Abstract

Abstract Studies of distributional ecology of whiptail lizards near the Rio Grande in Presidio County, Texas, have resulted in discovery of Aspidoscelis neomexicana at three of >20 sites investigated. Records of A. neomexicana in Presidio County are >225 km southeast of sites inhabited by the species in El Paso, El Paso County. Observations made during 1988–2008 indicate that A. neomexicana in Presidio County inhabits only a few areas of floodplain where there is intermingling of several microhabitats characterized by loamy, gravelly alluvium with various combinations of trees, shrubs, Russian thistle (Salsola kali), Spanish dagger (Yucca torreyi), cacti, grasses, and forbs. Each species of whiptail lizard (i.e., A. exsanguis, A. tesselata, and A. tigris) that is syntopic with A. neomexicana is widely distributed in Presidio County and elsewhere in the United States and Mexico. Despite range maps to the contrary, A. neomexicana has not been recorded in Mexico; forays in 1993 to San Antonio, Chihuahua, acr...

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