''Acanthocercus adramitanus'', also known
commonly as Anderson's rock agama or the Hadramaut agama, is a small
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
lizard in the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Agamidae. The species is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to the
Arabian Peninsula.
Geographic range
''A. adramitanus'' is a found in
Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...
,
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
, and
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
.
Habitat
The preferred natural
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
of ''A. adramitanus'' is rocky areas, at altitudes of or less.
Description
''A. adramitanus'' may attain a
snout-to-vent length (SVL) of . The tail is long, about twice SVL. Females are slightly smaller than males. Females may be bluish, and males may be intensely blue.
[ Arnold EN (1980). "The Reptiles and Amphibians of Dhofar, Southern Arabia". ''Journal of Oman Studies''. Special Report No. 2: 273–332. (''Agama adramitana'', pp. 291–292).]
Diet
''A. adramitanus''
preys
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
upon
insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...
s.
Reproduction
''A. adramitanus'' is
oviparous.
[
]
References
Further reading
* Anderson J (1896). ''A Contribution to the Herpetology of Arabia with a Preliminary List of the Reptiles and Batrachians of Egypt.'' London: R.H. Porter. (Taylor & Francis, printers). 122 pp. (''Agama adramitana'', new species, pp. 31–33).
* Barts M, Wilms T (2003). "''Die Agamen der Welt'' ". ''Draco'' 4 (14): 4–23. (in German).
* Schätti B, Gasperetti J (1994). "A Contribution to the herpetofauna of Southwest Arabia". ''Fauna of Saudi Arabia'' 14: 348–423. (''Acanthocercus adramitanus'', new combination, p. 366).
* Sindaco R, Jeremčenko VK (2008). ''The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic. 1. Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Turtles, Crocodiles, Amphisbaenians and Lizards of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia.'' (Monographs of the ''Societas Herpetologica Italica''). Latina, Italy: Edizioni Belvedere. 580 pp.
Acanthocercus
Reptiles described in 1896
Taxa named by John Anderson (zoologist)
{{Iguanidae-stub