New born Arabian Spiny-tailed Lizard – Record by Mansur Al-Fahad

The below photograph of a new born Arabian Spiny-tailed Lizard was sent to me by Mansur Al Fahad who has kindly allowed me to use it on my website. The Spiny-tailed Lizard (Uromastyx spp.) is a medium to large sized, heavily built lizard with a spiny club like tail, which has been likened to a small living dinosaur. They are ground dwelling and live in some of the most arid regions of the planet including northern Africa, the Middle East, Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and north-western India. The generic name (Uromastyx) is derived from the Ancient Greek words ourá (οὐρά) meaning "tail" and mastigo (Μαστίχα) meaning "whip" or "scourge", after the thick-spiked tail characteristic of the species. When cold they are a blue colour and when warm from sunbathing they turn a yellow colour  The Arabian Spiny-tailed Lizard (Uromastyx aegyptia microlepis) is common in Saudi Arabia and is generally regarded as a subspecies of the Egyptian Spiny-tailed Lizard (Uromastyx aegyptia). It is locally known to the Arabs as 'Dhub' (Arabic:'ضب').