Discover

Today
Animals
Explore
Archive
Search

Use it

Classroom
Resources
Field lab
Quiz
Saved

Trust

Methodology
Sources
Corrections
Accessibility
Contributors

Details

About
Contact
Privacy
Terms
Newsletter

New Mexico Whiptail | Daily Animal Facts

Animal profile

New Mexico Whiptail

Aspidoscelis neomexicana

ReptiliaFloodplains, sandy washes, shrubland and disturbed groundLeast Concern

Field profile

The New Mexico whiptail is a slender, fast-moving striped lizard of the arid south-west, around 20 to 30 centimetres including tail. Every individual is female; the species reproduces by parthenogenesis. It arose from hybridisation between two sexually reproducing whiptail species.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2025-02-04

New Mexico Whiptail

An all-female lizard species born of hybridisation

The New Mexico whiptail has no males. It arose when a little striped whiptail and a western whiptail hybridised, producing females that lay unfertilised eggs developing into genetic near-copies of the mother. The state reptile of New Mexico reproduces without sex.

Read with evidence →