New Mexico whiptail

Common card · No. 252140

The New Mexico whiptail (Aspidoscelis neomexicanus) is a female-only species of lizard found in New Mexico and Arizona in the southwestern United States, and in Chihuahua in northern Mexico. It is the official state reptile of New Mexico. It is one of many lizard species known to be parthenogenetic. Individuals of the species can be created either through the hybridization of the little striped whiptail (A. inornatus) and the western whiptail (A. tigris), or through the parthenogenetic reproduction of an adult New Mexico whiptail. The hybridization of these species prevents healthy males from forming, whereas males exist in one parent species (see sexual differentiation). Parthenogenesis allows the all-female population to reproduce. This combination of interspecific hybridization and parthenogenesis exists as a reproductive strategy in several species of whiptail lizard within the genus Aspidoscelis to which the New Mexico whiptail belongs.

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