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REVIEW article

Front. Amphib. Reptile Sci.
Sec. Conservation
Volume 2 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/famrs.2024.1412860

A Comprehensive Review of the Ecology and Conservation Status of Spottailed Earless Lizards (Holbrookia lacerata and Holbrookia subcaudalis)

Provisionally accepted
E D. Rangel E D. Rangel 1Scott E. Henke Scott E. Henke 1*Ruby A. Ayala Ruby A. Ayala 2Cord B. Eversole Cord B. Eversole 3
  • 1 Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Texas A&M University Kingsville, Kingsville, United States
  • 2 Department of Biology and Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, Texas, United States
  • 3 Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Spot-tailed Earless Lizards (STEL; Plateau STEL, Holbrookia lacerata; and Tamaulipan STEL, Holbrookia subcaudalis) are lizard species that are in decline both in number and distribution.As a result, this species has been considered for federal threatened status and a 90-day finding by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service stated that federal protection may be warranted. To date, a decision for Endangered Species Act listing for the Plateau STEL has been denied, but a judgement for the Tamaulipan STEL has not yet been decided. The requests to list STEL as a threatened species initiated numerous studies to investigate the status of both species and to add to the knowledge base of STEL. Though many studies have been conducted, much of the resulting information exists in gray literature (e.g., governmental reports, project summaries, etc.) that are not readily available or peer-reviewed. Herein, we consolidate the research results from scientific literature, governmental reports, and petitions to assist future researchers of STEL. We describe the natural history of STEL, their current taxonomy, conservation status, and discuss potential causes for their decline. Our goal is to provide the needed background knowledge for future researchers and policy makers.

    Keywords: decline, distribution, Endangered Species Act, habitat, Natural History, Taxonomy, Threatened

    Received: 05 Apr 2024; Accepted: 27 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Rangel, Henke, Ayala and Eversole. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Scott E. Henke, Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Texas A&M University Kingsville, Kingsville, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.