The long-tailed brush lizard, Urosaurus graciosus, occurs in the Mojave

Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...

 and northwestern Sonoran

Sonoran Desert

The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...

 Deserts in the states of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

, Sonora

Sonora

Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....

, and Baja California

Baja California

Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

. This species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 received its common name

Common name

A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...

 due to its tail, which is more than twice the body length, and since it is almost always encountered on a tree or shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

. Its gray or tan coloration keep it well Camouflage

Camouflage

Camouflage is a method of concealment that allows an otherwise visible animal, military vehicle, or other object to remain unnoticed, by blending with its environment. Examples include a leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier and a leaf-mimic butterfly...

d against branches while it waits for insects. Unlike most other Phrynosomatid lizards

Phrynosomatidae

Phrynosomatidae is a diverse family of lizards, found from Panama to the extreme south of Canada. Many members of the group are adapted to life in hot, sandy deserts, although the spiny lizards prefer rocky deserts or even relatively moist forest edges, and the short-horned lizard lives in prairie...

 which bury in the sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...

 at night, during warm weather, U. graciosus spends the night on the tips of branches.

Urosaurus graciosus is distinguishable from its close relative the Tree Lizard

Urosaurus ornatus

The Tree lizard or Ornate Tree Lizard is a species of lizard that is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The species has been used to research the physiological changes in the body during the fight-or-flight response as related to stress and aggressive competition...

, Urosaurus ornatus, by the presence of a tail more than two times its snout-vent length and the absence of a series of smaller scales running down the middle of the band of enlarged dorsal scales. U. graciosus is distinguishable from the Black-tailed Brush Lizard, Urosaurus nigricaudus, by the presence of a tail more than two times its snout-vent length and relatively large dorsal scales transitioning abruptly into granular lateral scales (in U. nigricaudus, the dorsal scales are only slightly enlarged and transition gradually into the granular lateral scales). It is distinguishable from all other brush lizards (Urosaurus

Urosaurus

The North American genus Urosaurus belongs to the New World Iguanian family Phrynosomatidae. They can be distinguished from members of the genus Sceloporus by the presence of a gular fold and granular lateral scales...

) by geography.

External links

• californiaherps.com Urosaurus graciosus page
• calphotos.berkeley.edu Urosaurus graciosus page
• wildherps.com Urosaurus graciosus page
• Arizona PARC Urosaurus graciosus page
• Cabeza Prieta Natural History Association Urosaurus graciosus page