Paralaudakia himalayana

Himalayan Agama
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Iguania
Family:	Agamidae
Genus:	Paralaudakia
Species:	P. himalayana
Binomial name
Paralaudakia himalayana (Steindachner, 1867)
Synonyms
Stellio bochariensis Stellio himalayanus Laudakia himalayana

The Himalayan agama (Paralaudakia himalayana) is an agamid lizard found in Central Asia and South Asia.

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.

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.

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 [1869 on title page]

External links

• Paralaudakia himalayana at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database