The Himalayan agama (''Paralaudakia himalayana'') is an

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 ...

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...

found in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

and

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...

Description

Head much depressed; snout slightly longer than diameter of orbit; nostril lateral, below the ''canthus rostralis'', slightly tubular. Upper head-scales smooth; occipital not enlarged; small closely set spinose scales on 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 small, smooth or very feebly keeled, uniform, those on the vertebral region enlarged, equal, roundish-hexagonal, imbricate, smooth or very feebly keeled; ventral scales smooth, a little smaller than the enlarged dorsals. Limbs strong, with compressed digits; the scales on the upper surface large and strongly keeled; fourth finger slightly longer than third; fourth toe considerably longer than third, the extremity of the claw of the latter not reaching the base of the claw of the former; fifth toe 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 double or triple row of thickened pre-anal scales. Olive above, marbled with black, and generally with round light spots producing a network; sometimes the black spots forming a festooned band on each side of the vertebral line; the male's throat marbled with blackish.Boulenger, G. A. 1890. Fauna of British India. Reptilia and Batrachia.

Distribution

NE Afghanistan, N Pakistan, Kashmir, Nepal, China (Xinjiang), SE Turkmenistan, eastward through W Tajikistan to W Kyrgyzstan and E Uzbekistan. Type locality: Leh and Kargil, Ladakh-Region.

Notes

References

* Ananjeva N B; Peters G; Rzepakovsky V T (1981). New species of the mountain agamas from Tajikistan, Agama chernovi sp. nov. TRUDY ZOOLOGICHESKOGO INSTITUTA AKADEMII NAUK SSSR 101:23-27. * Ananjeva, N.B. & Tuniev (1994). Some aspects of historical biogeography of Asian rock agamids Russ. ''J. Herpetol.'' 1 (1):43. * Steindachner, F. (1867). In: ''Reise der Österreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren'' 1857, 1858,1859 unter den Befehlen des Commodore B. von Wüllerstorf-Urbair (Zoologie), Vol. 1, part 3 (Reptilien p. 1-98). K. Gerold's Sohn/Kaiserlich-Königl. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Wien 869 on title page

External links

* Paralaudakia Reptiles of Pakistan Reptiles of Afghanistan Reptiles of Central Asia Reptiles of India Reptiles described in 1867 Taxa named by Franz Steindachner {{Agamidae-stub