Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In a June 1 thread, Lester was able to identify Karu's DHL as a male, by looking at posted pictures that did not include underbelly shots. Can someone describe their sexually dimorphistic characteristics (besides femoral pores and hemi-penial bulges)?

I have what I've been told are a male and female Nevada DHLs that look just like Karu's. I've actually been waiting for the female for a month now and just brought her home today (Don't worry, with a big container of harvester ants too. I'm new to DHL's but have kept herps for years and know to do some research before buying.)

Anyway...their behavior tends to make me agree they are true male/female. . .as well as the fact that my male looks just like Karu's male. My female looks somewhat different than the male....but I couldn't put my finger on specifics to describe it.
Thanks,
Rebecca

Hi Rebecca,

From the shot that Karu posted (which appears to have been removed) it was fairly easy to tell. The big give-away was the width of the base of the tail. Since the hemipenes of the males are located in the base of the tail, not only are there bulges on the ventral side, but the base of the tail is much wider laterally in males than females. Since the shot that Karu posted gave a good posterior view of the base of the tail, it was easy to tell that hers was a male. If yours are opposite sexes, the difference between them in this aspect should be obvious, assuming they are adults.

I've seen reference to differences in the morphology of the head and horns between the sexes of P. platyrhinos as well (see here for example), but these differences aren't as obvious as the differences in the tail.

Good luck with your new HLs!

Gary

The picture showed up for me on that old thread.. But if it helps, here it is again..

Oh and Gary, Karu is my Uromastyx name. It means "desert" in Finnish. I am, in fact, a male
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1.1 Eublepharis macularius
1.0 Uromastyx geryi
0.0.1 Phrynosoma platyrhinos
0.0.1 Kinosternon bauri

Oops! Sorry about that Karu. We had so many new posters there in a row that were female, I guess I just mentally lumped everyone into the same gender. And strangely enough, I can again see those pics, although the "image" logo next to the post is still gone. But thanks for posting it again.

Gary

:Most definitely male! Lester G. Milroy III

:I have worked with many DHL from throughout the range and have seen no indicator of male or female other than the hemipene bulges, which are very distinct indictors. Any variance of horns (occipital or temporal), frontal scales, etc are strictly geographic variation and not an indicator of male or female sexual characteristics. (This is not just for subspecies identification either) Once you are used to HLs, it is very easy to spot this even in the field at some distance. That goes for all HL species. Lester G. Milroy III

I had my doubts about those differences in horn/head morphology as well, but never having tried to sex them that way, or to make a comparison, I didn't feel qualified to dismiss it. Thanks for the info.

Just thought I'd add to the conversation. I've seen many different DHL horn structures of both sexes even in one population in Joshua Tree CA. I've seen each subspecies of DHL horn structure(according to the drawing), only they are from one population. Their is no way it can define sex or even geographic race(from what I've seen). I agree with Eric Pianka when he proposed their shouldn't be any subspecies for platyrhinos. Most Horned Lizards ,even those of the same species, vary in color and head structure but I don't think it's enough to designate sub-species status, unless the differnce is constant and well defined. I've been noticing drastic color morphs in p. solare for instance. From the photo's I've seen in the past I didn't think their was much variety in this species. But I've just recently been observing this species and have found quite different sizes and colors which include cinnamon reds(I didn't get a picture though), dark browns, and even some from Wickenburg that look like coast horned except for the horn structure. The Horned lizards ability to adapt to soil color is amazing.Jeff (here's the one that somewhat resembles a coastal)

Sorry I couldn't compare them side by side.