THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Phrynosomatidae  

Desert Horned Lizard
Phrynosoma platyrhinos Girard in Barid and Girard, 1852

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.

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:
USA: Arizona California Idaho Nevada Oregon Utah

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: Sunday 27 April 2025 12:28 CT