Sceloporus magister . The Latin Scelo , meaning leg, and porus , meaning pore, refer to femoral pores on underside of hind legs common to many lizards. The Latin magister means teacher. Blue patches, edged in black, run down sides of belly, joining posterioriy to cover entire groin area, mixing into brown anteriorly.
Adult males have blue throat patch.
In females, blue belly patches may be weak or absent, and if breeding, head may have red to orange tint. Absent only from higher elevations, particularly Mogollon Plateau and White Mountains. As its name implies, the desert spiny inhabits arid to semi-arid regions, both upland and riparian. A good climber, it prefers rock piles and trees as basking sites. It may be found from low desert to 5,000 feet in any habitat that provides cover in the form of rock piles, crevices in cliffs, woody debris, undercut wash banks, wood rat nests, rodent burrows, logs, or trees.