Aspidoscelis is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of whiptail lizards, from the family Teiidae

Teiidae

Teiidae is a family of lizards native to the Americas, generally known as whiptails. The group includes the parthenogenic genera Cnemidophorus and Aspidoscelis, and the non-parthenogenic Tupinambis. It has over 230 member species in ten genera...

. The nomenclature

Binomial nomenclature

Binomial nomenclature is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, although they can be based on words from other languages...

 for this genus has recently been published by T. W. Reeder et al. in 2002. Many species that were Cnemidophorus

Cnemidophorus

Cnemidophorus is a genus of lizards which belong to the family of Teiidae, which are commonly referred to as whiptail lizards or racerunners. Note that the nomenclature for this genus has recently been re-examined by T. W. Reeder et al. in 2002...

are now considered Aspidoscelis based upon divergent characters between the two groups.

Species

This is a partial list:

• Aspidoscelis arizonae
• Aspidoscelis bacatus
• Aspidoscelis calidipes
• Aspidoscelis canus
• Aspidoscelis carmenensis
• Aspidoscelis catalinensis
• Aspidoscelis celeripes
• Aspidoscelis communis
• Aspidoscelis costatus
• Aspidoscelis cozumela
• Aspidoscelis gypsi
• Aspidoscelis martyris
• Aspidoscelis pai
• Aspidoscelis pictus
• Aspidoscelis rodecki
• Aspidoscelis sacki
• Aspidoscelis septemvittata
• Aspidoscelis sexlineata
• Aspidoscelis sonorae
• Aspidoscelis tesselata
• Aspidoscelis velox

Speciation

There is a report of the synthesis of a new species of Aspidocelis in the laboratory.