Its natural distribution includes southeast Colorado, central and southern areas of Kansas, central and western areas of Oklahoma and Texas, southeast New Mexico, and extreme southeast Arizona. The Texas horned lizard, like all members of the genus Phrynosoma, is endemic to North America where it occurs in south-central regions of the US and northeastern Mexico. Have dark lines that span from the eyes to the tip of the horns and a characteristic solid white line with a few black circular splotches on either side. Coloration varies depending on the environment in order to blend in with the color of the ground, ranging from a yellow or reddish-brown for deserts to a tannish brown for prairies.
"Phrynosoma cornutum" has characteristic horns spanning across its body with the two largest crowning its head, two more on its brows and jawline respectively, as well as lines of spikes spanning the lateral parts of torso and dorsal ridges of the back. The Texas horned lizard exhibits sexual dimorphism, with the females being larger with a snout-vent length of around 5 in (13 cm), whereas the males reach around 3.7 in (9.4 cm). The Texas horned lizard is the largest-bodied and most widely distributed of the roughly -1 species of horned lizards in the western United States and Mexico.
The lizard's horns are extensions of its cranium and contain true bone. Phrynosoma literally means "toad-bodied" and cornutum means "horned". The popular names come from the lizard's rounded body and blunt snout, which give it a decidedly batrachian appearance.
The horned lizard is popularly called a "horned toad", "horny toad", or "horned frog", but it is neither a toad nor a frog. Texas horned lizard ( Phrynosoma cornutum) in Beeville, Texas, US (9 April 2011)
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