Agamidae

Jacky dragon Amphibolurus muricatus, copyright Benjamint444.

Belongs within: Iguania.
Contains: Ctenophorus, Tympanocryptis, Diporiphora, Uromastyx, Agama.

The Agamidae, dragons, are a family of lizards found in much of the Old World. The family includes such species as the thorny devil Moloch horridus and the frilled lizard Chlamydosaurus kingii. The flying dragons of the genus Draco, found in tropical forests of Africa and Asia, are capably of broadly extending the ribs laterally to form a gliding membrane.

Characters (from Borsuk-Białynicka & Moody 1984): Brain case wall excavated between semicircular canals with proootic broadly exposed in horizontal wall ventral to excavation; epiotic foramen usually piercing center of excavation; acrodont and heterodont dentition displaying great amount of variability in number of pleurodont teeth contributing to main cheek series; maxilla underlying orbit, extending to frontoparietal suture or almost as far; premaxillary processes of maxillae fused in the midline, separating premaxillae from vomers.

Agamidae
    |--Priscagaminae R88
    |--Leiolepidinae [Uromastycidae, Uromastycinae] L05
    |    |--Leiolepis belliana BMS09, MH11
    |    `--Uromastyx L05
    |--Hydrosaurus BMS09 [Hydrosaurinae SVL03]
    |    |--H. pustulatus BMS09
    |    `--H. salvator P89
    |--Draconinae SVL03
    |    |--Ptyctolaemus SVL03
    |    `--Draco Linnaeus 1758 RFN02, L58
    |         |--*D. volans Linnaeus 1758 L58
    |         `--D. lineatus B28
    |--Amphibolurus Wagner 1830 C18 [Amphibolurinae SVL03]
    |    |--A. burnsi (Wells & Wellington 1985) C18
    |    |--A. centralis (Loveridge 1933) C18
    |    |--A. longirostris ADD08
    |    |--A. muricatus (White 1790) C18
    |    |--A. norrisi Witten & Coventry 1984) C18
    |    `--A. reticulatus G54
    `--Agaminae L05
         |--Agama K54
         `--Stellio B89
              |--S. azurea B00
              |--S. cordylus B00
              |--S. lehmanni CM07
              |--S. officinalis B00 [incl. Lacerta stellio Linnaeus 1758 B00, L58]
              `--S. orbicularis B00

Agamidae incertae sedis:
  Caimanops Storr 1974 C18
    `--C. amphiboluroides (Lucas & Frost 1902) C18
  Ctenophorus BMS09
  Moloch Gray 1841 C18
    `--M. horridus Gray 1841 BMS09
  Pogona Storr 1982 C18
    |--P. barbata (Cuvier 1829) C18
    |--P. henrylawsoni Wells & Wellington 1985 C18
    |--P. microlepidota (Glauert 1952) C18
    |--P. minor (Sternfeld 1919) ADD08
    |    |--P. m. minor BMS09
    |    |--P. m. minima BMS09
    |    `--P. m. mitchelli C18
    |--P. nullarbor (Badham 1976) C18
    `--P. vitticeps (Ahl 1926) C18
  Tympanocryptis C18
  Diporiphora C18
  Lophognathus Gray 1842 C18
    |--L. gilberti Gray 1842 C18
    |--L. longirostris HD04
    `--L. temporalis BMS09
  Grammatophora barbata [=Amphibolurus barbatus] R13
  Lophosaurus Fitzinger 1843 [incl. Hypsilurus Peters 1867] C18
    |--L. boydii (Macleay 1884) [=Hypsilurus boydii] C18
    |--'Hypsilurus’ godeffroyi C18
    |--'Hypsilurus’ modesta [=Arua modesta] BMS09
    `--L. spinipes (Duméril & Duméril 1851) [=Hypsilurus spinipes] C18
  Physignathus cocincinus BMS09, MH11
  Chelosania Gray 1845 C18
    `--C. brunnea Gray 1845 C18
  Rankinia Wells & Wellington 1984 C18
    |--R. adelaidensis ADD08
    |--R. butleri ADD08
    |--R. diemensis (Gray 1841) C18
    `--R. parviceps ADD08
  Chlamydosaurus Gray 1825 C18
    `--C. kingii Gray 1825 C18
  Gonocephalus grandis BMS09
  Phrynocephalus M01
    |--P. arabicus Anderson 1894 A-O00
    |--P. caudivolvulus M01
    |--P. frontalis Strauch 1885 M01
    `--P. versicolor MH11
  Trapelus A-O00
    |--T. pallidus LK03
    |    |--T. p. pallidus A-O00
    |    `--T. p. haasi (Werner 1971) A-O00
    |--T. persicus LK03
    `--T. ruderatus LK03
  Lophyrus tigrinus H04
  Draconellus volans H04
  Calotes SRS02
    |--C. calotes AS09
    |--C. cristatellus M89
    |--C. emma P89
    `--C. versicolor SRS02
  Japalura tricarinata AS09
  Lyriocephalus scutatus CD88
  Mimeosaurus crassus Gilmore 1943 B93
  Cryptagama Witten 1984 C18
    `--C. aurita (Storr 1981) C18
  Gowidon Wells & Wellington 1984 C18
    |--G. longirostris (Boulenger 1883) C18
    `--G. temporalis (Günther 1867) C18
  Intellagama Wells & Wellington 1985 C18
    `--I. lesueurii (Gray 1831) [=Physignathus lesueurii] C18
         |--I. l. lesueurii C18
         `--I. l. howittii C18

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[AS09] Alfaro, M. E., F. Santini, C. Brock, H. Alamillo, A. Dornburg, D. L. Rabosky, G. Carnevale & L. J. Harmon. 2009. Nine exceptional radiations plus high turnover explain species diversity in jawed vertebrates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 106 (32): 13410–13414.

[A-O00] Al-Oran, R. M. 2000. Notable herpetological records from central and southern Jordan. Zoology in the Middle East 21: 31–36.

[ADD08] Aplin, K., S. Donnellan & J. Dell. 2008. The herpetofauna of Faure Island, Shark Bay, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 75: 39–53.

[B89] Bailon, S. 1989. Les amphibiens et les reptiles du Pliocene superieur de Balaruc II (Herault, France). Palaeovertebrata 19 (1): 7–28.

[BMS09] Bell, C. J., J. I. Mead & S. L. Swift. 2009. Cranial osteology of Moloch horridus (Reptilia: Squamata: Agamidae). Records of the Western Australian Museum 25 (2): 201–237.

[B93] Benton, M. J. 1993. Reptilia. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 681–715. Chapman & Hall: London.

[B28] Betrem, J. G. 1928. Monographie der Indo-Australischen Scoliiden mit zoogeographischen Betrachtungen. H. Veenman & Zonen: Wageningen.

Borsuk-Białynicka, M., & S. M. Moody. 1984. Priscagaminae, a new subfamily of the Agamidae (Sauria) from the Late Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 29 (1-2): 51-81.

[B00] Brongniart, A. 1800. Essai d'une classification naturelle des reptiles. II^e partie. Formation et disposition des genres. Bulletin des Sciences, par la Societé Philomathique de Paris 2 (36): 89–91.

[C18] Cogger, H. G. 2018. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia updated 7^th ed. CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood.

[CM07] Cokendolpher, J. C., & P. G. Mitov. 2007. Natural enemies. In: Pinto-da-Rocha, R., G. Machado & G. Giribet (eds) Harvestmen: The Biology of Opiliones pp. 339–373. Harvard University Press: Cambridge (Massachusetts).

[CD88] Crusz, H., & D. M. A. K. Daundasekera. 1988. Parasites of the relict fauna of Ceylon. IX. Helminths from burrowing scincine lizards. Annales de Parasitologie Humaine et Comparee 63: 439–447.

[G54] Glauert, L. 1954. Reptiles and frogs. In: Willis, J. H. (ed.) The Archipelago of the Recherche pp. 29–35. Australian Geographical Society: Melbourne.

[H04] Haeckel, E. 1899–1904. Kunstformen der Natur. Bibliographisches Institut: Leipzig und Wien.

[HD04] How, R. A., & J. Dell. 2004. Reptile assemblage of the Abydos Plain, north-eastern Pilbara, Western Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 87 (3): 85–95.

[K54] Klausewitz, W. 1954. Eidonomische Untersuchungen über die Rassenkreise Agama cyanogaster und Agama atricollis. I. Der Rassenkreis der Agama cyanogaster. Senckenbergiana Biologica 35: 137–146.

[L05] Lee, M. S. Y. 2005. Squamate phylogeny, taxon sampling, and data congruence. Organisms, Diversity & Evolution 5: 25–45.

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[LK03] Lymberakis, P., & A. Kalionzopoulou. 2003. Additions to the herpetofauna of Syria. Zoology in the Middle East 29: 33–39.

[M01] Méhely, L. 1901. Csúszómászók és kétéltűek [Reptilien und Amphibien]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. 41–68. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.

[M02] Mlíkovský, J. 2002. Cenozoic Birds of the World. Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press: Praha.

[M89] Modigliani, E. 1889. Materiali per la fauna erpetologica dell'isola Nias. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, Serie 2^a, 7: 113–124.

[MH11] Müller, J., C. A. Hipsley, J. J. Head, N. Kardjilov, A. Hilger, M. Wuttke & R. R. Reisz. 2011. Eocene lizard from Germany reveals amphisbaenian origins. Nature 473: 364–367.

[P89] Parona, C. 1889. Sopra alcuni elminti di Vertebrati birmani raccolti da Leonardo Fea. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, Serie 2^a, 7: 765–780.

[RFN02] Raxworthy, C. J., M. R. J. Forstner & R. A. Nussbaum. 2002. Chameleon radiation by oceanic dispersal. Nature 415: 784–787.

[R88] Rieppel, O. 1988. The classification of the Squamata. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Phylogeny and Classification of the Tetrapods, vol. 1. Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds pp. 261–293. Clarendon Press: Oxford.

[R13] Roux, J. 1913. Les reptiles de la Nouvelle-Calédonie et des îles Loyalty. In: Sarasin, F., & J. Roux (eds) Nova Caledonia: Forschungen in Neu-Caledonian und auf den Loyalty-Inseln. A. Zoologie vol. 1 pt 2 pp. 79–160. C. W. Kreidels Verlag: Wiesbaden.

[SVL03] Schulte, J. A., II, J. P. Valladares & A. Larson. 2003. Phylogenetic relationships within Iguanidae inferred using molecular and morphological data and a phylogenetic taxonomy of iguanian lizards. Herpetologia 59 (3): 399–419.

[SRS02] Shanbhag, B. A., R. S. Radder & S. K. Saidapur. 2002. Members of opposite sex mutually regulate gonadal recrudescence in the lizard Calotes versicolor (Agamidae). Journal of Biosciences 27 (5): 529–537.

Last updated: 14 June 2020.