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Copyright © Notice: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) SONORAN HERPETOLOGIST 37 (3) 2024 139 Introduction The Common Checkered Whiptail (Aspidoscelis tesselatus; Say, 1823) has the most extensive natural geographic distribution among the eight diploid parthenogenetic species recognized in that genus [i.e., A. cozumela (Gadow, 1906), A. maslini (Fritts, 1969), and A. rodecki (McCoy and Maslin, 1962) in the A. cozumela species group; A. laredoensis (McKinney et al., 1973) and A. preopatae (Barley et al., 2021) in the A. sexlineatus group; A. dixoni (Scudday, 1973), A. neomexicanus (Lowe and Zweifel, 1952), and A. tesselatus (Say in James, 1823) in the A. tesselatus group]. The adaptability of A. tesselatus will become even more apparent in a forthcoming report by other scientists on its introduction to and establishment in habitats in California a great distance west of its natural geographic distribution area. Although Zweifel (1965) categorized the extensive color pattern variation in Cnemidophorus = Aspidoscelis tesselatus by recognition of informal pattern classes A, B, C, D, E, and F, subsequent studies have recognized A and B as belonging to the triploid parthenogenetic species Cnemidophorus = Aspidoscelis neotesselatus (Walker, Cordes, and Taylor, 1997) described by Walker et al. (1997) from southeastern Colorado and F as belonging to the diploid parthenogenetic species Cnemidophorus = Aspidoscelis dixoni (Scudday, 1973) described by Scudday (1973) from Hidalgo County, New Mexico, and arrays in Presidio County, Texas. These taxonomic reallocations of some of the pattern classes recognized by Zweifel (1965) to different species reduced the known distribution area of what we currently recognize as A. tesselatus by relatively small areas in Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, USA. Walker et al. (1994), Walker et al. (1997), Cordes and Walker (2006), and Cole et al. (2007) recognized the arrays (we reserve the term population for species with males and females) of lizards in a small area of Hidalgo County, New Mexico, USA, as pattern class C of A. dixoni, and restricted pattern classes A and B of that species to relatively small areas in Presidio County, Texas. Two of us (JEC and JMW) have found one or more arrays of pattern classes C, D, and E of diploid A. tesselatus to be easily located, abundant, and readily observable at close range in a variety of habitats in parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, and Chihuahua state, México, as also indicated by Zweifel (1965), Taylor et al. (1996, 2005), Walker et al. (1997), and Taylor (2021). The only exception to the preceding statement pertains to the small geographic area of occurrence of A. tesselatus in Oklahoma, specifically in Cimarron County, which is the westernmost extension of the panhandle of the state. In fact, all the whiptail lizard specialists coauthoring this report (i.e., MAP, JEC, and JMW) have felt the sting of disappointment during repeated attempts to locate and study this species in the state! The total number of A. tesselatus pattern class C lizards observed during the many individual visits to Cimarron County by members of that group was one adult by JEC on 31 July 2015. The purpose of this report is to review what little is known about A. tesselatus in the state of Oklahoma and to document its current presence in the state through a series of recent observations made of this species in Cimarron County, Oklahoma.
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This content will become publicly available on January 1, 2026
From century-long studies to emerging frontiers: The power of light force
This is an Editor-in-Chief invited "View and Perspective", which gives a commentary on a recent publication in optical trapping and provides some perspectives of the emerging field of light force.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2308947
- PAR ID:
- 10598983
- Editor(s):
- Kuang‑Ta Chao
- Publisher / Repository:
- Higher Education Press and Springer Science
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers of Physics
- Edition / Version:
- 1
- Volume:
- 20
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2095-0462
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 12204
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Light force optical trapping perspectives view
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: 2 MB Other: pdf
- Size(s):
- 2 MB
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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