Sceloporus poinsettii
Silhouette: SeismicShrimp · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
Sceloporus poinsettii, the crevice spiny lizard, is a species of small, phrynosomatid lizard. The epithet, poinsettii, is in honor of American physician, botanist, and statesman, Joel Roberts Poinsett. In the United States, Sceloporus poinsettii occurs in the Chihuahua Desert and Edwards Plateau regions of Texas and New Mexico. In Mexico it occurs in the border states from the Sierra Madre Occidental of Sonora, eastward through Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon. Southward its distribution is less well established, although it is known to occur throughout of the state of Durango, parts of Zacatecas, with additional records from San Luis Potosi in the southeast, and the Pacific slopes of the Sierra Madre Occidental of northern Jalisco in the southwest.
The crevice spiny lizard is typically grey in color, but sometimes can have a ruddy red-brown appearance with a black and white collar around the neck region. The underside is typically light grey, but males often have blue patches on either side of their bellies. The tail typically has black banding. Their scales have a distinctly spiny texture. They can grow to 11.8 cm (4.6 in... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guadalupe Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Big Bend National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berlin Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Houston Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Chattanooga Zoo at Warner Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Aquarium Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Crevice Spiny Lizard sighting in Guadalupe Mountains National Park on a given day, based on 66 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 4th most-seen of the 21 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Crevice Spiny Lizard in Guadalupe Mountains National Park on a given day, against about 30% in January, March and November, the lowest months. That is one of Guadalupe Mountains National Park's wettest months, with about 40 mm of rain against 10 mm in April.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Crevice 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.
Yes
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Crevice Spiny Lizard sightings, Guadalupe Mountains National Park has the highest daily chance: about 50%. Next come Big Bend National Park (United States, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Crevice Spiny Lizard is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Guadalupe Mountains National Park (66 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.
