Growth and activity of Sceloporus cowlesi (southwestern fence lizard)

Abstract

Lizards from the Sceloporus undulatus complex have been the subject of many studies on lizard ecology (Hager 2001; Rosenblum 2006; Rosenblum et al. 2007), behavior (Hein and Whitaker 1997; Robertson and Rosenblum 2009), and reproduction (Vinegar 1975; Robertson and Rosenblum 2010). However, genetic data (Leache and Reeder 2002) support reallocation of the subspecies of the S. undulatus complex (e.g., S. undulatus consobrinus, S. u. tristichus, and S. u. cowlesi) as distinct species (e.g., S. consobrinus. S. tristichus, and S. cowlesi). One of these species, S. cowlesi, occupies a variety of terrestrial habitats spanning grasslands to montane conifer forests (Jones and Lovich 2009) over its range from central New Mexico to southwest Texas. Females lay eggs between mid-May and mid-August and clutch sizes vary from 7 to 9 eggs (Degenhardt et al. 1996). However, since much of the research on natural history of this species was published under the former species name, S. undulatus, there is little specific information on S. cowlesi from New Mexico. The purpose of this study was to estimate growth and seasonal activity for individuals marked from a population of this species in New Mexico.

Citation

Bateman, Heather L.; Chung-MacCoubrey, Alice. 2012. Growth and activity of Sceloporus cowlesi (southwestern fence lizard). Herpetological Review. 43(1): 39-41.