THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-other lizards)    Phrynosomatidae  

Mohave Fringe-toed Lizard
Uma scoparia Cope, 1894
YOU-mah — skoh-PAH-ree-ah

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

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Occurrences:; 2,393 Total; 1,802 Museum; 591 Other
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Province/State Distribution:
United States: Arizona California Nevada

Taxonomic Etymology:
A sand-dwelling lizard associated with desert broom plants or dune scrub.
Uma — An arbitrary name coined by Baird in 1859, possibly derived from Native American sources or used for its brevity. Its etymological origin remains unclear.
scoparia — From Latin scoparius, “broom-like” or “of the broom plant.” Possibly refers to the plant genus Scoparia or to desert vegetation typical of its habitat.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Mojave Fringe-toed Lizard (Uma notata scoparia: 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:
1958 Norris, Kenneth Stafford. The evolution and systematics of the iguanid genus Uma and its relation to the evolution of other North American desert reptiles. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 114(3):247-326
1977 Adest, Gary Andrew. Genetic relationships in the genus Uma (Iguanidae). Copeia 1977(1):47-52
1989 Queiroz, de, Kevin. Morphological and biochemical evolution in the sand lizards. Dissertation. University of California, Berkeley. 491pp.
2013 Lambert, Shea M. and John J. Wiens. Evolution of viviparity: A phylogenetic test of the cold-climate hypothesis in Phrynosomatid lizards. Evolution 67(9):2614–2630
2020 Derycke, Elizabeth G., Andrew D. Gottscho, Daniel G. Mulcahy, and Kevin De Queiroz. A new cryptic species of fringe-toed lizards from southwestern Arizona with a revised taxonomy of the Uma notata species complex (Squamata: Phrynosomatidae). Zootaxa 4778(1):67-100

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Thursday 16 July 2026 02:56 CT