in these lizards as it does in Sceloporus un-dulatus (Ballinger et al., 1969). Their alert stance helps them spy food and predators, recognise each other and communicate using a complex body language. We know that the frill is used to intimidate would-be predators, but it seems that sexual selection has also contributed to its evolution (Shine 1990). [6] Although agamids generally inhabit warm environments, ranging from hot deserts to tropical rainforests, at least one species, the mountain dragon, is found in cooler regions. (of course, now this should be Intellagama sp.) Since the Chinese water dragon is the type species for the name Physignathus (Georges Cuvier came up with the binomial Physignathus cocincinus in 1829), the Eastern water dragon needs a new name. We examined these mechanisms among eight Australian agamid lizards. THREE NEW AGAMID LIZARDS FROM WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 2000, Macey et al. By. This group is not endemic to Australia since species also occur in tropical eastern Asia and New Guinea as well. & Denzer, W. 2006. * Lophognathus was also long considered synonymous with Amphibolorus but, then, so were most other amphibolurines, so this doesn’t mean much. (2013) are right, Moloch evidently adapted to desert conditions all on its own, very much independently from the dry-adapted ‘core’ amphibolurines. After several false starts, it has been argued (Amey et al. Are ta ta dragons really close to the Physignathus water dragons? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 93(2):343-358. A similar faunal divide is found in between the boas and pythons. Intellagama lesueurii (Gray, 1831), the correct binomial combination for the Australian Eastern Water Dragon (Sauria, Agamidae). Molecular claims of Gondwanan age for Australian agamid lizards are untenable. (2000)[14] and Honda et al. STORR, G.M. I‐Ping Chen, Matthew R. E. Symonds, Jane Melville, Devi Stuart‐Fox, Factors shaping the evolution of colour patterns in Australian agamid lizards (Agamidae): a comparative study, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 109, 1, Moving on -- there’s also the Thorny devil Moloch horridus, sometimes just called the Moloch, a tiny, slow-moving, rather sedentary, spiky, desert-dwelling, myrmecophagous (= ant-eating) amphibolurine that’s strongly convergent with the horned lizard (Phrynosoma) of North America. Head bobs and dips, push-ups and tail lashes … So stay tuned for part II, coming soon. Most Australian agamids have posterior intrascalar pores (Fig. The Australian radiation of dragon lizards, the Amphibolurinae (Agamidae), includes iconic species such as the frill-neck lizard, bearded dragon, and thorny devil. They are usually grey with broad brown stripes across their back and tail, and of course their most unique distinguishing feature is their blue tongue. Hamilton, D. G., Whiting, M. J. Surprisingly, the agamid lizards of Australia have received comparatively little attention despite the prevalence of motion signalling in their social conduct. Agamid lizards (Squamata: Agamidae) are karyotypically heterogeneous. And I need to finish by saying thank you to the several wonderful individuals who let me use their photos, and thus made this article possible. Intellagama is known from reasonably abundant remains to have been present in the Miocene of Queensland (where its jaws and other bones are preserved at Riversleigh). Phylogenetic relationships of the family Agamidae (Reptilia: Iguania) inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences. [UPDATE: see comment # 66 below (by John Scanlon). Molecular claims of Gondwanan age for Australian agamid lizards are untenable. The life of a Lake Eyre dragon is as complex as its backdrop is simple. - . Shape of Western Australian dragon lizards (Agamidae) Graham G. Thompson 1, Philip C. Withers 2 Abstract. That’s right – this is a (faculatively) bipedal lizard. If Hugall et al. Check out the Tet Zoo podcast at tetzoo.com! Ser. The agamids show a curious distribution. This iconic Australian lizard is seen here enacting its famous bluff display. I just mentioned Hypsilurus. The distribution is the opposite of that of the iguanids, which are found in just these areas but absent in areas where agamids are found. 2011. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia. Molecular Claims of Gondwanan Age for Australian Agamid Lizards are Untenable Andrew F. Hugall* and Michael S. Y. Lee* *Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Are there more than just two species in Australia? They have sexual reproduction. [10] The great majority of agamid species are oviparous.[11]. SUMMARY Bipedal locomotion by lizards has previously been considered to provide a locomotory advantage. These species are phylogenetically and cytogenetically sisters to the well-characterised Pogona Amey, A. P., Couper, P. J. Actually, they never group together in phylogenetic studies, the Eastern water dragon being closer to other amphibolurines than is the Chinese water dragon (Honda et al. We examined these mechanisms among eight Australian agamid lizards. Storr, G M Type. agamid lizards and all snakes, have genotypic sex deter-mination. The Eastern Water Dragon (Physignathus lesueurii) is a social arboreal agamid lizard, native to Australia. Locomotion and morphology in Australian agamid lizards Christofer J. Clemente 1, *, Philip C. Withers 2 , Graham Thompson 3 and David Lloyd 4 1 Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK, 2 Zoology, School of Animal Biology, Melville, J., Ritchie, E. G., Chapple, S. N. J., Glor, R. E. & Schulte, J. - search web for this article As you’d predict, species also occur on various of the islands between Australia and the Asian mainland. Behavioral Ecology 24, 1138-1149. A revision of the Melanesian-Australian angle head lizards of the genus Hypsilurus (Sauria: Agamidae: Amphibolurinae), with description of four new species and one new subspecies. Thus the Eastern water dragon is now Intellagama lesueurii. Many species are commonly called dragons or dragon lizards. Recent mtDNA phylogenies of Australasian agamid lizards are highly incongruent with existing morphological views. This is one of those fantastically ornate iguanian taxa. - search web for this article Amphibia-Reptilia 26 (2005): 73-85 Shape of Western Australian dragon lizards (Agamidae) Graham G. Thompson 1, Philip C. Withers 2 Abstract. Phylogeny of iguanian lizards inferred from 29 nuclear loci, and a comparison of concatenated and species-tree approaches for an ancient, rapid radiation. Ultrametric phylogenetic tree for 69 Australian Agamid lizards. 1985; Greer 1989). Amphibolurines include long-tailed, superficially iguana-like rainforest and woodland forms, short-snouted, spiny-bodied animals of dry woodlands and deserts, and a large number of slender, highly gracile semi-arboreal and desert-dwelling specialists. 2000, Hugall & Lee 2004, Hugall et al. 2008. Miocene dragons from Riversleigh: new data on the history of the family Agamidae (Reptilia: Squamata) in Australia. Evaluating trans-Tethyan migration: an example using acrodont lizard phylogenetics. Perhaps the most familiar is the Frilled lizard, Frilled dragon or Frillynecked dragon Chlamydosaurus kingii, a highly variable, mostly insectivorous agamid that reaches 85 cm in total length and is predominantly arboreal. Agamids usually have well-developed, strong legs. West. Reproduction is dioecious. 3 hours ago — Benjamin Storrow and E&E News, 5 hours ago — Andrea Thompson and Priyanka Runwal, 6 hours ago — Erica R. Bailey and Sandra Matz, 7 hours ago — Peter Sands and Achim Steiner | Opinion, 23 hours ago — JoNel Aleccia and Kaiser Health News. The scaly membrane around its neck is used as a large part of the lizard’s defensive posture. Females are bigger than males (a peculiar feature for a lizard) and there are indications that individuals are reasonably long-lived, perhaps surviving into their third decades (remember that this is an animal less than 20 cm long). Phylogeny of Australasian agamid lizards based on nuclear and mitochondrial genes: implications for morphological evolution and biogeography. They rely on running to move around. 2013). Honda, M., Ota, H., Kobayashi, M., Nabhitanhata, J., Yong, H.-S., Sengoku, S. & Hikida, T. 2000. However, in a large sample from Sturt National Park, in northwestern New South Wales, males are larger than females both in snout-vent length and in mass. Zootaxa 3390, 65-67. Blue-tongued Lizard Australia is home to six species of blue-tongued lizards. The historical taxonomy of the Hypsilurus species is a fairly complex nightmare, by the way: they have been extensively confused with (and often considered congeneric or synonymous with) the draconine agamid Gonocephalus. However, variation in foot anatomy has at times led to the suggestion that there might actually be a set of cryptic species here: a hypothesis that awaits an analysis of variation within Moloch across its range. CATALOGUE OF TYPE SPECIMENS OF DRAGON LIZARDS 117 Over 7,500 type specimens are, or have formerly been, held in the WAM herpetology collection with 824 specimens representing types of 48 agamid species or Exceptional Disparity in Australian Agamid Lizards is a Possible Result of Arrival into Vacant Niche JAIMI A. – indicate that members of this lineage have therefore been in existence for something like 20 million years. A close affinity with the forest and angle-headed dragons (Hypsilurus) has been supported in some studies (Macey et al. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 29, 339-360. J. Proc. Rather than finding Moloch to be a recently evolved ‘core member’ of Amphibolurinae, Hugall et al. In other studies, the species is nested within Amphibolurinae, being closer to Chlamydosaurus and Pogona (a genus we'll look at in part II) than is Lophognathus (Honda et al. We’re not done yet – there’s lot more to say. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013, 13:93 doi:10.1186/1471-2148-13-93. [Licht et al. The famous frills of these lizards – controlled by massively enlarged hyoid bones and borne on a proportionally long neck (Shine 1990) – are used by the males in dominance battles. These were highly concordant with each other and the mtDNA phylogeny, but not the morphology. Tree was constructed by maximum likelihood from 1800 bp of mtDNA using the GTR + I + G model of sequence evolution and made ultrametric using Non [2][3] Many agamid species are capable of limited change of their colours to regulate their body temperature. They generally feed on insects and other arthropods (such as spiders), although some larger species may include small reptiles or mammals, nestling birds, flowers or other vegetable matter in their diets. 2008, Townsend et al. Shine, R. 1990. Asian Agamid lizards (Agamidae, Acrodonta, Sauria, Reptilia): Phylogenetic and taxonomic diversity The Southeast Asian-Indonesian and Australian-New Guinean tectonic plates have both been hypothesized to be centers of et al. The first comprehensive assessment was by Moody (1980)[12] followed by a more inclusive assessment by Frost and Etheridge (1989). We characterize 15 microsatellite loci from two microsatellite libraries developed from the Australian agamid lizards Amphibolurus muricatusand Ctenophorus pictus. (2011) found Lophognathus as most usually conceived to be polyphyletic, with L. longirostris and L. temporalis both grouping as distinct lineages close to a Rankinia + Pogona + Tympanocryptis clade, and L. burnsi and L. gilberti being close to Amphibolurus (and not, incidentally, closer to each other than they were to the included Amphibolurus species) (see also Pyron et al. The phylogenies say no (Honda et al. He mostly works on Cretaceous dinosaurs and pterosaurs but has an avid interest in all things tetrapod. Its terrestrial bipedal behaviour is well known: TV documentaries often show these lizards sprinting bipedally away from menacing camera-holding humans, but they’re also known to engage in peculiar, prancing bipedal locomotion as their normal method of moving at ground level (Shine & Lambeck 1989). & Shea, G. M. 2012. 2008) and Pyron et al. This makes it likely that it’s probably outside the main amphibolurine radiation, the members of which are united by the presence of 10 chromosome pairs. The scaly membrane around its neck is used as a large part of the lizard’s defensive posture.’s defensive posture. The larger species, however, are capable of tackling and eating other reptiles and even nestling birds and small mammals, and some are omnivorous and will eat flowers and fruits. Pages in category "Agamid lizards of Australia" The following 63 pages are in this category, out of 63 total. Copeia, 2000(4), pp. Although there was a general agreement in order, the acceleration thresholds for lizards were often lower than that predicted by the model. Explore our digital archive back to 1845, including articles by more than 150 Nobel Prize winners. However, both behavioural and threshold data suggest that some … * The Eastern water dragon is even able to remain submerged for a considerable period – an hour or more, apparently. In a harsh land where even predators fear to tread, the lizards seem less inclined to take more determined evasive action. They are, however, absent from Madagascar and the New World. Wait a minute... this means it's another non-Australasian amphibolurine, right? Article currently comprises 21 species based on genetic and morphological evidence, with 11 of these species occurring in the monsoonal tropics of northern Australia. (2013) found Moloch, Hypsilurus and Chelosania to belong outside the clade that contains the majority of amphibolurine lineages. The 70 species of agamid lizards (‘dragons’) are one of the most diverse and prominent components of the Australian reptile fauna. Forest dragons and angle-headed dragons: there are more than you think. 2008). 958-964 Incubation Temperature Determines Hatchling Sex in Australian Rock Dragons (Agamidae: Genus Ctenophorus) PETER S. HARLOW Rock dragons are medium-sized agamid lizards restricted to arid or Background Morphological diversity among closely related animals can be the result of differing growth patterns. ‘Ta ta dragons’: Lophognathus and… Gowidon? 2000, Hugall & Lee 2004, Hugall et al. Aust. Systematic Biology 49, 233-256. Despite its extreme weirdness, Moloch has been argued by some authors to be a geologically young novelty, deeply nested within the amphibolurine radiation, and specifically within the clade of dry-adapted lineages. Boyd’s forest dragon H. boydii, one of the biggest and most ornate of the group, has enlarged cheek plates, tall nuchal and dorsal crests topped with curved, laterally compressed spines, and a giant dewlap, also lined with large spines. (1966) did not indicate precise collection dates for their experimental animals.] 2008, Pyron et al. A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata, including 4161 species of lizards and snakes. L. temporalis inhabits both coastal northern Australia as well as New Guinea while L. maculilabris is unique to the Tanimbar Islands (or Timor Laut) of the Lesser Sundas. All loci were tested for amplification in four other agamids: Ctenophorus fordi, Ctenophorus decresii, … Agamids are a widespread, diverse iguanian lizard group that I have a special fondness for and consequently have featured several times on Tet Zoo (see links below). Intellagama lesueurii (Australian Water Dragon) is a species of Squamata in the family agamid lizards. All loci were tested for amplification in four other agamids: Ctenophorus fordi, Ctenophorus decresii, Chlamydosaurus kingii, and Physignathus lesueurii. They are found over much of the Old World, including continental Africa, Australia, southern Asia, and sparsely in warmer regions of Europe. Cogger, H. G. 2000. Fiery frills: carotenoid-based coloration predicts contest success in frillneck lizards. The Australian radiation of dragon lizards, the Amphibolurinae (Agamidae), includes iconic species such as the frill-neck lizard, bearded dragon, and thorny devil. Agamids typically have scaly bodies, well-developed legs, and a moderately long tail; average body size ranges from 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 inches), and the tail is 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 inches) long, though the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 40, 11-20. This group is, with some exceptions, karyotypically conserved, and all species involving … Their tails cannot be shed and regenerated like those of geckos (and several other families such as skinks), though a certain amount of regeneration is observed in some. (2008), Hutchinson & Hutchinson (2011) and Pyron et al. Subscribers get more award-winning coverage of advances in science & technology. (1990) as Physignathus sp. Distributions of some Australian agamid lizards Amphibolurus muricatus and Ctenophorus pictus. Are these two really close relatives? All populations of Moloch are currently regarded as belonging to the same single species. [4] In some species, males are more brightly coloured than females,[5] and colours play a part in signaling and reproductive behaviours. For previous Tet Zoo articles on agamids and other iguanian lizards, see…. Pianka, E. R. & Vitt, L. J. It’s a hierarchy of dominant and subservient males, mated and unmated females. Many species are commonly called dragons or dragon lizards. 2011, Pyron et al. GRAY ,1* MARK N. HUTCHINSON,1,2 AND MARC E.H. JONES1,2,3 1School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Our analysis revealed that angular acceleration of the trunk about the hip, and of the tail about the hip were both important predictors of extended bipedal 2008, Melville et al. There are about 70 agamid species in Australia (though maybe much more), all belonging to the clade Amphibolurinae and vernacularly termed amphibolurines or amphiboluroids or just dragons (waitaminute... isn't that term in use someplace else?). Most Australian agamids are terrestrial, a few are arboreal or semi- arboreal and one species is riparian. Chelosania also has the primitive 12 chromosome pairs. Karyotypes of Moloch and Chelosania (Squamata: Acrodonta). Phylogeny of Australasian agamid lizards based on nuclear and mitochondrial genes: implications for morphological evolution and biogeography. If this record is valid, it suggests the presence of cryptic or extinct populations that must have occurred in between those on and around New Guinea and those on and around Sulawesi. Dragons have the keenest vision of all Australian lizards, so appearance means a great deal to them. His publications can be downloaded at darrennaish.wordpress.com. Frilled lizard, (Chlamydosaurus kingii), type of reptile found in Australia and New Guinea that can run standing up on its hind legs with its forelegs and tail in the air. Gilbert’s dragon looks different from the more boldly striped, generally longer-tailed, longer-snouted species and these differences and others led Wells & Wellington (1983) to propose the new genus Gowidon for L. longirostris and others. He has been blogging at Tetrapod Zoology since 2006. The majority are predators of arthropods. Function and evolution of the frill of the frillneck lizard, Chlamydosaurus kingii (Sauria: Agamidae). However, as is the case with several of the agamids discussed here, L. gilberti seems to be a species complex (Cogger 2000. Ecology of Frillneck lizards in tropical Australia. For 41 species of Western Australian agamid lizards, we found that most appendage lengths vary isometrically, so shape is largely independent of size. [7][8][9]. Phylogenetically, they may be sister to the Iguanidae, and have a similar appearance. Molecular Biology and Evolution 21, 2102-2110. They are found in australasia. Wells, R. W. & Wellington, C. R. 1985. 2000, Hugall et al. If this is right, Physignathus is of Australian ancestry and members of its lineage moved away at some point, eventually getting as far as mainland Asia. Andrew F. Hugall, Michael S. Y. Lee, Molecular Claims of Gondwanan Age for Australian Agamid Lizards are Untenable, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Volume 21, Issue 11, November 2004, Pages 2102–2110, https://doi.org We had broad geographic sampling across genera, including Australian Journal of Herpetology, Suppl. 47: 43-50. Lizards: Windows the Evolution of Diversity. 2013). and Tony Gamble. Journal of Herpetology 45, 216-218. All loci were tested for amplification in four other agamids: Ctenophorus fordi, Ctenophorus decresii, Chlamydosaurus kingii, and … Then there are weirdos like the pebble-mimics, the ant-eaters that are covered in thorn-like spines, and so on. 2013). This was also recently supported by Hutchinson & Hutchinson (2011) who showed that Moloch has the 12 chromosome pairs thought primitive for Agamidae. The species studied were Pogona minor (mesic), Ctenophorus salinarum … Intellagama is somewhat similar in overall appearance to the several Lophognathus dragons – in fact, both have been considered synonymous by some authors in the recent past*, and at least some species of Lophognathus are sometimes called water dragons too. Zoological Science 17, 527-537. Normally, the neck frill, often as wide as the lizard is long, lies like a cape over the shoulders. Agamidae is a family of over 300 species of iguanian lizards indigenous to Africa, Asia, Australia, and a few in Southern Europe. Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at, North America: land of obscure, freaky voles, Happy 8th birthday Tetrapod Zoology: 2013 in review, Harduns and toad-heads; a tale of arenicoly and over-looked convergence, ‘Cryptic intermediates’ and the evolution of chameleons, Tell me something new about basilisks, puh-lease, The Squamozoic actually happened (kind of): giant herbivorous lizards in the Paleogene, The enormous liolaemine radiation: paradoxical herbivory, viviparity, evolutionary cul-de-sacs and the impending mass extinction, Pyron, R. A., Burbrink, F. T. & Wiens, J. J. Molecular claims of Gondwanan age for Australian agamid lizards are untenable. Phylogeny of Australasian agamid lizards based on nuclear and mitochondrial genes: implications for morphological evolution and biogeography. Very few studies of the Agamidae have been conducted. Hutchinson, M. N. & Hutchinson, R. G. 2011. Buy. R. Soc. In fact, there are about 20 of the things, four of which (H. hikidanus, H. magnus, H. ornatus and H. tenuicephalus) were named in 2006 (Manthey & Denzer 2006). 2013. Macey, J. R., Schulte, J. Hutchinson, M. N. & Hutchinson, R. G. 2011. & Reeder, T. W. 2011. 2011), and molecular results indicate that some of the populations conventionally included in this species are not close relatives – in fact, one of them is an unnamed taxon within Amphibolurus (another genus we'll look at in part II). Today, I want to expand the discussion somewhat by looking at Australian agamids more generally. Agamid lizards (Squamata: Agamidae), commonly known as dragons in Australasia, are notorious for their variability in forms of sex determination [19.23]. 2011, Pyron et al. Australian Dragon Lizards (Agamas) AUSTRALIAN REPTILE PHOTOS AND INFORMATION. Moloch horridus (thorny devil) of the Australian desert, which feeds on ants and termites, has protective horns on the forehead formed from enlarged spines; and Uromastyx species (spiny-tailed lizards or dab lizards) of the Near The 64 or more species of agamid lizards (“dragons”) constitute a sizeable component (13.5%) of the Australian lizard fauna and traditionally have been interpreted to have arrived by dispersal from the north (e.g., Cogger and Heatwole 1981; Schwaner et al.
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