Critically Endangered
Phrynocephalus horvathi
Phrynocephalus horvathi
Phrynocephalus horvathi is a small diurnal desert lizard in the family Agamidae.
Appearance
The neotype, an adult male, measures 48 mm (1.9 in) in snout–vent length, and has a 60 mm (2.4 in) tail. There is a crest, consisting of a row of nine thornlike scales, along the middle line of neck.
Range and habitat
P. Horvathi occurs in several isolated populations the valley of the Aras River in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, at elevations of up to 500 m. Like P. Persicus, this species prefers vegetation patches on loose sandy soils in semi-deserts, but can also be found on traditional arable land. It is endemic to the valley of the Aras River and considered Critically Endangered.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
In crisis
The species is categorized as "critically endangered" due to its fragmented range, small populations and some 80 percent of its habitat having been lost over the past three generations (12 years) to the spread of agriculture and urbanization. A total population estimate of less than 2,000 individuals was made in 2008.
Phrynocephalus horvathi is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Phrynocephalus horvathi, Wikidata item Q21664018. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
