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Rainbow Agama
Brian Gratwicke, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist

Lizards & worm lizards

Rainbow Agama

Agama agama (Linnaeus, 1758)

LC Least Concern

Names

EnglishRainbow Agama
DutchKolonistenagame
SpanishLagarto africano de fuego
Chinese普通鬣蜥
Scientific nameAgama agama (Linnaeus, 1758)

About this species

The common agama or red-headed rock agama (Agama agama) is a species of lizard from the family Agamidae found in most of sub-Saharan Africa and in Florida where it has spread. To clear up centuries of historical confusion based on Linnaeus and other authors, Wagner et al. designated a neotype (numbered ZFMK 15222) for the species, using a previously described specimen from Cameroon in the collection of the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig in Bonn. The species name was formerly applied to a paraphyletic collection of taxa (a so-called wastebasket); subsequent mitochondrial DNA analysis of various populations indicates they represent separate species. Consequently, three former subspecies A. a. africana, A. a. boensis, and A. a. mucosoensis are now considered separate species, and A. a. savattieri is considered synonymous with A. africana.

Read more on Wikipedia · Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Classification

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassSquamata
FamilyAgamidae
GenusAgama

Related species in Suriname