''Sceloporus becki'', also known as the island fence lizard, is a species of

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Taxonomy

It was once considered a subspecies of the

western fence lizard The western fence lizard (''Sceloporus occidentalis'') is a common lizard of Arizona, New Mexico, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, Northern Mexico, and the surrounding area. As the ventral abdomen of an ad ...

(''Sceloporus occidentalis''), but is now considered to be its own species.

Etymology

The specific epithet, ''becki'', is in honor of Rollo Howard Beck, an American

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

who collected the first specimens.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Sceloporus occidentalis becki'', p. 21).

References

*Flaxington, William (2005). Photograph of Island fence lizard on Santa Cruz Island. Calphoto

External links

National Park Service, Channel Islands - Island Fence Lizard
U.S. Department of the Interior

CaliforniaHerps.com A Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of California Sceloporus Endemic fauna of California Fauna of the Channel Islands of California Fauna of the California chaparral and woodlands Lizards of North America Reptiles of the United States Reptiles described in 1905 Taxa named by John Van Denburgh Fauna without expected TNC conservation status {{lizard-stub