Flat-tail horned lizard | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Suborder: | Iguania |
Family: | Phrynosomatidae |
Genus: | Phrynosoma |
Species: | P. mcallii |
Binomial name | |
Phrynosoma mcallii (Hallowell, 1852) | |
The flat-tail horned lizard (Phrynosoma mcallii) is a species of lizard in the family Phrynosomatidae. A species of reptile, it is endemic to the Sonoran Desert of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. [2] Its multiple adaptations for camouflage help to minimize its shadow. [3] The species is threatened, with a restricted range under pressure from human activities such as agriculture and development, and is specially protected in the United States.
The flat-tail horned lizard is named for United States Army Colonel George A. M'Call, [4] who collected the first specimen in California in the 19th century. The species occupies a small range in the Sonoran Desert of southeastern California, southwestern Arizona, and extreme northern Mexico in the Baja California and Sonora states. [2] Over time, horned lizard populations have adapted to climate, food, and predators, causing them to in some ways be distinct from one another. [3]
The flat-tail horned lizard has evolved elaborate camouflage measures to eliminate shadow. Their bodies are flattened, with the sides thinning to an edge; the animals habitually press their bodies to the ground; and their sides are fringed with white scales which effectively hide and disrupt any remaining areas of shadow there may be under the edge of the body. [3]
Different populations of the species match their local backgrounds using a combination of colour-creating cells in their back scales. These cells include black melanophores and red chromatophores in an upper layer, scattered over a layer of white reflective iridophores, enabling the flat-tail horned lizard to match the local soil or rock. So for example the Algondones Dunes population of San Luis, Sonora is generally redder than the population on the whiter Thousand Palms dunes of California. [3] In addition, the dark midline helps to disrupt the outline of the lizard, resembling the thin shadows of plant stems in its windswept sand habitat. [3]
The flat-tail horned lizard is threatened by development, agriculture, and other man-made intrusions into their small range. The majority of their remaining habitat in the US is administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The species (Phrynosoma mcallii ) frequently coexists with sources of natural gas, oil, geothermal energy, and minerals which can found in its habitat. [6] In 1982, the US Fish and Wildlife Service declared P. mcallii as a Candidate 2 Category for the list of threatened and endangered species due to concerns over potential threats to their habitat which could further diminish the population. P. mcallii has also been given special status in both California and Arizona, which prevents their collection. [2]
Experiments have been conducted to investigate the "fluctuations in populations of flat-tailed horned lizards, Phrynosoma mcallii, in the Coachella Valley, California. This species has the smallest range of any horned lizard in the United States. In parts of its range, there are potentially conflicting activities, such as suburban development, agriculture, off-road recreation, and activities along the international border." [7]
"Between 1978 and 1980 the Bureau of Land Management supported investigations of the status of P. mcallii in California. The purpose of this work was to determine the local distribution and relative abundance of P. mcallii, to correlate these parameters with various habitat attributes, and to gather information on the structure of the populations and mobility and food habits of individual lizards." [6]
The study also looked at the flat-tailed horned lizard's distribution and abundance throughout Arizona. The species was found to be restricted to an area of desert, 650–700 km2 in size, in the southwestern corner of the state. The species was most abundant in places with the Western whiptail (Cnemidophorus tigris), nests of the black harvester ant (Messor pergandei), galleta grass (Hilaria rigida) and sandy soils. [2]
Phrynosoma, whose members are known as the horned lizards, horny toads, or horntoads, is a genus of North American lizards and the type genus of the family Phrynosomatidae. Their common names refer directly to their horns or to their flattened, rounded bodies, and blunt snouts.
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The desert horned lizard is a species of phrynosomatid lizard native to western North America. They are often referred to as "horny toads", although they are not toads, but lizards.
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The roundtail horned lizard is one of the smaller species of horned lizard. Their specific epithet is from the Latin word modestum, meaning modest or calm. They are found in the United States, in western Texas, New Mexico eastern Arizona, southeastern Colorado and eight states in northcentral Mexico where they are referred to as "tapayaxtin".
Sauromalus ater, also known as the common chuckwalla or northern chuckwalla, is a species of lizard in the family Iguanidae. It inhabits the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts of the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. Its range extends from eastern California, Utah, and Nevada south to Baja California and Sonora.
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The Lower Colorado River Valley (LCRV) is the river region of the lower Colorado River of the southwestern United States in North America that rises in the Rocky Mountains and has its outlet at the Colorado River Delta in the northern Gulf of California in northwestern Mexico, between the states of Baja California and Sonora. This north–south stretch of the Colorado River forms the border between the U.S. states of California/Arizona and Nevada/Arizona, and between the Mexican states of Baja California/Sonora.
The regal horned lizard is a horned lizard species native to Mexico and the Southwest United States.
The pygmy short-horned lizard is a species of small horned lizard in the family Phrynosomatidae. The species is native to the northwestern United States and adjacent southwestern Canada. Like other horned lizards, it is often called a "horned toad" or "horny toad," but it is not a toad at all. It is a reptile, not an amphibian.
The San Diego horned lizard or Blainville's horned lizard is a species of phrynosomatid lizard native to southern and central California in the United States and northern Baja California in Mexico.
The Sonoran horned lizard, also known commonly as Goode's desert horned lizard and el camaleón de Sonora in Mexican Spanish, is a species of horned lizard in the family Phrynosomatidae. The species is native to Arizona in the United States and to Sonora in Mexico.