Yellow-backed spiny lizard
Sceloporus uniformis, also known as the yellow-backed spiny lizard, is a reptile of the family Phrynosomatidae. It is native to the Mojave and Great Basin deserts. Until recently, it was considered to be a subspecies of Sceloporus magister.
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct ...
Ambush predators are carnivorous animals that capture or trap prey by stealth, luring, or by (typically instinctive) strategies utilizing an elemen...
Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy charac...
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starts withS. uniformis is a large robust lizard, and adults can grow to 5.5 inches in body length (snout-to-vent), with a tail slightly longer than the body. Color is brown or tan with yellow and black dorsal stripes or mottling and a black collar on the sides of the neck.
Males are larger than females, and have a swollen tail base, enlarged postanal scales and femoral pores, and bluish markings on the throat and belly. Females have a pale throat and underbelly, with faint or no blue markings. The head of a female may be orange or reddish in the breeding season.
This lizard is native to the Mojave and Great Basin deserts. It is endemic to the United States, and can be found in California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. S. uniformis can be found living in desert flats, semiarid plains, low mountain slopes, and riparian woods.
Although S. uniformis is primarily an ambush predator, on occasion it will actively forage. This species will eat a variety of small invertebrates and their larvae including ants, beetles, grasshoppers, spiders, centipedes, and caterpillars. Occasionally, small lizards, nestling birds, leaves, flowers and berries are also consumed.
Like many desert species, S. uniformis basks in the morning on rocks or any hard surface that is in direct sunlight. It will seek shelter, usually underground in burrows, during the hottest part of the day in the summertime. It hibernates in late fall and during the cold months of winter before re-emerging in spring.
