About Sceloporus uniformis Phelan & Brattstrom, 1955
General Morphology
Sceloporus uniformis is a large, robust lizard.
Body Size
Adult individuals reach a snout-to-vent body length of up to 5.5 inches, with a tail that is slightly longer than the body.
Base Color and Markings
Its base color is brown or tan, with yellow and black dorsal stripes or mottling, plus a black collar on the sides of the neck.
Male Sexual Characteristics
Males are larger than females, with a swollen tail base, enlarged postanal scales and femoral pores, and bluish markings on the throat and belly.
Female Sexual Characteristics
Females have a pale throat and underbelly, with faint blue markings or none at all; a female’s head may turn orange or reddish during the breeding season.
Geographic Distribution
This lizard is native to the Mojave, Great Basin, and San Joaquin deserts, and is endemic to the United States, where it occurs in California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona.
Habitat Types
It inhabits desert flats, semiarid plains, low mountain slopes, and riparian woods.
Feeding Behavior
While Sceloporus uniformis is primarily an ambush predator, it will occasionally forage actively.
Invertebrate Diet
It eats a wide variety of small invertebrates and their larvae, including ants, beetles, grasshoppers, spiders, centipedes, and caterpillars.
Additional Diet Items
On occasion, it also consumes small lizards, nestling birds, leaves, flowers, and berries.
