''Sceloporus variabilis'', commonly known as the rose-bellied lizard, is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
lizard which is found from Central America to southern Texas
Geographic range
''S. variabilis'' can be found from southern
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
to northern
Costa Rica, often in more arid regions.
Description
''S. variabilis'' is one of the smaller species of the
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
''
Sceloporus''. Adults may attain a snout-vent length (SVL) of . With unbroken tails, they may reach a maximum total length of .
[ Conant, R. 1975. ''A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition''. Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 429 pp. (paperback). (''Sceloporus variabilis marmoratus'', pp. 99-100, Fig. 21 + Plate 16 + Map 71.)]
Dorsally
Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...
, it is tan or olive, with a double series of dark brown spots. There are two yellowish dorsolateral stripes, one at each side of the back.
[Boulenger, 1885. p. 236-237.] Males are darker on the side below the dorsolateral stripe.
[ Smith, H.M., and E.D. Brodie Jr. 1982. ''Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification''. Golden Press. New York. 240 pp. (paperback). (''Sceloporus variabilis'', pp. 114-115.)] Ventrally, it is dirty white or yellowish. Males have a large pink blotch on each side of the belly, which is bordered with dark blue, and they also have a black mark on the
axilla
The axilla (also, armpit, underarm or oxter) is the area on the human body directly under the shoulder joint. It includes the axillary space, an anatomical space within the shoulder girdle between the arm and the thoracic cage, bounded superior ...
.
The
supraoculars are small, and they are bordered medially by a row of small scales, which prevent them from contacting the median head shields. The dorsal scales are keeled, pointed, and spiny. There are 58-69 dorsal scales from the interparietal shield to the base of the tail. A postfemoral pocket is present. Males have 10-14 femoral pores.
References
Further reading
*
Boulenger, G.A. 1885. ''Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume II. Iguanidæ,...'' Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, Printers.) London. xiii + 497 pp. + Plates I.- XXIV. (''Sceloporus variabilis'', pp. 236–237.)
*
Wiegmann, A.F.A. 1834. ''Herpetologia Mexicana, seu descriptio amphibiorum Novae Hispaniae, quae itineribus comitis de Sack, Ferdinandi Deppe et Chr. Guil. Schiede in Museum Zoologicum Berolinense pervenerunt. Pars prima, Saurorum species amplectens, adiecto Systematis Saurorum Prodromo, additisque multis in hunc amphibiorum ordinem observationibus.'' C.G. Lüderitz. Berlin. iv + 54 pp. + 10 Plates. (''Sceloporus variabilis'', p. 51.)
External links
*
*
/lagunadeapoyo.blogspot.com/2012/11/rosebelly-lizard.html Rosebelly Lizard in Nicaragua
Sceloporus
Reptiles of Central America
Reptiles of Mexico
Reptiles of Guatemala
Taxa named by Arend Friedrich August Wiegmann
Reptiles described in 1834
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