Madrean alligator lizard

The Madrean alligator lizard (Elgaria kingii ) is a species of lizard in the family Anguidae. The species is endemic to the southwestern United States and adjacent northwestern Mexico.

Madrean alligator lizard
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Anguidae
Genus:	Elgaria
Species:	E. kingii
Binomial name
Elgaria kingii Gray, 1838[2]
Synonyms[2]
Gerrhonotus kingii — O'Shaughnessy, 1873 Gerrhonotus multifasciatus A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1839 Gerrhonotus kingii — Bocourt, 1878 Elgaria kingii — Tihen, 1948 Elgaria usafa H.M. Smith et al. 2003

Etymology

The specific name, kingii, is in honor of Phillip Parker King, an Australian-born Royal Navy officer who surveyed the coast of South America.[3]

Geographic range

Elgaria kingii is found from southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, United States, southward to Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit, southeastern Zacatecas, and southwestern Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Subspecies

Three subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.[2]

• Elgaria kingii ferruginea (Webb, 1962)
• Elgaria kingii kingii Gray, 1838
• Elgaria kingii nobilis Baird & Girard, 1852

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Elgaria.

References

1. Hammerson GA, Vazquez Díaz J, Quintero Díaz GE (2007). "Elgaria kingii ". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2007: e.T63702A12706965. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2007.RLTS.T63702A12706965.en.
2. "Elgaria kingii ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org
3. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Elgaria kingii, p. 141).

Further reading

• Baird SF, Girard C (1852). "Characteristics of some New Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution". Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 6: 125-129. (Elgaria nobilis, new species, p. 129).
• Boulenger GA (1885). Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume II. ... Anguidæ ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 497 pp. + Plates I-XXIV. (Gerrhonotus kingii, pp. 274–275).
• Gray JE (1838). Catalogue of the Slender-tongued Saurians, with Descriptions of many new Genera and Species. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., First Series 1: 274-283, 388-394. (Elgaria kingii, new species, pp. 390–391).
• Smith HM, Brodie ED Jr (1982). Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification. New York: Golden Press. 240 pp. ISBN 0-307-13666-3. ("Elgaria kingi [sic]", pp. 86–87).
• Stebbins RC (2003). A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, Third Edition. The Peterson Field Guide Series ®. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin. xiii + 533 pp. ISBN 978-0-395-98272-3. (Elgaria kingii, pp. 334–335 + Plate 41 + Map 124).
• Webb RG (1962). "A New Alligator Lizard (Genus Gerrhonotus) from Western México". Herpetologica 18 (2): 73-79. (Gerrhonotus kingi [sic] ferrugineus, new subspecies).