Blacktail Brush Lizard Urosaurus nigricaudus  (Cope, 1864)
An adult specimen from San Diego County, California Image © Jackson Shedd, 2010
Taxonomic Comments:
Aguirre, Morafka and Murphy (1999 Herpetologica 55(3): 369-381) synonymized Urosaurus microscutatus (Van Denburgh, 1894) with Urosaurus nigricaudus (Cope, 1864). The new common name is Blacktail Brush Lizard, as standardized by Liner (1994 SSAR Herpetological Circular 23: vi + 113 pp.). Collins & Taggart (2002 Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians. Fifth Edition) submitted for consideration the proposal by Aguirre, Morafka, & Murphy (1999 op. cit.) to a lizard systematist group composed of Kevin de Queiroz, Bradford Hollingsworth, Jimmy A. McGuire, Richard R. Montanucci, Robert Powell, Tod W. Reeder, Jack W. Sites, Jr., Robert C. Stebbins, James M. Walker, John J. Wiens, and Kelly Zamudio, and they agreed.