- Animals
- ›Chordates
- ›Vertebrates
- ›Reptiles
- ›Snakes and Lizards
- ›Lizards
- ›Iguanas and Allies
- ›Iguanas, Anoles, and Allies
- ›Phrynosomatid Lizards
- ›Phrynosomatine Lizards
- ›Phrynosoma
Flat-tailed Horned Lizard
Phrynosoma mcallii
The flat-tail horned lizard (Phrynosoma mcallii), also known commonly as the flat-tailed horned lizard, 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. Its multiple adaptations for camouflage help to minimize its shadow. 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.
From the article Flat-tail horned lizard on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
The flat-tail horned lizard is named for United States Army Colonel George A. M'Call, 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. Over time, horned lizard populations have adapted to climate, food, and predators, causing them to in some ways be distinct from one another.
"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. 8 horns extend from the back of the head. The two central horns are long, slender and sharp. Long and narrow spines on the lower jaw and two rows of fringe scales on the sides of the body, the bottom row scales smaller than the upper."
Wikipedia: “Description and geographic range”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Phrynosoma mcallii in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 36314.