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| Zebra Tailed Lizard, Callisaurus draconoides - Blainville, 1835. Photographed in Arizona. Habitats used include open sandy desert washes, desert pavement, and hard pan, usually with scattered vegetation and open areas. Occasionally it occurs in wind-blown sand dunes if hard-packed ground is nearby. It ranges from eastern California north into Nevada and SW Utah, and southward to Arizona, New Mexico, Baja California, and Mexico’s west coast. The body length is 60-100 mm, with a tail that may be 1.5 times as long. This fast moving lizard feeds on insects, other lizards, and occasionally plant matter. During the breeding season males get bright blue markings on their belly and sides |
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| The Lesser Earless Lizard, Holbrookia maculata Girard, 1851. Photographed in Cochise Co., Arizona. A short grass prairie species that may also use open woodlands and farm land. Adult body sizes to 63 mm. Inhabits the Great Plains from South Dakota to Arizona and Texas, and southward into Mexico. |
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Texas Horned Lizard, Phrynosoma cornutum Harlan, 1825. Photographed in western Texas. Ranges from central Kansas, southwestern Missouri, and southeastern Colorado south and west throughout most of Oklahoma and Texas to southeastern New Mexico and Arizona and southward into the Mexican states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Durango, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi, and Zacatecas. Texas Horned Lizards use sandy soil areas is deserts, grasslands, and scrublands. Abandoned animal burrows are frequently used as refugia, and they are also frequently found in close proximity to harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex sp) nests, the ants being the primary item in their diet. This species is well know for spraying blood from its eyes, it does this most often in response to a canid predator, and the blood contains formic acid, an irritant when in an animal’s eyes or mouth. Interestingly, the formic acid is obtained from its prey, the harvester ants. Maximum adult size is about 114 mm for females and males are slightly smaller, about 94 mm. Texas horned lizards have been observed using their body to collect rain water, they raise and flatten their body, tilt their head down and the scales transport the water into the lizard’s mouth. |
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| The Greater Short Horned Lizard, Phrynosoma hernandesi Girard, 1858. Photographs of animals from Arizona. Adults to 124 mm in body length. Inhabits the plains and mountains using deserts and arid grasslands to montane coniferous forests to about 2000 m. Ranges from southern Canada southward into Mexico, more or less following the Rocky Mountains. It is viviparous, producing litters of 5-48 young, and like many temperate viviparous it is cold tolerant. As with many Phrynosoma it tends to prefer ants. |
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| The Desert Horned Lizard, Phrynosoma platyrhinos, Girard, 1852. A captive specimen from Arizona. Adults to 91 mm in body length. Coloration often matches the soil background. Inhabits flat, arid terrain with creosote and cactus. Females 2-16 eggs. Ranges from Washington and Idaho southward to Baja and Sonora, Mexico. |
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| Blue Spotted Spiny Lizard, Sceloporus magister Phelan and Brattstrom, 1955. Photograph of a captive from an unknown locality. Uses a variety of arid habitats, usually with trees and shrubs, and often along water courses. Food is mostly insects but it will eat other lizards and small birds. Adult body size to 142 mm. Females are oviparous. |
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| The Striped Plateau Lizard, Sceloporus virgatus Smith, 1938. Photographed in Cochins Co., Arizona. Adult body size reaches about 71 mm. This is a montane lizard common in mixed oak-pine forests along intermittent streams. Females lay 5-15 eggs. It seems to replace the Eastern Fence Lizard at higher elevations. |
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| Mojave Fringed Toed Lizard, Uma scorparia Cope, 1894. Photographs of a captive animal from Arizona. Adults reach a body length of 114 mm. Inhabits wind blown sand deposits of the Mojave Desert from 90-910 m in elevation. It is endemic to southeastern California and adjacent Arizona. It shows a range of adaptations for life in blowing sand, including fringed scales on toes and a countersunk lower jaw to keep sand out of its mouth. It feeds on insects and seeds. |
| Phrynosomatids are North and Central American lizards in about 10 genera with about 120 species. They range from Southern Canada to Panama, most are terrestrial, diurnal, live in arid habitats, and lay eggs. But there are exceptions: some climb trees, and others give birth to live young. Most are diurnal, and sun-loving, with bodies that are flattened (dorso-ventrally compressed). |