Fish and Wildlife Service Reinstates Proposal to Protect Rare Desert Reptile

Public Comment Period Reopened for 120 days

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today reinstated an amended 1993 proposal to list the flat-tailed horned lizard (phrynosoma mcallii) as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The Service has also opened a 120-day public comment period on the proposed rule. This action complies with the terms of a Court Order issued on October 24, 2001, by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

The flat-tailed horned lizard is a small desert reptile that inhabits the arid valleys and flat lands of the western Sonoran desert. The species