Texas horned lizard
| Texas horned lizard | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Iguanidae |
| Subfamily: | Phrynosomatinae |
| Genus: | Phrynosoma |
| Species: | P. cornutum |
| Binomial name | |
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Phrynosoma cornutum (Harlan, 1825) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Agama cornuta Harlan, 1825 |
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Agama cornuta Harlan, 1825
The Texas horned lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) is one of about 14 North American species of spikey-bodied reptiles called horned lizards. P. cornutum ranges from Colorado and Kansas to northern Mexico (in the Sonoran desert), and from southeastern Arizona to Texas. Also, isolated, introduced populations are found in the Carolinas, Georgia, and northern Florida. Texas horned lizards may also be native to Louisiana and Arkansas.
The horned lizard is popularly called a "horned toad", "horny toad", or "horned frog", but it is neither a toad nor a frog. The popular names come from the lizard's rounded body and blunt snout, which give it a decidedly batrachian appearance. Phrynosoma literally means "toad-bodied" and cornutum means "horned". The lizard's horns are extensions of its cranium and contain true bone.
The Texas horned lizard is the largest-bodied and most widely distributed of the roughly 14 species of horned lizards in the western United States and Mexico. The average Texas horned lizard is 69 mm (2.7 in) in snout-vent length, but the upper boundary for males is 94 mm (3.7 in) and for females it is 114 mm (4.5 in).
Although its coloration generally serves as camouflage against predation, when threatened by a predator, a horned lizard puffs up and appears very fat, which causes its body scales to protrude, making it difficult to swallow. The Texas horned lizard, along with at least three other species of the genus Phrynosoma, also has the ability to squirt an aimed stream of blood from the corners of the eyes and sometimes from its mouth for a distance up to 5 ft (1.5 m). This not only confuses would-be predators, but also the blood is mixed with a chemical that is foul-tasting to canine predators such as wolves, coyotes, and domestic dogs. This novel behavior is observed to be very effective in defense.
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Wikipedia