Urosaurus ornatus

Urosaurus ornatus
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Iguania
Family: Phrynosomatidae
Genus: Urosaurus
Species:
U. ornatus
Binomial name
Urosaurus ornatus
(Baird & Girard, 1852)
Synonyms
  • Uta ornata
    Baird & Girard, 1852
  • Urosaurus ornatus
    — Mittleman, 1942

Urosaurus ornatus, commonly known as the ornate tree lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Phrynosomatidae. The species is native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. The species, which was formerly called simply the "tree lizard", has been used to study physiological changes during the fight-or-flight response as related to stress and aggressive competition. Its life history and costs of reproduction have been documented in field populations in New Mexico and Arizona. This species has been fairly well studied because of its interesting variation in throat color in males (within a population) that can correlate with different reproductive strategies,