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Sonoran Spotted Whiptail (Aspidoscelis sonorae)

[/vc_column_text][gap size=”12px” id=”” class=”” style=””][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1313″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded”][vc_column_text]Photo by Robert L. Bezy and Kathryn Bolles[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2024″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large”][vc_column_text]Juvenile Sonoran Spotted Whiptail, Sonora, MX. Photo by Jim Rorabaugh[/vc_column_text][gap size=”12px” id=”” class=”” style=””][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2025″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” onclick=”img_link_large”][vc_column_text]Hybrid Tiger X Sonoran Spotted Whiptail. Photo by Jim Rorabaugh[/vc_column_text][gap size=”12px” id=”” class=”” style=””][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2028″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” onclick=”img_link_large”][vc_column_text]Sonoran Spotted Whiptail, Santa Cruz, Co., AZ. Photo by Jim Rorabaugh[/vc_column_text][gap size=”12px” id=”” class=”” style=””][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2026″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” onclick=”img_link_large”][vc_column_text]Sonoran Spotted Whiptail, San Rafael Valley, AZ. Photo by Jim Rorabaugh[/vc_column_text][gap size=”12px” id=”” class=”” style=””][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2027″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” onclick=”img_link_large”][vc_column_text]Sonoran Spotted Whiptail, Photo by Young Cage[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2029″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” onclick=”img_link_large”][vc_column_text]Northern Pygmy Owl with whiptail, Madera Canyon, Santa Rita Mtns. Although impossible to say with certainty, this is probably a Sonoran Spotted Whiptail, which is the most common whiptail in the wooded portions of Madera Canyon. Photo by Chris Rohrer[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Description

The Sonoran Spotted Whiptail (Aspidoscelis sonorae) is a moderate-sized whiptail (< 93 mm SVL) with a dorsal pattern of 6 distinct light stripes on a brown to chocolate-brown background in both adults and juveniles.  The stripes may fade in the oldest individuals but always remain distinct on the neck.  In the dark fields between the dorsal stripes are small, light spots that usually do not overlap the stripes; although hatchlings and young juveniles lack spots.  Rarely, adults may show blue coloration on the head, neck, limbs, tail, and sides of the body. There are 5-8 scales between the paravertebral light stripes and 74-80 granular dorsal scales around the mid-body.  The mesoptychial scales (in the gular region of the throat) and postantebrachial scales (on the central rear surface of the forearm) are distinctly enlarged.  Typically there are three (sometimes more) enlarged preanal scales. Throughout life, the long tail is brown or tan, sometimes with faint orange hues, and sometimes with an olive tint towards the tip.  The dorsal surface of the hind limbs is mottled or may have dark stripes (but not with small light spots), especially in juveniles.  The venter is unmarked and cream-white.  The Sonoran Spotted Whiptail is an all-female, parthenogenetic species.

The Sonoran Spotted Whiptail can be confused with several other whiptails in the 100-Mile Circle.  The Giant Spotted Whiptail (Aspidoscelis stictogramma) is larger (<140 SVL), has >90 granular scales around the mid-body, the stripes fade and disappear in older individuals (which are heavily spotted), and juveniles and young adults have rusty or orange-red tails.  The Chihuahuan Spotted Whiptail (A. exsanguis) is larger (< 100 mm SVL), more heavily spotted, including spots on the dorsal surface of the hind limbs, the light spots clearly intrude on the light dorsal stripes, the stripes are fainter, there are 2-8 scales between the paravertebral stripes, and it occurs mostly to the east and north of the range of the Sonoran Spotted Whiptail. Also, the tail is greenish-gray in adults, and blue or green in juveniles.  Juvenile Tiger Whiptails (A. tigris) have 4-6 light dorsal stripes, light mottling or spots in the dark fields, particularly on the sides, and the tail is usually blue to blue-green.  The mesoptychial and postantebrachial scales of the Tiger Whiptail are not enlarged. The Gila Spotted Whiptail (A. flagellicauda) occurs mostly to the north of the range of the Sonoran Spotted Whiptail, it usually has two enlarged preanal scales, 3-5 scales between the paravertebral stripes, and a vermiculate pattern on the dorsal surface of the thigh.  The Desert Grassland Whiptail (A. uniparens), Plateau Striped Whiptail (A. velox), Pai Striped Whiptail (A. pai), and Arizona Striped Whiptail (A. arizonae) do not have distinct light spots in the dark fields between the dorsal stripes and the tail is blue to blue-green (fading with age).  The latter species has postantebrachial and mesoptychial scales that range from small and granular to moderately enlarged and angular. The Red-backed Whiptail is larger (< 114 mm SVL) and the adults lack stripes or the stripes are faint.  Juvenile Red-backed Whiptails have 6-7 light dorsal stripes with light spots in the dark fields, but the tail is slate-blue or slate-gray (usually with a least some blue hints).  Sonoran Spotted Whiptails and Tiger Whiptails occasionally hybridize. Lowe et al. (1970) found that hybrids resemble Sonoran Spotted Whiptails, but see the image gallery for a Tiger /Sonoran Spotted Whiptail hybrid that resembles neither parent very closely.

The Sonoran Spotted Whiptail is the common striped whiptail with light spots in the dark fields in the sky island mountain ranges, but it also occurs on adjacent bajadas and follows riparian corridors into the valleys.  In the 100-Mile Circle it occurs on the eastern edges of Sonoran desertscrub, Chihuahuan desertscrub, semi-desert grassland, Plains grassland, oak woodland, and pine-oak woodland mostly from 650-1770 m.  It occurs to 2130 m in New Mexico.  In the 100-Mile Circle, the Sonoran Spotted Whiptail is found from the Chiricahua and Dos Cabezas mountains west to the Waterman Mountains and the higher ranges in the eastern portion of the Tohono O’odham Nation; north to Black Mountain north of Oracle, the Galiuro and Pinaleño mountains, and the San Francisco River; and south to the mountains and higher valleys of northern Sonora.  It is fairly well distributed in Tucson, including at the University of Arizona and along major drainages, such as the Santa Cruz River and environs.  At Sabino Canyon it occurs with the Tiger Whiptail and the Giant Spotted Whiptail (Lazaroff et al. 2006).

This is an active, diurnal lizard, often seen poking and scratching in leaf litter for insects.  It is mostly active from April into September.  An 11 February record exists for Tucson, and one was collected 18 October at Calabasas, Santa Cruz County.  In the Chiricahua Mountains, adults became dormant in mid-August, while hatchlings remained active into September (Routman and Hulse 1984).  Lizards become reproductively active in late May to early June, and 2-3 clutches of 1-7 (mean = 3 or 4) eggs are produced during June and the first half of July (Congdon et al. 1978, Routman and Hulse 1984) and possibly as late as late August (Echternacht 1967).  These lizards produce fertile eggs, and the offspring are essentially clones of the adults. Hatchlings, which are 30-35 mm SVL, begin appearing in July.  Adults are at least 61 mm SVL (Routman and Hulse 1984).  On the Santa Rita Experimental Range in southeastern Arizona, the most important dietary items were termites, spiders, beetles, ants, and grasshoppers (Echternacht 1967).

The Sonoran Spotted Whiptail resides in the Aspidoscelis sexlineata species group (Wright 1993, Reeder et al. 2002) and includes triploid clones that are of hybrid origin.  Initially, the Giant Spotted Whiptail and or the Western Mexico Whiptail (A. costata) crossed with the Little Striped Whiptail (A. inornata).  The result of that cross, a diploid parthenogen, then backcrossed with the Little Striped Whiptail to produce the Sonoran Spotted Whiptail (Dessauer and Cole 1989, Wright 1993).  Wright (1993) considered A. flagellicauda and A. sonorae a complex of five species, three of which are currently undescribed.  Until recently, this species was known as Cnemidophorus sonorae.

With a valid Arizona hunting license, 20 Sonoran Spotted Whiptails can be collected per day or held in possession, live or dead, except that take is prohibited without special authorization in protected areas, such as National Monuments and Tohono O’odham Nation lands.  The Sonoran Spotted Whiptail is listed as a species of least concern on the 2014 IUCN Red List.  There is no reason to believe it is declining in wild lands.  It is moderately tolerant of rural and low-density urban development, but is eliminated in areas of heavy urbanization or intensive agriculture.

Suggested Reading:

Brennan, T.C., and A.T. Holycross. 2006. Amphibians and Reptiles in Arizona. Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ.

Congdon, J.D., L.J. Vitt, and N.F. Hadley. 1978. Parental investment: Comparative reproductive energetics in bisexual and unisexual lizards, genus Cnemidophorus. American Naturalist 112:509-521.

Degenhardt, W.G., C.W. Painter, and A.H. Price. 1996.  Amphibians and Reptiles of New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

Dessauer, H.C., and C.J. Cole. 1989. Diversity between and within nominal forms of unisexual teiid lizards. Pages 49-71 in R.M. Dawley and J.P. Bogart (editors), Evolution and Ecology of Unisexual Vertebrates. Bulletin of the New York State Museum (466).

Echternacht, A.C. 1967. Ecological relationships of two species of the lizard genus Cnemidophorus in the Santa Rita Mountains of Arizona. American Midland Naturalist 78(2):448-459.

Lazaroff, D.W., P.C. Rosen, and C.H. Lowe. 2006. Amphibians, Reptiles, and Their Habitats at Sabino Canyon. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

Lowe, C.H., and J.W. Wright. 1964. Species of the Cnemidophorus exsanguis subgroup of whiptail lizards. Journal of the Arizona Academy of Science 3:78-80.

Lowe, C.H., J.W. Wright, C.J. Cole, and R.L. Bezy. 1970. Natural hybridization between the teiid lizards Cnemidophorus sonorae (parthenogenetic) and Cnemidophorus tigris (bisexual). Systematic Zoology 19:114–127.

Routman, E.J., and A.C. Hulse. 1984. Ecology and reproduction of a parthenogenetic lizard, Cnemidophorus sonorae. Journal of Herpetology 18(4):381-386.

Sredl, M.J., T.B. Persons, and J.W. Wright. 2009. Sonoran Spotted Whiptail (unisexual) Aspidoscelis sonorae (Lowe and Wright, 1964). Pages 386-389 in Jones, L.L.C., and R.E. Lovich (eds.), Lizards of the American Southwest: A Photographic Field Guide.  Rio Nuevo Publishers, Tucson, Arizona.

Wright, J.W. 1993. Evolution of whiptail lizards (Genus Cnemidophorus).  Pages 27-82 in J.W. Wright and L.J. Vitt (editors), Biology of whiptail lizards (Genus Cnemidophorus). Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, Norman.

Author: Jim Rorabaugh

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