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Baja California Spiny Lizard -
Sceloporus zosteromus
Bejori de San Lucas
Cope, 1863(formerly Sceloporus magister zosteromus)
Three subspecies have been recognized
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| Adult male Red-backed Spiny Lizard Sceloporus zosteromus rufidorsum, Valle de la Trinidad, Baja California © Stuart Young |
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| Sceloporus zosteromus rufidorsum, Baja California. © Barry Mastro This lizard may have suffered an injury to its tail that did not cause the tail to break off. Instead, parts of the tail grew back in the chaotic mess you see above. (I thought it might be something attached to the tail, but I was assured it was part of the tail.) |
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| Adult male, Vizcaino Desert Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur © Stuart Young |
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| (This lizard is from a range of intergradation between S. z. rufidorsum and S. z. monserratensis [Grismer, 2001, pattern classes] so the subspecies is not known. Note that it does have a bit of red on the back below the head.) |
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| Juvenile female, Valle de la Trinidad, Baja California © Stuart Young | ||
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| Comparison of Sceloporus zosteromus (Left) Sceloporus magister (Right) from where the ranges of the two species overlap in Valle de la Trinidad Baja California © Stuart Young |
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| Habitat | ||
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| Habitat, Valle de la Trinidad, Baja California © Stuart Young | Habitat, Vizcaino Desert Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur © Stuart Young |
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| References: San Diego Natural History Museum Grismer, L. Lee. Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California, Including Its Pacific Islands and the Islands in the Sea of Cortés. The University of California Press, 2002. McPeak, Ron H. Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California. Sea Challengers, 2000. Samuel M. McGinnis and Robert C. Stebbins. Peterson Field Guide to Western Reptiles & Amphibians. 4th Edition. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2018. Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003. The Reptile Database |
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Baja California Reptiles & Amphibians
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