# Sceloporus Hybrids?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sceloporus-hybrids/1021099>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 20, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sceloporus-hybrids/1021099 "2025-07-20T02:36:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sceloporus-hybrids/1021099/1 "2025-07-20T02:36:05Z")

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In a place that I frequently go to photograph wildlife I often see many lizards of the genus _Sceleporus_. Some have the classic markings of the Prairie Lizard (_Sceloporus consobrinus_). (For a discussion of whether or not the Prairie Lizard is a distinct species or a subspecies of the Eastern Fence Lizard (_Scelorporus undulates_) see this old thread I started several years ago: [Sceloporus undulatus consobrinus or Sceleporus consobrinus (Fence Lizard or Prairie Lizard)?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sceloporus-undulatus-consobrinus-or-sceleporus-consobrinus-fence-lizard-or-prairie-lizard/919284)). Some have the classic markings of the Sagebrush Lizard (_Sceloporus graciosus_). And some have the classic markings of the Plateau Fence Lizard (_Sceloporus tristichus_). However, many of them have markings that appear to be intermediate among the three species. Could these be hybrids and what I am observing is some sort of species complex involving the three species? All three species are known to inhabit this area. There have been documented cases of _Sceloporus_ hybrids but not among these three species. The place where I see them is a wildlife sanctuary so I shouldn’t be collecting specimens for further examination.

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**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sceloporus-hybrids/1021099/2 "2025-07-20T13:36:14Z")

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> [@Ynnad](#):
>
> Could these be hybrids and what I am observing is some sort of species complex involving the three species?

I think the only reasonable answer to this is yes, they could be. Barring further exploration with [genetic markers](https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/e8c9184a-e875-45da-938c-7c21680860f7/content) that’s likely as far you’re going to go. Note that paper seemed to disprove a putative hybrid juvenile based on morphology. Fence lizards are simultaneously unmistakable but just so freaking variable as individuals that I don’t think it is ever an easy task separating out edge cases in areas with multiple similar species. If gross morphology won’t easily do it, range doesn’t work and ecology/habit seems iffy, I think you just have to shrug and say ‘well, maybe.’

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**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sceloporus-hybrids/1021099/3 "2025-07-20T23:21:37Z")

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Dad collected them in college - he spent a couple summers doing this for his degree - so I asked him, and his vote is no, for what it’s worth.

His major professor - Hobart Smith - wrote a paper or article on Mexican sceloporuses, if you’re interested.