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Project Noah Nature School
Phrynosoma hernandesi
remote forest on the Samaniego Ridge in the Santa Catalina Mountains
Yes, it's the Short-horned Lizard because that's all you find on the Santa Catalina Mtns or Mt. Lemmon. Please add this sighting to my Tucson Wildlife Count project mission http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/1...
The Regal Horned Lizards are declining from the Tucson area. All Horned Lizard species need to be monitored because all are declining.
After looking at your photos, looking at P. hernandesi that the_tajminator suggested, and then going back into my AZ herp field guide, I tend to agree with the suggestion. This one is really small, so looking for morphological features is tricky because it will look a bit different when it's older. It has a decent gap between the two sets of horns on the back of the head, and it has the 2 distinct dark shoulder patches. Both of those things set it apart from the other horned lizards of Arizona.
thank you! I've got a few more pics I'll upload too. maybe one of them will have something that will help.
Wow, I don't know if I could ID one that young. Unless someone else can pick out an identifying mark, I'd say you might have to go with the general Phrynosoma spp.
Spotted on May 2, 2012
Submitted on Aug 1, 2012
