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Desert horned lizard

Phrynosoma platyrhinos · Lizards · Reptiles

Desert horned lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos): Flat, round body with horns and bumps; colour beige, tan, brown or slightly reddish to match the local soil. Long head spines; 2.5-3.75 inches total (NPS Zion key); similar to the short-horned lizards but found at low elevations. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Scientific name
Phrynosoma platyrhinos
Family
Phrynosomatidae
In North America
Native
Range
Southeastern Oregon, southwestern Idaho and northern Utah south through eastern and southern California, Nevada and western Arizona to northeastern Baja California; from below sea level to about 1,980 m.
Biology

How to identify it

Flat, round body with horns and bumps; colour beige, tan, brown or slightly reddish to match the local soil. [1][2][3]

Long head spines; 2.5-3.75 inches total (NPS Zion key); similar to the short-horned lizards but found at low elevations. [1][2][3]

Compared with the greater short-horned lizard: Short head spines and high-elevation habitat, versus long head spines at low elevation. [1][2][3]

Compared with the pygmy short-horned lizard: Short head spines and high-elevation habitat, versus long head spines at low elevation. [1][2][3]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a desert horned lizard before you act. Compared with the greater short-horned lizard: Short head spines and high-elevation habitat, versus long head spines at low elevation.[1][2][3]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Desert shrublands (sagebrush, shadscale, hopsage, creosotebush, greasewood) on sandy flats, alluvial fans, washes and dune edges. [1][2][3]

Most consistently where bare ground lies among open shrubs; found in sandy or gravelly valleys in Nevada. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Ant specialist: bulk of the diet is large harvester ants; also other insects, spiders and some plant material. [1][2][3]

Active mostly by day from about March, scarce above ground after mid-July in southern Nevada; buries itself in soil or uses burrows when inactive or too hot. [1][2][3]

Not fast; relies on camouflage, and can inflate its body when pursued. [1][2][3]

Egg layer: females bury eggs in soil; average clutch about 7; one or two clutches a year. [1][2][3]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Southeastern Oregon, southwestern Idaho and northern Utah south through eastern and southern California, Nevada and western Arizona to northeastern Baja California; from below sea level to about 1,980 m.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. Nevada Department of Wildlife · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Nevada Department of Wildlife

  3. U.S. National Park Service · reviewed 2026-09-30

    U.S. National Park Service