About Sceloporus uniformis Phelan & Brattstrom, 1955
Sceloporus uniformis is a large, robust lizard. 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. 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. Males are larger than females, with 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 blue markings or none at all; a female’s head may turn orange or reddish during the breeding season. 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. It inhabits desert flats, semiarid plains, low mountain slopes, and riparian woods. While Sceloporus uniformis is primarily an ambush predator, it will occasionally forage actively. It eats a wide variety of small invertebrates and their larvae, including ants, beetles, grasshoppers, spiders, centipedes, and caterpillars. On occasion, it also consumes small lizards, nestling birds, leaves, flowers, and berries.
