Remarks concerning the Systematics of the Collared Lizard, (Crotaphytus collaris), with a Description of a New Subspecies

Abstract

Historical summary.-The collared lizards of the genus Crotaphytus occur over much of the southwestern United States and adjacent Mexico. The range is from the eastern parts of Missouri, Arkansas and Texas westward to the Snake River of Oregon and Idaho, to California east of the Sierra Nevada and the southern Coast Range, and to the northeastern part of the Lower California Peninsula. The type locality of C. collaris Say (1823) is: Verdigris River near its union with the Arkansas River, Oklahoma. A second species, C. reticulatus Baird, is well set off from C. collaris by numerous differences and has a range in extreme southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. Stejneger (1890) described Crotaphytus baileyi from the Painted Desert, Little Colorado River, Arizona. As this form became better known, it was generally recognized as a subspecies of C. collaris occupying the portion of the species' range west of the Continental Divide, and also entering parts of western Texas. Two insular forms from the Gulf of California, C. dickersonae Schmidt (1922) from