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Squamata · PhrynosomatidaeEntry 20,942 of 21,572
Mojave Fringe-toed Lizard, Uma scoparia

Reptilia · Squamata

Uma scopariaCope, 1894

Mojave Fringe-toed Lizard

Photograph by Chris Frost, CC BY, via iNaturalist

A ground-dwelling, day-active, omnivorous lizard from the Nearctic region, reaching 116 mm snout to vent.

Reptilia › Squamata › Phrynosomatidae › Uma

Grows to
116mm
greatest recorded
Eats
Omnivorous
Active
Diurnal
Lives
Terrestrial
Body length across Phrynosomatidae

Longer than 86% of all species in Phrynosomatidae anyone has measured.

86% of 168 species are smaller14% larger
47 mmthe whole family, smallest to largest175 mm

The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body length here runs from 47 to 175 mm. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.

What is known

40 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.

Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.

Standing in the world

Still living
Extant
Conservation status
Least Concern
Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
2007
Population trend
Stable

The animal itself

Limbs
Four legs
Venomous
No
Fangs
None
Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
36.75°C98 °F

mean body temperature of active individuals in nature

Body temp in the wild · mean, when active
35.7–37.8°C96–100 °F

body temperature of active animals in nature

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
116mm4.5 in

max 116 mm SVL (Feldman et al. 2016)

Length snout to vent · adult female mean
86.7mm3.5 in
Largest female · snout to vent
86.7mm3.5 in

snout-vent length; the source column mixes this with straight carapace length

Hatchling length · snout to vent
39mm1.5 in
Largest juvenile · snout to vent
39mm1.5 in
Body mass · greatestcomputed
46.94g1.7 oz

computed from length by a family-level allometric equation, not weighed

Body mass · adult female, meanmeasured
4.1g0.14 oz

How it lives

Diet
Omnivorous

(Stebbins 2003, Greene 1982), insects (mostly ants) and 13.3% plants (Pianka 1986), diet includes plants (Jones and Lovich 2009), arthropods seeds and flowers (Stebbins and McGinnis 2018)

How it hunts
Sit and wait

e.g, Mesquita et al. 2016

Active
Diurnal

e.g., Pianka et al. 2017

Where it lives
Terrestrial

e.g., Mesquita et al. 2016, Korff and McHenry 2011, Olberding et al. 2016

Habitat
Desert
Biome
Deserts & Xeric Shrublands
Active season · months of the year
7months
Region
Nearctic
Mainland or island
Mainland
Elevation · above sea level
90–910m

90-910 (Stebbins and McGinnis 2018)

Range size
39,210km²

Breeding

Reproduction
Oviparous
Average clutch
2.86eggs
Eggs or young per clutch
1–5eggs

1-5 (Brennan and Holycross 2009, Stebbins and McGinnis 2018), 2-5 (Mayhew 1966), 2.6 (Pianka and Parker 1972), means 2.6-3.11 (Mesquita et al. 2016), Dominguez-Guerrero et al. 2022 (mean 3.8)

Mean clutch
2.6–3.8eggs
Clutches a year
1–2per year
First breeds at
12–24months

Naming and history

Suborder
Sauria
Infraorder
Pleurodonta
Subspecies
No
Described by
Cope
Moved to another genus · since it was first described
No
Described in
1894
Type locality
USA

Keeping one

18.5 in × 18.5 in × 11.5 in(46 × 46 × 29 cm)

Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.

The standard sizes ground-dwelling species at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times snout-vent length.

Mindestanforderungen an die Haltung von Reptilien (Sachverständigengutachten), German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, Animal Welfare Division, 10 January 1997. The standard states these floor areas are recommendations rather than binding limits.

From this animal’s own snout-vent length of 4.5 in (116 mm), at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.

Active animals measured in the wild averaged 98 °F (36.8 °C).

Mean body temperature of active individuals measured in nature. A measurement of the animal, not a setting for a thermostat.

Feeding

A prey item should be no wider than the space between the animal's eyes.

Widely used across reptile husbandry references. The stated reason is that the gap approximates the width of the throat, so wider prey is associated with impaction. This is established practice, not a measurement.

6kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 47 g, the heaviest recorded for Mojave Fringe-toed Lizard — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.

An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.

What nobody knows

These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.

  • — Length snout to vent · adult male mean
  • — Length snout to vent · adult mean
  • — Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
  • — Female length · mean, nose to tail
  • — Length nose to tail · adult male mean
  • — Length nose to tail · adult mean
  • — Largest male · snout to vent
  • — Largest female · shell length
  • — Largest male · shell length
  • — Hatchling length · nose to tail
  • — Largest juvenile · shell length
  • — Egg length
  • — Egg width
  • — Body mass · a typical adult
  • — Body mass at hatching
  • — Longest recorded life
  • — Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
  • — Eats arthropods
  • — Eats vertebrates
  • — Eats plant matter
  • — How the young develop
  • — Gestation or incubation
  • — Clutches in a year
  • — Hatchling length · smallest recorded
  • — Hatchling length · largest recorded
  • — Age at first breeding · female
  • — Mature from · youngest recorded
  • — Mature by · oldest recorded
  • — Size at maturity · smallest recorded
  • — Size at maturity · largest recorded
  • — Colour on the back
  • — Pattern on the back
  • — Pupil
  • — Sex decided by
  • — Red List criteria
  • — Density · lowest recorded
  • — Density · highest recorded
  • — Home range · largest recorded
  • — Active in

Others in Phrynosomatidae

Take this data

Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.

This species as JSON · the whole dataset

Cite this page

The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Uma scoparia. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/uma-scoparia

@misc{uma_scoparia_2026,
  title  = {Uma scoparia},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/uma-scoparia}
}

Sources

  1. Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
  2. Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
  3. Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.