Aspidoscelis, AT

MANNING, GLENN J., COLE, CHARLES J., DESSAUER, HERBERT C. & WALKER, JAMES M., 2005, Hybridization Between Parthenogenetic Lizards (Aspidoscelis neomexicana) and Gonochoristic Lizards (Aspidoscelis sexlineata viridis) in New Mexico: Ecological, Morphological, Cytological, and Molecular Context, American Museum Novitates 3492 (1), pp. 1-56 : 12-14

ASPIDOSCELIS AT SITE CL­4

(NORTH OF CANADIAN RIVER)

Site CL­4 is located on the north side of the Canadian River near the dam (tables 1– 3; fig. 1; appendix 3). It extends from the hilltop east of a parking lot to a bench elevated above the Canadian River, then about 500 m to the east. At North of Canadian Riv­ er, we observed whiptail lizards on the hilltop, the steep south­facing hillside, the upper bench with an unpaved road and a precipice, the smaller bench at the base of the precipice, and in the roughlands area to the east of the upper bench ( fig. 3 ). Plants at the site included combinations of grasses and other herbaceous vegetation, cacti, mesquites, and a few junipers in a gravelly and rocky substrate.

Most individuals of A. neomexicana collected and observed at CL­4 were found in a zone of about 10 m in width bordering about 100 m of the rocky precipice of the upper bench ( fig. 3 ). Most of these lizards were found within 5 m of the edge of the precipice in the most unusual habitat known to us for A. neomexicana . In the first visit to CL­ 4 in 1988, JMW found only A. exsanguis and A. tesselata C on the hilltop and hillside. The part of the site preferred by A. neomexicana was not located until B.E. Leuck informed him that she had observed the species along the precipice earlier in 1988. In four out of six visits to the precipice and bench in 2000 and 2001, GJM collected four A. neomexicana , seven A. exsanguis , and seven A. tesselata C (table 3, appendix 3). We doubt that A. sexlineata viridis could become established at topographically complex CL­ 4. Surprisingly, A. tesselata D was not observed at CL­4, but was collected on the opposite side of the river.

Figures

Fig. 3. A relatively stable topographically and ecologically complex area located north of the Canadian River and east of Conchas Lake Dam as viewed from the south side of the river, San Miguel County, New Mexico. North of Canadian River (CL­4); V near middle shows the area with openstructured mesquite, grasses­weeds, and junipers along an unpaved road on the upper bench near a precipice from which individuals of Aspidoscelis neomexicana, A. tesselata C, and A. exsanguis, but not A. sexlineata viridis or A. tesselata D, have been collected; lower V shows bench near the river with dense mesquite, grasses, and weeds in which only individuals of A. neomexicana have been observed. The presence of Aspidoscelis neomexicana along the rocky precipice at CL­4, from which it flees into the boulders below when threatened, makes this site the most unusual known to us for the species throughout its range.