Diploid Checkered Whiptail
Aspidoscelis tesselatus
- Class
- Reptile
- Rarity
- Common
- Observations
- 1,618
- Most observed in
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Conservation
- Least Concern
Description
The checkered whiptail (Aspidoscelis tesselatus) is a species of lizard found in the southwestern United States in Colorado, Texas and New Mexico, and in northern Mexico in Chihuahua and Coahuila. Many sources believe that the species originated from the hybridization of the marbled whiptail, Aspidoscelis marmoratus, the plateau spotted whiptail, Aspidoscelis septemvittatus, and possibly the six-lined racerunner, Aspidoscelis sexlineatus. It is one of many lizard species known to be parthenogenic. It is sometimes referred to as the common checkered whiptail to differentiate it from several other species known as checkered whiptails.
Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article “Common checkered whiptail”.