Aspidoscelis inornatus

Sullivan et al. (2014) presented new data and reviewed the taxonomic difficulties in the A. inornata complex. They concluded that arizonae, pai, and gypsi do not warrant recognition as distinct species and instead included these taxa (as pattern classes that might be recognized as nonevolutionary subspecies) in A. inornata. They further determined that the nominal subspecies llanura and junipera are invalid taxa that should be subsumed within A. i. heptagramma. Crother (2017) follow Sullivan et al. (2014).

Crother et al. (2000, 2008) and Collins and Taggart (2002) regarded Aspidoscelis arizonae, A. gypsi, and A. pai as distinct species. Rosenblum and Harmon (2010) found little or no genetic differentiation of gypsi from dark-soil forms of A. inornata; accordingly, de Quieroz and Reeder (in Crother 2012) concluded that gypsi should be treated as a subspecies of A. inornata rather than as a distinct species.

See Walker et al. (1996) for information on variation in Chihuahua, Mexico; subspecies heptagrammus was judged as inadequately rediagnosed by Wright and Lowe (1993).

Reeder et al. (2002) examined phylogenetic relationships of the whiptail lizards of the genus Cnemidophorus based on a combined analysis of mitochondrial DNA, morphology, and allozymes. They determined that Cnemidophorus in the traditional sense is paraphyletic and thus in need of nomenclatural revision. Rather than subsume all cnemidophorine species (including Kentropyx) in a single large genus (Ameiva), they proposed a split that placed the North American "Cnemidophorus" clade in the monophyletic genus Aspidoscelis; under this arrangement, South American taxa remain in the genus Cnemidophorus.

Under the taxonomic concepts of Sullivan et al. (2014), the range includes Arizona, New Mexico, western Texas, and northern central Mexico (south to Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi) (Wright and Lowe 1993).

This species is represented by many subpopulations and locations (as defined by IUCN) (e.g., see map in Degenhardt et al. 1996).

In some areas of New Mexico, overgrazing, urbanization, and other anthropogenic sources of habitat loss or degradation have resulted in declines of this species (Degenhardt et al. 1996).