SOUTHWESTERN FENCE LIZARD

The southwestern fence lizard (Sceloporus cowlesi) also known as the White Sands prairie lizard or the White Sands swift is species of spiny lizard native to the Chihuahuan Desert of the southwest United States and north-central Mexico. Described in 1956 as Sceloporus undulatus cowlesi, subspecies of the eastern fence lizard, DNA studies elevated the southwestern fence lizard to species status.