Hernandez's Short-Horned Lizard
These small lizards hunt using a "sit and wait" method whereby they don't actively hunt, but rather eat whatever ants or other small insects cross their paths.
About This Species
Why the genus name "Phrynosoma" means "toad-bodied", short-horned lizards are reptiles, not amphibians, and are therefore not related to toads. Alternate names: greater short-horned lizard, mountain short-horned lizard.
More Information:
Physical Characteristics
Body wide and flattened; spines at back of head approximately same length as width at base; one row of enlarged scales fringing each side of body; variable coloration usually blends cryptically with soil; total length up to about 15 cm (5.9 inches). Females are generally larger than males.
Mature Male
Underside of base of tail with two swellings (from hemipenes); tail proportionally longer than that of female.
Range
Throughout most of western, southern, and eastern Colorado, but absent from high mountains in the central part of the state and from all or most of extreme eastern Colorado. Reaches 11,000 feet in southwestern Colorado. Generally scarce, fairly common in localized areas.
Note: A population of “dwarfed” short-horned lizards inhabits the San Luis Valley. They are much smaller than those elsewhere in the state.
Habitat
Short-grass prairie, sagebrush, semidesert shrubland, shale barrens, piñon-juniper woodland, pine-oak woodland, oak-grass associations, and open conifer forests in the mountains. Sparse vegetation at ground level and easy access to sunlight are among the most important habitat features. Soil texture may vary from sandy to rocky, though rocky habitats generally have at least some patches of soft soil or underground access via rodent burrows.
Diet
Ants generally dominate the diet.
Reproduction
Females give birth to litters of 6 to 20+ young, primarily in August but sometimes as early as late July.