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Electronic Field Guide to the
Reptiles and Amphibians of
Southern California
Available Now at the
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Adult, Inyo County |
Adult, Inyo County |
Adult, Inyo County |
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Adult, Inyo County |
Adult, Kern County |
Adult, Kern County |
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| Adult, Kern County |
Adult, San Diego County |
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Juvenile, Kern County |
Juvenile, basking on a low rock in the early morning, Kern County
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Adult, San Bernardino County |
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Juvenile, eastern Riverside County
© Geoff Fangerow
When threatened, horned lizards will sometimes squirt blood from the eyes to deter predators, as this one did. |
Desert Horned Lizards have one row of fringe on each side. Compare with the Coast Horned Lizard which has two rows of fringe on each side. |
Neonate, Kern County. © Todd Battey |
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| Horned Lizards in lava rock habitat tend to have dark coloring to match the dark soil, as you can see on this adult from San Bernardino County. (Both are the same lizard; the picture on the right was taken with flash.) © Filip Tkaczyk |
Adult, San Bernardino County, with closed nasal valves.
Horned lizards can close their nasal valves to keep soil from entering their nostrils and lungs when they bury themselves. The closed valves leave a small crescent-shaped opening through which the lizard can still breathe when it is buried. © Filip Tkaczyk
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Habitat |
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Adult in situ, (basking on a rock)
San Diego County |
Habitat, Kern County |
Habitat, Inyo County |
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Habitat, San Bernardino County
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Habitat, San Bernardino County |
Habitat, Riverside County |
| Short Video |
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I found this horned lizard basking on a rock on a cool morning in the Mohave Desert. It only had two speeds - sit still and hide, and run away as fast as you can. |
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| Description |
Size |
| 2.5 - 3.75 inches long from snout to vent (6.4 - 9.5 cm). (Stebbins 2003) |
| Appearance |
A medium-sized flat-bodied lizard with a wide oval-shaped body and scattered enlarged pointed scales on the upper body and tail. The back skin is smooth with small spines. The snout is blunt. Horns extend from the back of the head, with the two central horns longest. There is one row of fringe scales on the sides of the body.
Color can be reddish, tan, dark gay, beige, brown and even black in areas with dark lava. Background coloring usually matches the local soil and rocks. A pair of large dark blotches mark the neck. Wavy dark blotches mark the back.
The belly is white with smooth scales and black spotting at the vent opening.
Males are smaller than females, and have postanal scales, femoral pores, and a wider tail base. Juveniles appear similar to adults. |
| Behavior & Natural History |
Diurnal. Adapted to hot and barren habitats. Remains underground during hot or cold weather, but can be active on the surface at any time of the year. Most active from April to July. Can be seen basking on rocks and road berms in the morning.
When threatened, this lizard is capable of running away quickly for only a short distance. It will often run under a low bush or into a rodent burrow to escape, or shuffle sideways to bury itself partly in the sand. Its main defense is remaining motionless using its cryptic coloring to blend into the background and make it difficult to see. It will crouch down low to prevent shadows that could make it easier to see, and sit still to avoid detection. When grabbed, it will inflate with air, hiss, threaten to bite, and move the head from side to side to jab with its horns. This species of horned lizard rarely defends itself by squirting blood from the corners of its eyes.
Although horned lizards may be desirable pets, captive animals normally do not live very long due to the difficulties of feeding them a proper diet of ants. |
| Diet |
| Eats nearly 90 percent ants, along with other small invertebrates including flies, and some plant material such as berries. |
| Reproduction |
Mates April to May. 1 - 2 clutches of 2 - 16 eggs are laid June - July. Hatchlings appear usually in August to mid September.
Know to hybridize with P. mcallii around Ocotillo and SE of Yuma. (Natureserve) |
| Range |
In California, this subspecies is found throughout the Colorado and Mojave deserts, east and north of the southern mountain ranges to the Colorado River and Baja California border, and north through the Owens Valley to near the Nevada border where it intergrades with P. p. platyrhinos in the White-Inyo mountains region. (Macey & Papenfuss 1991) Ranges out of California south along the eastern side of Baja California, through the eastern part of Arizona, the southern tip of Nevada, and extreme southeast Utah, and along the northern coast of Sonora, Mexico.
The species Phrynosoma platyrhinos occurs in southern California and northeastern Baja California, throughout most of Nevada, along the extreme northeastern edge of California, in southeast Oregon and southern Idaho, in western Utah and a couple of isolated spots in northeastern Utah, and western Arizona.
From below sea level to 6,500 ft. (1,980 m). (Stebbins 2003) |
| Habitat |
| Found in arid lands including sandy flats, at the edges of sand dunes, alluvial fans, and dry washes. Patches of sand are generally present. Associated plants include creosote, salt bush, cacti, other small shrubs. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
Three subspecies of P. platyrhinos have been recognized:
P. p. calidiarum
P. p. platyrhinos
P. p. goodei
Mulcahy et al. (2006, Mol. Ecol. 15:1807-1826) demonstrated that P. p. goodei is a full species, P. goodei, and showed that it occurs in the United States.
Leache and McGuire (2006, Molecular Phylog. Evolution 39:628-644) named four subclades of Phrynosoma - 3 in our area: Anota, Doliosaurus, and Tapaja. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| None. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Phrynosomatidae |
Zebra-tailed, Earless, Fringe-toed, Spiny, Tree, Side-blotched, and Horned Lizards |
| Genus |
Phrynosoma |
Horned Lizards |
| Species |
platyrhinos |
Desert Horned Lizard |
Subspecies
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calidiarum |
Southern Desert Horned Lizard |
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Original Description |
Phrynosoma platyrhinos - Girard, 1852 - Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 6, p. 69
Phrynosoma platyrhinos calidiarum - (Cope, 1896) - Amer. Nat., Vol. 30, p. 833
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Phrynosoma - Greek - phrynos - toad and soma - body - refers to the squat, toad-like appearance
platyrhinos - Greek -platys - flat and- rhinos - nose - referring to the flat nose
calidiarum - Latin - calidus - hot, warm and -arum - pertaining to, of the nature of - refereing to this lizard's habitat in hot areas
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Phrynosoma platyrhinos - Desert Horned Lizard
"Horny Toad," "Horned Toad"
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Related or Similar California Lizards |
Phrynosoma platyrhinos platyrhinos - Northern Desert Horned Lizard
Phrynosoma mcallii - Flat-tail Horned Lizard
Phrynosoma coronatum - Coast Horned Lizard
Phrynosoma douglasii - Pygmy Short-horned Lizard
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
Horned Lizard Conservation Society
Stebbins, Robert C., and McGinnis, Samuel M. Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of California: Revised Edition (California Natural History Guides) University of California Press, 2012.
Stebbins, Robert C. California Amphibians and Reptiles. The University of California Press, 1972.
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., and F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Powell, Robert., Joseph T. Collins, and Errol D. Hooper Jr. A Key to Amphibians and Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. The University Press of Kansas, 1998.
Bartlett, R. D. & Patricia P. Bartlett. Guide and Reference to the Turtles and Lizards of Western North America (North of Mexico) and Hawaii. University Press of Florida, 2009.
Jones, Lawrence, Rob Lovich, editors. Lizards of the American Southwest: A Photographic Field Guide. Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2009.
Smith, Hobart M. Handbook of Lizards, Lizards of the United States and of Canada. Cornell University Press, 1946.
Sherbrooke, Wade C. Horned Lizards, Unique Reptiles of Western North America. Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, 1981.
Sherbrooke, Wade C. Introduction to Horned Lizards of North America. University of California Press, 2003.
Lemm, Jeffrey. Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of the San Diego Region (California Natural History Guides). University of California Press, 2006.
Macey, J. Robert and Theodore Papenfuss."Herpetology." The Natural History of the White-Inyo Range Eastern California.
Ed. Clarence Hall. University of California Press, 1991.
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
This animal is not included on the Special Animals List, which indicates that there are no significant conservation concerns for it in California.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
None |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
None |
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| California Department of Fish and Wildlife |
None |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
None |
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| USDA Forest Service |
None |
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| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
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World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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