Description: The color of roundtail horned lizards usually reflects the color of the soil in their native habitat. Most are uniformly grey in color, but they can also be light brown, or even a pale yellow. Often, darker-colored regions occur around the neck and groin, and sometimes striping on the tail. They are short, flat, round-bodied lizards with short limbs, and small heads, which have a distinctive crest of nearly equal-length horns. Unlike other horned lizards, they lack a fringe of lateral scales and do not seek to flatten themselves to the ground to eliminate shadow; instead, they hunch their bodies into the shape of a rock for camouflage, boldly casting a shadow. Their maximum size is 2.7 inches snout-to-vent length, and 4.3 inches total length.

Habitat: This lizard occupies various desert grassland and desert shrubland habitats, generally areas of sparse scrub vegetation and gravelly to rocky soils, such as bajada slopes, edges of washes, desert flats, arid and semi-arid hills. It is also found in oak habitats in parts of its range.

Range: The range extends from southeastern Arizona, New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, and northern Texas south to San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Elevational range extends from 700-7,220 feet.

Found in these States: AZ | CO | NM | TX

Diet: Eats mainly ants; also beetles and other insects.

Reproduction: Roundtail horned lizards are oviparous, breeding and laying eggs in early summer. Eggs are laid in soil/underground.

Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of the relatively large and probably stable extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, number of subpopulations, and population size. No major threats have been identified.

Taxonomy: