Greater earless lizard
| greater earless lizard | |
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| Cophosaurus texanus | |
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Cophosaurus
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C. texanus
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| Binomial name | |
| Cophosaurus texanus Troschel, 1852
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The greater earless lizard (Cophosaurus texanus) is a species of earless lizard endemic to the southwestern United States. It is called "greater" because it grows larger than the earless lizards of the genus Holbrookia, to which it is closely related. While C. texanus is the only species within its genus, it does have two subspecies.
Contents
Geographic range
It is found in the United States in the states of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona; and in Mexico in the states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Durango, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí.
Description
Greater earless lizards grow from 3-7 inches in length. They are characterized by the lack of external ear openings, which is presumably to prevent sand from entering their body while they dig. They are normally an overall tan or grey color, reflecting the color of the sand and rocks in their native habitat for camouflage, with black, brown or white spotting. Males often develop bright blue and green colorations, while females tend to be duller in color, except when gravid when they turn a bright orange color. Many have a distinctive pair of curved black bars just before the hind legs.
Behavior
All earless lizards are diurnal, basking lizards. In the early morning they forage for insects, and then spend several hours basking in the sun, until it becomes too hot, around 111°F (44°C) at the surface, when they retreat to a burrow or rock crevice. They are oviparous.
Habitat
Habitat: Greater Earless Lizards are found in higher opened desert elevations. It can be seen frequently along pathways of gravel and sand. Greater Earless Lizards live in loose gravel like rocky areas with scattered or moderate vegetative cover, mainly cactus and trees that are found in desert areas.
Diet
Greater Earless Lizards prey on arthropods, such as butterflies, moths, beetles, grasshoppers, bees, ants and spiders. It eats both the adult and the larvae. They have specific ways of eating, larger lizards eat the larger prey and smaller or younger lizards take the smaller prey.
Interesting Facts
INTERESTING FACTS Body Temperature/Temperature control: An interesting facts that makes the Greater Earless Lizard different from other lizards is, “The greater earless lizard has a higher average “activity temperature” (101.5 degrees Fahrenheit) than most lizards (typically, 80 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit).”(Desert USA), this helps us understand why the Greater Earless Lizard loves the desert sunshine, it enjoys constantly basking in the mid-morning sun, according to Reptiles of AZ. According to Desert USA the Greater Earless Lizard has a keen ability to control its body temperature, “keeping it very close to its daytime average of 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit most of the time”(Desert USA). When the Greater Earless Lizard needs to raise its body temperature it turns its body broadside towards the sun so it is able to obtain extra rays. When it only wants to maintain its current body temperature it repeats the process of aligning its body with the sun once again but this time to gain reduced sun rays. Like any other animal to cool themselveses or lower their body temperature it goes into the shade, or simply climbs a branch to get off of the hot surface of the desert ground. The desert tends to get cold at night, when this happens the Greater Earless Lizard, “burrows under a warm blanket of sand, capitalizing on its lack of external ear openings to keep grit out of its ear canals”(Desert USA). Reptiles of Arizona explains the lizards hibernation methods, “It hibernates during the cold months of winter and late fall”(reptilesofaz). Distribution: As previously mentioned the Greater Earless Lizard likes Desert weather, according to Reptiles of AZ the Greater Earless Lizard is “is found across sub-Mogollon Rim central Arizona and throughout much of the southeastern portion of the state at elevations ranging from about 900’ to 5,000'”(reptilesofaz). The picture was taken from the website reptilesofaz.org, it shows us an illustration of the distribution of the Greater Earless Lizard across the state of Arizona. The Greater Earless Lizard does not only reside in Arizona but is also found in “New Mexico to northern Texas in the United States, and south to northern Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi, and western Tamaulipas, Mexico (Degenhardt et al. 1996, Bartlett and Bartlett 1999, Dixon 2000, Stebbins 2003). Elevational range extends from near sea level to about 2,100 m (6,890 feet) (Stebbins 2003).”(ICUNredlist). Survival Defenses: All animals have survival techniques to keep them alive and keep predators away. The Greater Earless Lizard has a barred tail that is uses to possibly, “save its life by sacrificing its wagging and distracting barred tail to a pursuing predator”(DesertUSA). The reason to the tail wagging is because since the tail can break off easily and can regenerated although it changes the tails length and results in the tail becoming a faded in color. Reptiles of Arizona explains to us the lizards exact behavior when fleeing from a predator and how it uses its tail, “ when fleeing this lizard often runs with its tail curled over the back. This may serve to divert the predator’s attention to the tail”(reptilesofaz). Another behavior the Greater Earless Lizard presents when threatened is, “Both males and females are territorial and exhibit head bobbing, push-ups, and lateral compression of the body when approached by an outsider”(reptilesofaz). Color Variations: The colors of the lizard are usually, “Head and shoulders, grayish to brownish, like its rocky habitat; upper mid-section, yellow to orange rows; upper hind quarters, yellow to green; legs, dark bands; tail, dark bands across top and heavy dark bars across the underside”(DesertUSA). The colors do change for example during pregnancy the female lizard’s body colors become bright pink or orange. During the spring and summer time males colors change to bright blue, green and yellow tones. The Greater Earless lizard does have some very distinctive markings on its body, “The groin, lower back, and forelimbs are often tinted yellow on males. The back of the thigh is marked with a dark horizontal line. There are two dark bars on each side of the belly that extend up onto the sides just in front of the hind limbs. On males these bars are surrounded by light blue patches on the belly. On females bars are faint or lacking.”(reptilesofaz). http://www.desertusa.com/animals/greater-earless-lizard.html http://www.reptilesofaz.org/Lizards-Subpages/h-c-texanus.html
Similarities and Fun Fact
The Greater Earless Lizard comes from the family of reptiles having many similarities to other reptiles.The Greater Earless lizard is unique in its own way, because this particular lizard is rare and grows larger than regular lizard.This being said the Greater Earless lizard is very similar to the iguana. The Greater Earless lizard can live in extreme heats up to 111 degrees which is helpfulto them because they hunt for insect in the morning when the heat is really high givingthem the capacity to capture their prey much faster and easier than in the afternoon when there isn't much light and heat
Subspecies
- Southwestern earless lizard, C. t. scitulus (Peters, 1951)
- Texas earless lizard, C. t. texanus Troschel, 1850
References
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- Species Cophosaurus texanus at The Reptile Database
