NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Giant Whiptail
Aspidoscelis motaguae (Sackett, 1941)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The giant whiptail (Aspidoscelis motaguae) is a species of teiid lizard native to Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. It has also been introduced to Florida in the United States where it is considered an invasive species.
Wikipedia contributors, Giant whiptail; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:08:50.081290+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Aspidoscelis motaguae (Sackett, 1941)
- Name authority
- (Sackett, 1941)
- Common name
- Giant Whiptail
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Teiidae
- Genus
- Aspidoscelis
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderAutarchoglossa
- familyTeiidae
- genusAspidoscelis
- speciesAspidoscelis motaguae (Sackett, 1941)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Aspidoscelis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Carmen Island WhiptailAspidoscelis carmenensis (Maslin & Secoy, 1986) | TeiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gray Checkered WhiptailAspidoscelis dixoni (Scudday, 1973) | TeiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Aspidoscelis preopatae | TeiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Yucatan WhiptailAspidoscelis angusticeps (Cope, 1878) | TeiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Canyon Spotted WhiptailAspidoscelis burti (Taylor, 1938) | TeiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cerralvo Island WhiptailAspidoscelis ceralbensis (Van Denburgh & Slevin, 1921) | TeiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Isla San José WhiptailAspidoscelis danheimae (Burt, 1929) | TeiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Blackbelly RacerunnerAspidoscelis deppii (Wiegmann, 1834) | TeiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chihuahuan Spotted WhiptailAspidoscelis exsanguis (Lowe, 1956) | TeiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mexican RacerunnerAspidoscelis guttatus (Wiegmann, 1834) | TeiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Aspidoscelis hyperythrus (Cope, 1863) | TeiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Baja California WhiptailAspidoscelis labialis (Stejneger, 1890) | TeiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Cnemidophorus motaguae Sackett, 1941 Sackett, 1941 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Aspidoscelis&species=motaguae Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:HHJ6. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.