Desert Spiny Lizard Sceloporus magister  Hallowell, 1854

Taxonomic Comments:

Grismer & McGuire (1996 Herpetologica 52(3): 416-427) recommended (page 425) that no races of this species be recognized. James A. Schulte II, J. Robert Macey & Theodore J. Papenfuss (2006. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 39: 873-880) divided the U.S. populations of this taxon into three distinct species, Sceloporus bimaculosus (Twin-spotted Spiny Lizard), Sceloporus magister (Desert Spiny Lizard), and Sceloporus uniformis (Yellowback Spiny Lizard). Leaché & Mulcahy (2007. Phylogeny, divergence times and species limits of Spiny Lizards (Sceloporus magister species group) in western North American deserts and Baja California. Molecular Ecology 16: 5216–5233), using mtDNA and nuclear DNA, concluded that this taxon represented a single geographically variable and widespread species. Collins & Taggart (2009 Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians. Sixth Edition) submitted for consideration the proposal by Schulte et al. (2006 op. cit.) to a lizard systematist group composed of Kevin de Queiroz, Bradford Hollingsworth, Jimmy A. McGuire, Richard R. Montanucci, Daniel G. Mulcahy, Robert Powell, Todd W. Reeder, Jack W. Sites, Jr., and James M. Walker, and a majority of those responding disagreed. Standard common name remains Desert Spiny Lizard.