Laudakia tuberculata

Laudakia tuberculata
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Iguania
Family:	Agamidae
Genus:	Laudakia
Species:	L. tuberculata
Binomial name
	Laudakia tuberculata; (Gray, 1827)
Synonyms
	Stellio indicus; Agama tuberculata; Barycephalus sykesii

Laudakia tuberculata (Kashmir rock agama or tuberculated agama) is a species of agamid lizard found in northern Pakistan, northern India (W Himalaya, Kashmir, Punjab), Nepal, eastern Afghanistan, and western China (Tibetan Plateau).^[1]

Description

"Head much depressed; snout longer than the diameter of the orbit; nostril lateral, below the canthus rostralis, slightly tubular. Upper head-scales smooth or feebly keeled: occipital not enlarged; small closely set spinose scales on the sides of the head near the ear, and on the neck; ear entirely exposed, larger than the eye-opening. Throat strongly plicate; no gular pouch. Body depressed, with a more or less distinct fold on each side of the back; scales on the neck and sides minute, almost granular, keeled, uniform or intermixed with scattered enlarged scales; those on the vertebral region enlarged, equal, rhomboidal, imbricate, strongly keeled; a very slight indication of a nuchal denticulation; ventral scales smooth, nearly as large as the enlarged dorsals. Limbs strong, with compressed digits; the scales on the upper surface of the limbs much enlarged and very strongly keeled; third and fourth fingers equal, or fourth very slightly longer; fourth toe slightly longer than third, fifth extending beyond first. Tail rounded, much depressed at the base, covered with moderate-sized strongly keeled scales arranged in rings; its length equals 2.5 to 3 times the distance from gular fold to vent.

Males with a large patch of thickened preanal scales and a patch of similar scales on the middle of the belly. Olive-brown above, spotted or speckled with blackish, sometimes with small yellowish spots; the breeding male's throat blue, with light spots; sometimes a light vertebral band."^[2]

Gallery

Kashmir Rock Agama

Cited references

^ Laudakia tuberculata at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 24 December 2017.
^ Boulenger, G. A. (1890). Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Vol. Reptilia and Batrachia. London: Taylor and Francis. 570 pp.

References

Ananjeva, N.B. & Tuniev 1994 Some aspects of historical biogeography of Asian rock agamids Russ. J. Herpetol. 1 (1): 43

External links

[RDB-1] Laudakia tuberculata at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 24 December 2017.

[Boulenger_1890-2] Boulenger, G. A. (1890). Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Vol. Reptilia and Batrachia. London: Taylor and Francis. 570 pp.

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