Desert Horned Lizard
Scientific Name:
Phrynosoma platyrhinos
Type:
Reptile
Habitat:
Deserts and shrublands
Range:
Great Basin, Mojave, and Sonoran Deserts and other arid regions nearby
Status:
Least Concern (IUCN Red List)
This species is
NATIVE
to the Truckee Meadows.
Identification:
Desert horned lizards are recognizable and unique lizards native to the deserts of North America. Unlike most lizards, they have wide, flattened bodies. These lizards get their names from the small, horn-like scales that cover their bodies as well as their prominent crowns of horns around the backs of their heads. Their tails are relatively short and broad at the base. Average size is 5.5 inches long. There are two subspecies of desert horned lizards: northern desert horned lizards inhabit the Great Basin Desert and southern horned lizards inhabit the Mojave and Sonoran.
Fast Facts:
Desert horned lizards use their triangle-shaped heads to burrow into sand, a strategy that allows them to keep warm overnight.
Desert horned lizards eat insects in a toad-like fashion by catching prey with their long, sticky tongues.
Desert horned lizards vary in color, often matching their surroundings. Colorations include gray, tan, and reddish-brown, and all types have wavy dark blotches arranged in two rows, one on either side of the bodies.
Sources:
DesertUSA, Horned Lizards, 2021, https://www.desertusa.com/reptiles/horned-lizard.html
IUCN Red List, Desert Horned Lizard, 2021, https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/89974770/89975571
Digital Atlas - Idaho State University, Desert Horned Lizards, 1997, https://digitalatlas.cose.isu.edu/bio/reptile/lacer/phpl/phplfram.htm
Image: Churnice, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Desert_Horned_Lizard.jpghttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Desert_Horned_Lizard.jpg, license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en, cropped from original.
Contributor(s):
Aramee Diethelm (research & content)
Alex Shahbazi (edits & page design)