Sceloporus hunsakeri
Silhouette: SeismicShrimp · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
Sceloporus hunsakeri, also known commonly as Hunsaker's spiny lizard and la espinosa de Hunsaker in Mexican Spanish, is a species of lizard in the family Phrynosomatidae. The species is endemic to the Mexican state of Baja California Sur.
The specific name, hunsakeri, is in honor of American zoologist Don Hunsaker II. The preferred natural habitat of S. hunsakeri is rocky areas in shrubland, but it has also been found around buildings in urban areas. S. hunsakeri is oviparous.
Hall WP, Smith HM (1979). "Lizards of the Sceloporus orcutti Complex of the Cape Region of Baja California". Breviora (452): 1–26. (Sceloporus hunsakeri, new species, pp. 4–12). Heimes P (2022). Lizards of Mexico. Part I. Iguanian lizards. Herpetofauna Mexicana Vol. 2. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Edition Chimaira. 448 pp. ISBN 978-3-89973-101-9.
Peralta-García A, Valdez-Villavicencio JH, Fucsko LA, Hollingsworth BD, Johnson JD, Mata-Silva V, Rocha A, DeSantis DL, Porras LW, Wilson LD (2023). "The herpetofauna of the Baja California Peninsula and its adjacent islands, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cabo Pulmo National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Hunsaker's Spiny Lizard sighting in Cabo Pulmo National Park on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 8th most-seen of the 13 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July and August
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Hunsaker's Spiny Lizard in Cabo Pulmo National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–March, May–June and October, the lowest months. Those are among Cabo Pulmo National Park's wettest months, with about 70 mm of rain a month against almost none in April.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Hunsaker's Spiny Lizard sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Cabo Pulmo National Park, in our data
Cabo Pulmo National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Hunsaker's Spiny Lizard sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Hunsaker's Spiny Lizard is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Cabo Pulmo National Park (6 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
