''Laudakia tuberculata'' (Kashmir rock agama or tuberculated agama) is a species of

agamid Agamidae is a family of over 300 species of iguanian lizards indigenous to Africa, Asia, Australia, and a few in Southern Europe. Many species are commonly called dragons or dragon lizards. Overview Phylogenetically, they may be sister to the I ...

lizard found in northern

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, northern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

, eastern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

(needs confirmation), and western China (

Tibetan Plateau The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the Ti ...

Description

"Head much depressed; snout longer than the diameter of the

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a p ...

; nostril lateral, below the ''canthus rostralis'', slightly tubular. Upper-head scales smooth or feebly keeled:

occipital The occipital bone () is a cranial dermal bone and the main bone of the occiput (back and lower part of the skull). It is trapezoidal in shape and curved on itself like a shallow dish. The occipital bone overlies the occipital lobes of the cereb ...

not enlarged; small, closely set spinose scales on the sides of the head near the ear and 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."

Habitat

''Laudakia tuberculata'' inhabits rocky montane areas at elevations of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

Gallery

File:Kashmir rock agama 01.jpg, Kashmir rock agama

Cited references

References

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

External links

* http://www.kashmirnetwork.com/wikipedia/agama_kashmir_rock_w.jpg * http://www.indianaturewatch.net/displayimage.php?id=6166 {{Taxonbar, from=Q1037118 Laudakia Lizards of Asia Reptiles of Afghanistan Reptiles of China Reptiles of India Reptiles of Nepal Reptiles of Pakistan Taxa named by John Edward Gray Reptiles described in 1827