THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-other lizards)    Phrynosomatidae  

Desert Horned Lizard
Phrynosoma platyrhinos Girard in Barid and Girard, 1852
FRY-noh-SOH-mah — plah-tee-RYE-nohs

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 See note on P. goodei concerning the possibility that it is part of P. platyrhinos. Phylogenetic analysis of mtDNA sequences by Mulcahy et al. (2006, Molecular Ecology 15: 1807–1826; see also Jezkova et al., 2016, Ecography 38: 1–12) raised the possibility that lizards currently assigned to this species from the Yuma Proving Ground (southwestern AZ) represent a separate, unnamed species; however, that possibility is contradicted by the results of Farleigh et al. (2021, Molecular Ecology 30: 4481–4496).. The author citation has been updated from Girard, 1852. (de Queiroz, Kevin and Lauren M. Chan. 2025. Squamata (excluding snakes) – Lizards. Pages 23-37 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.10.08.04.18)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.56 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Arizona California Idaho Nevada Oregon Utah

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its broad, flattened snout.
Phrynosoma — From Greek phrynos (φρῦνος), meaning “toad,” and soma (σῶμα), meaning “body,” referring to its broad, flattened, toad-like form.
platyrhinos — From Greek platys (πλατύς), “broad,” and rhinos (ῥίς), “snout,” meaning “broad-snouted.”

First instance(s) of published English names:
Broad-nosed Horned Toad (Doliosaurus platyrhinos: Cooper, James G. 1869. The fauna of California and its geographical distribution. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 4():61-81); Horned Lizard (Doliosaurus platyrhinos: Cooper, James G. 1869. The naturalist in California. The American Naturalist 3(9):470-481); Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinum: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Horned-toad (Phrynosoma platyrhinos: Stejneger, Leonhard H. 1893. Annotated list of the reptiles and batrachians collected by the Death Valley Expedition in 1891, with descriptions of new species. North American Fauna 7():159–228); Desert Horned Toad (Phrynosoma platyrhinos: Van Denburgh, John. 1897. The reptiles of the Pacific Coast and Great Basin: An account of the species known to inhabit California, and Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences 5():9-236); Short-nosed Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhina: Brown, Arthur, E. 1902. Report of the Board of Directors. Pages 5-22 in Thirtieth Annual Report of the Board of Directors of the Zoological Society of Philadelphia. Allen, Lane, and Scott, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. pp.); Snub-nosed Horned Toad (Phrynosoma platyrhinos: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Sonoran Desert Horned Toad (Phrynosoma platyrhinos calidiarum: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Great Basin Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos platyrhinos: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1852 Baird, Spencer F. and Charles Girard. Characteristics of some new reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 6:68-70
1963 Lynn, R. T. Comparative behavior of the horned lizards, genus Phrynosoma, of the United States. Dissertation. University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma. 76pp.
1965 Lynn, R. T. A comparative study of the display behavior in Phrynosoma (Iguanidae). Southwestern Naturalist 10(1):25-30
1975 Pianka, E. R. and W. S. Parker. Ecology of horned lizards: A review with special reference to Phrynosoma platyrhinos. Copeia 1975(1):141-162
1987 Montanucci, Richard R. A phylogenetic study of the horned lizards, genus Phrynosoma, based on skeletal and external morphology. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Contributions in Science (390):1-36
1991 Pianka, Eric R. Phrynosoma platyrhinos. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (517):1-4
1993 Wiens, John J. Phylogenetic relationships of phrynosomatid lizards and monophyly of the Sceloporus group. Copeia 1993(2):287-299
1996 Montanucci, Richard R. Morphological variation in the gular fold in the horned lizard genus Phrynosoma (Iguania: Phrynosomatidae). Herpetologica 52(1):46-55
2001 Reeder, Tod W., and Richard R. Montanucci. Phylogenetic analysis of the horned lizards (Phrynosomatidae: Phrynosoma): Evidence from mitochondrial DNA and morphology. Copeia 2001(2):309-323
2004 Hodges, Wendy L. Evolution of viviparity in horned lizards (Phrynosoma): Testing the cold-climate hypothesis. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 17:1230–1237
2006 Mulcahy, Daniel G., Allen W Spaulding, and Edmund D. Brodie. Phylogeography of the flat-tailed horned lizard (Phrynosoma mcallii) and systematics of the P. mcallii-platyrhinos mtDNA complex. Molecular Ecology 15(7):1807-1826
2016 Jezkova, Tereza, Jef R Jaeger, Viktória Oláh-Hemmings, K Bruce Jones, Rafael A Lara-Resendiz, Daniel G Mulcahy, and Brett R Riddle. Range and niche shifts in response to past climate change in the desert horned lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos). Ecography 39(5):437–448
2021 Farleigh, Keaka, Sarah A Vladimirova, Christopher Blair, Jason T Bracken, Nazila Koochekian, Drew R Schield, Daren C Card, Nicholas Finger, Jonathan Henault, Adam D Leaché, Todd A Castoe, and Tereza Jezkova The effects of climate and demographic history in shaping genomic variation across populations of the Desert Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos). Molecular Ecology 30(10):4481–4496
2024 Araya-Donoso, Raúl, Austin Biddy, Adrian Munguia-Vega, Andres Lira-Noriega, and Greer Dolby, Habitat quality or quantity? Niche marginality across 21 plants and animals suggests differential responses between highland and lowland species to past climatic changes. Ecography 2024(e07391):1-15

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 15:56 CT