A few days ago I was walking around the
flat stoney desert area near Jebal Hamrah when I came across an Arabian
Spiny-tailed Lizard sunning itself by its hole. It was still quite cool as it was a blue colour. They become yellow when they have heated up. These lizards are relatively common
and widespread across Saudi Arabia preferring hard stony ground to excavate
their holes. 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 northwestern 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.
The Arabian Spiny-tailed Lizard Uromastyx aegyptia microlepis is most common in
Saudi Arabia and is the one that occurs in the Eastern Province and is
generally regarded as a subspecies of the Egyptian Spiny-tailed Lizard
(Uromastyx aegyptia). It is locally known to the Arabs as 'Dhub'.
