fence swift, gray lizard, gravid lizard, northern fence lizard or pine lizard. It is also referred to colloquially as the horn-billed lizard. One of its most notable behaviors is that of its escape behavior when encountering fire ants.
Holbrookia maculata, commonly known as the lesser earless lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Phrynosomatidae. The species is native to the southwestern and central United States and northern Mexico. There are eight recognized subspecies.
Sceloporus merriami annulatus, commonly known as the Big Bend canyon lizard, is a subspecies of the canyon lizard, and is endemic to southwestern Texas and adjacent northeastern Mexico.
Kenneth Lee Williams was an American herpetologist and author of books on the subject of snake biology and classification. Williams retired from teaching in Northwestern State University's biology department and received emeritus status in 2001. Williams is considered an authority on the milk snake and the herpetology of the Honduran Cloud Forest.
Sceloporus becki, also known as the island fence lizard, is an endemic lizard to the Channel Islands of California.
Sceloporus occidentalis bocourtii, commonly known as the Coast Range fence lizard, is a subspecies of Sceloporus occidentalis, the Western fence lizard.
Wyoming is home to 12 amphibian species and 22 species of reptiles.
Slevin's bunchgrass lizard is a species of lizard in the family Phrynosomatidae. The species is indigenous to the southwestern United States and adjacent northern Mexico.
Raymond Bridgman Cowles was a herpetologist and professor at University of California, Los Angeles. Born in the British Colony of Natal to American missionary parents, he emigrated to the United States in the early 1900s. He attended Pomona College as an undergrad and earned his PhD at Cornell University under Albert Hazen Wright. He is known for his research on desert ecology and reptile thermoregulation, as well as his popular books on environmental conservation. Cowles died of a heart attack in 1975 at the age of 79. An obituary called him one of America's first ecologists and conservationists.
Sceloporus jarrovii, also known commonly as Yarrow's spiny lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Phrynosomatidae. The species is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. There are two recognized subspecies.
The Yuman Desert fringe-toed lizard is a species of phrynosomatid lizard endemic to northwestern Mexico, although a hybrid population of it and Uma notata ranges north to southwestern Arizona in the United States.
Sceloporus samcolemani, also known commonly as Coleman's bunchgrass lizard, Coleman's bunch grass lizard, and lagartija de Coleman in Spanish, is a species of lizard in the family Phrynosomatidae. The species is endemic to Mexico.
