Coast horned lizard
The coast horned lizard is a species of phrynosomatid lizard endemic to Baja California Sur in Mexico. As a defense the lizard can shoot high pressure streams of blood out of its eyes if threatened.
Taxonomy
It was previously considered to be a widely divergent species with over six subspecies ranging from Baja California north to California's Sacramento Valley. Bayard H. Brattstrom of California State University, Fullerton's Department of Biology claims that there are no subspecies of the coast horned lizard. Studying specimens from the San Diego Natural History Museum, he could not match a given lizard to a particular claimed subspecies—for example, Phrynosoma coronatum blainvillii or Phrynosoma coronatum frontale—based on characteristics the subspecies were said to have, such as size of frontal scales. Instead, the classification of the assumed subspecies seemed to be based on the site at which it was collected. Thus, Brattstrom concluded that the species has much variation but no valid subspecies.However, a 2009 study by Leaché et al. found sufficient genetic divergence between clades to split P. coronatum into three species: P. blainvillii, P. cerroense, and P. coronatum sensu stricto. This splitting leaves P. coronatum restricted to Baja California Sur. However, in 2021 Gunther Köhler again reclassified blainvillii and cerroense as subspecies of P. coronatum, although the Reptile Database has not followed this taxonomic change.