Peninsular chuckwalla

The peninsular chuckwalla (Sauromalus australis) is a lizard belonging to the family Iguanidae. It is in the same genus as the other chuckwalla species. S. australis inhabits southeastern Baja California and eastern Baja California Sur in Mexico.[3]

Peninsular chuckwalla[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Iguania
Family: Iguanidae
Genus: Sauromalus
Species:
S. australis
Binomial name
Sauromalus australis
Shaw, 1945[2]

Taxonomy and etymology

The generic name, Sauromalus, is said to be a combination of two ancient Greek words: sauros meaning "lizard" and omalus meaning "flat".[4] The proper ancient Greek word for "flat" is however homalos (ὁμαλός) or homalēs (ὁμαλής).[5] Its specific name is derived from the Latin australis, meaning "southern wind", as it inhabits the southern portion of the Baja peninsula.[6] The common name "chuckwalla" derives from the Shoshone word tcaxxwal or Cahuilla caxwal, transcribed by Spaniards as chacahuala.[7]

The species was first described by herpetologist Charles E. Shaw in 1945.[2]

Description

Peninsular chuckwallas are stocky, wide-bodied lizards with flattened midsections and prominent bellies.[2] Their tails are thick, tapering to a blunt tip. Loose folds of skin characterize their necks and sides of their bodies, which are covered in small, coarsely moderately keeled scales. Their base color is tan to yellow with darker brown or black transverse bands, the centers of which are speckled with the lighter ground color, giving a double striped look from a distance.[2]

Males are generally larger than females and possess well-developed femoral pores located on the inner sides of their thighs; these pores produce secretions believed to play a role in marking territory.

References
  1. "Sauromalus australis". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 15 September 2008.
  2. Shaw, Charles E (1945). "The chuckwallas, Genus Sauromalus". Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History. 10 (=15): 269–306.
  3. Bartlett, R.D.; Patricia Bartlett (2003). Iguanas: Everything about Selection, Care, Nutrition, Diseases, Breeding, and Behavior (2 ed.). Barron's. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-7641-1993-4.
  4. Avise, John C. (2015). Sketches of Nature: A Geneticist's Look at the Biological World During a Golden Era of Molecular Ecology. Elsevier Science. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-12-801960-3.
  5. Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  6. Hollingsworth, Bradford D. (2004). The Evolution of Iguanas an Overview and a Checklist of Species. Iguanas: Biology and Conservation. University of California Press. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-0-520-23854-1.
  7. Schwenkmeyer, Dick. "Sauromalus ater Common Chuckwalla". Field Guide. San Diego Natural History Museum. Archived from the original on 2007-07-14. Retrieved 27 February 2020.


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