Ground Agama
Agama aculeata
Summary 3
The ground agama (Agama aculeata) is a species of lizard from the Agamidae family, found in most of sub-Saharan Africa (Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Republic of South Africa, Mozambique, S Angola, Tanzania, Zambia, Swaziland).
Diagnosis 4
Widespread, overlapping with many other agamid species.
Scales of upper head smooth or feebly keeled, versus keeled in Agama armata, A. anchietae & A. hispida (Figure 1).
Occipital enlarged, distinct from Acanthocercus atricollis (Figure 1).
Neck with groups of small spines,
Nostril tubular, unlike Agama hispida .
Nostril on canthus rostralis, versus just below in Agama armata & Acanthocercus atricollis .
Ventral scales smooth and imbricate, versus strongly keeled and mucronate in Agama armata & A. hispida or moderately keeled in Agama anchietae .
Third finger and toe longest, versus fourth toe longest and fourth finger longer or equal to the third in Agama anchietae .
Single row of anal pores, versus two rows in Acanthocercus atricollis .
Tail scales not enlarged on top forming annuli, as in Acanthocercus atricollis .
Gough, L. H. (1909). The South African species of Agama. Annals of the Transvaal Museum, 1(3), 183-194.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Alex Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Alex Rebelo
- (c) calebcam, all rights reserved, uploaded by calebcam
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/705810
- (c) Alex Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/705810
