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[[File:Archiv für Naturgeschichte (1850) (20336535231).jpg|thumb|Illustration of ''Cophosaurus texanus'' that was published in Troschel's original description of the species dated 1850.]]
Within the family [[Phrynosomatidae]], ''Cophosaurus'' is most closely related to Zebra-Tailedthe Lizardszebra-tailed (''[[Zebra-tailed lizard|Callisaurus]]''), Lesserlesser Earless Lizardsearless (''[[Holbrookia]]''), and Fringefringe-Toedtoed Lizardslizards (''[[Fringe-toed lizard|Uma]]''), collectively forming the [[Tribe (biology)|Tribetribe]] Callisaurini, commonly referred to as the sand lizards.<ref name="de Queiroz (1992)">de Queiroz, Kevin. 1992. ''[https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/4660/VZ_1992deQBJLS.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1 Phylogenetic relationships and rates of allozyme evolution among the lineages of sceloporine sand lizards]''. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 45: 333-362.</ref><ref name="Uetz et al. (2022)">Uetz, Peter, Paul Freed, R. Aguilar, and J. Hošek (editors). 2022. The Reptile Database, http://www.reptile-database.org. [http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Cophosaurus&species=texanus&search_param=%28%28search%3D%27Cophosaurus%27%29%29 Cophosaurus texanus TROSCHEL, 1852] (accessed June 5, 2022)</ref> The genus ''Cophosaurus'' is [[Monotypic taxon|monotypic]], meaningas ''Cophosaurus texanus'' is the only species inwithin the genus. [[Franz Hermann Troschel]] described the genus ''Cophosaurus'' (as well as the species ''C. texanus'') in hisa paper dated to 1850, (but not published until 1852).<ref name="Troschel (1852)" /> Later, that same year, the species was transferred to the genus ''[[Holbrookia]]'' in a review by [[Spencer Fullerton Baird]] and [[Charles Frédéric Girard]], and subsequent literature used the name ''HolbrookiaH. texana'' for well -over a century.<ref name="Baird & Girard (1852)">Baird, Spencer F. and Charles F. Girard. 1852. ''[https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/34417/Proceedings_NewReptiles2.pdf Characteristics of some new reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, part 2].'' Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 6: 125-129. (page 125)</ref> Troschel's description was based on two specimens, [[Type (biology)|cotypes]] or [[syntype]]s, both lost in the [[World War II|Second World War]]. In 1951, [[James A. Peters]] published a review of the species, recognizing three subspecies and designating a [[Type (biology)|neotype]] for ''C. t. texanus'', although still placing them in the genus ''Holbrookia''.<ref name="Peters (1951)">Peters, James A. 1951. ''[https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/56975/OP537.pdf?sequence=1 Studies on the lizard Holbrookia texana (Troschel) with descriptions of two new subspecies]''. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology University of Michigan, (537): 1-20.</ref>{{rp|5 p.}} In a 1958 Ph.D. [[Thesis|dissertation]] reviewing the genus ''Holbrookia'', [[Herpetology|herpetologist]] Ralph W. Axtell excludedomitted ''HolbrookiaH. texana'' with little comment,<ref name="Axtell (1958)">Axtell, Ralph W.1958. ''A monographic revision of the iguanid genus Holbrookia.'' Ph. D. dissertation. Univ. Texas, viii + 222 pp.</ref> andsomething thiswhich was noted by Robert F. Clarke in his 1965 Ph.D. dissertation who(subsequently placedplacing itthe species back in the original genus, ''Cophosaurus'').<ref name="Clarke (1965)">Clarke, Robert F. 1965. ''[https://shareok.org/bitstream/handle/11244/1703/6402610.PDF?sequence=1 An ethological study of the iguanid lizard genera Callisaurus, Cophosaurus, and Holbrookia].'' The University of Oklahoma, Ph.D. Dissertation,. Emporia Slate Research Studies, 13: 1-66. (page 5</ref>{{rp|5 p.}} Both combinations, ''CophosaurusC. texanus'' and ''HolbrookiaH. texana'', were used by various authors induring the 1970s, butalthough, despite arguments for the placement of the species in ''Holbrookia'',<ref name="Guttman (1970)">Guttman, S. I. 1970. ''An electrophoretic study of the hemoglobins of the sand lizards, Callisaurus, Cophosaurus, Holbrookia, and Uma.'' Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 34(3): 569-574.</ref><ref name="Cox & Tanner (1977)">Cox, Douglas C. & Wilmer W. Tanner. 1977. ''[https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2213&context=gbn Osteology and Myology of the Head and Neck Regions of Callisaurus, Cophosaurus, Holbrookia, and Uma (Reptilia: Iguanidae)].'' Great Basin Naturalist 37: 35-56.</ref> ''Cophosaurus'' was in predominant use by the 1980s and; later [[Alloenzyme|allozymes]] analysisanalyses supported the recognition of the genus.<ref name="de Queiroz (1992)" />
Three subspecies are currently recognized (2022), with standardized English names.<ref name="SSAR Standard Names">Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles: [https://ssarherps.org/publications/north-american-checklist/ Checklist of the Standard English Names of Amphibians & Reptiles]. (accessed June 3, 2022)</ref>
* Texas greater earless lizard,<ref name="Liner & Casas-Andreu (2008)">Liner, E. A. and G. Casas-Andreu. 2008. ''Standard Spanish, English and scientific names of the amphibians and reptiles of Mexico.'' Society for the Study Amphibians and Reptiles. Herpetological Circular 38: i-iv, 1-162. (page 57) {{ISBN|978-0-916984-75-5}}</ref><ref name="Crother (2017)">Crother, B. I. (ed.). 2017. ''[https://ssarherps.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/8th-Ed-2017-Scientific-and-Standard-English-Names.pdf 'Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding.]'' SSAR Herpetological Circular 43, 1–102 pp. [see page 43-44] {{ISBN|978-1-946681-00-3}}</ref> ''Cophosaurus texanus texanus'', Troschel 1852 [1850]<ref name="Troschel (1852)">Troschel, F. H. 1852. ''Cophosaurus texanus, neue Eidechsengattung aus Texas''. Archiv für Naturgeschichte 16 (1): 388-394 [1850].</ref>
* [[Sonoran Desert|Sonoran]] greater earless lizard,<ref name="Liner & Casas-Andreu (2008)" /> ''Cophosaurus texanus reticulatus'', (Peters 1951)<ref name="Peters (1951)" />
* [[Chihuahuan Desert|Chihuahuan]] greater earless lizard,<ref name="Liner & Casas-Andreu (2008)" /><ref name="Crother (2017)" /> ''Cophosaurus texanus scitulus'', (Peters 1951)<ref name="Peters (1951)" />
==Description==
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