The rock horned lizard (Phrynosoma ditmarsi), also known commonly as Ditmars' horned lizard and camaleón de roca in Mexican Spanish, is a species of lizard in the family Phrynosomatidae. The species is endemic to the Mexican state of Sonora, in northern Mexico, south of the Arizona border. Bearing the shortest horns of all the horned lizards, it lives in thorn-scrub and deciduous Sinaloan woodlands. The rock horned lizard was "lost" to science for about 65 years. It has a unique habitat preference and limited distribution. It also had a very imprecise holotype locality record which made it difficult to locate. An extraordinary effort by Vincent Roth based on a cross-correlational analysis of gut contents from only three specimens led to its rediscovery.
| Rock horned lizard | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Iguania |
| Family: | Phrynosomatidae |
| Genus: | Phrynosoma |
| Species: | P. ditmarsi
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| Binomial name | |
| Phrynosoma ditmarsi Stejneger, 1906
| |
Etymology
editIts specific name, ditmarsi, is in honor of Raymond Lee Ditmars, the first curator of reptiles of the Bronx Zoo, and a pioneer in herpetology.[2]
Habitat
editThe preferred natural habitat of P. ditmarsi is rocky areas in forest and shrubland.[1]
Description
editThe rock horned lizard has its occipital and temporal horns reduced to flaring expansions. It has a deep and narrow occipital notch and a high postorbital ridge. The mandibles of P. ditmarsi feature a large vertical expansion. It has a bare tympanum in the anterior neck fold posterior to a vertical row of four spines. It has a single row of lateral abdominal fringe scales, which are bluntly pyramidal.[3]
Reproduction
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Frost, D. R.; Hammerson, G. A.; Gadsden, H.; Sherbrooke, W. (2007). "Phrynosoma ditmarsi ". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2007.RLTS.T64074A12741807.en.
- ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. xiii + 296. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Phrynosoma ditmarsi, p. 73).
- ^ a b Species Phrynosoma ditmarsi at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
Further reading
edit- Lowe CH, Robinson MD, Roth VD (1971). "A Population of Phrynosoma ditmarsi from Sonora, Mexico". Journal of the Arizona Academy of Science 6 (4): 275–277.
- Roth VD (1997). "Ditmars' Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma ditmarsi) or the case of the lost lizard". Sonoran Herpetologist 10 (1): 2–6.
- Stejneger L (1906). "A New Lizard of the Genus Phrynosoma, from Mexico". Proceedings of the United States National Museum 29: 565–567. (Phrynosoma ditmarsi, new species).
- Turner, Dale S.; Van Devender, Thomas R.; Silva-Kurumiya, Hugo; Del Castillo, Norberto León; Hedgcock, Charles; Roll, Chris; Wilson, Michael; Ochoa-Gutierrez, Francisco Isaias (2017). "Distribution of Phrynosoma ditmarsi Stejneger, 1906, with notes on habitat and morphology". Mesoamerican Herpetology 4 (4): 979–985.
External links
edit- Rock Horned Lizard Info Archived 2016-03-13 at the Wayback Machine