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Hypsilurus godeffroyi (PETERS, 1867)

IUCN Red List - Hypsilurus godeffroyi - Data Deficient, DD
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Higher TaxaAgamidae (Amphibolurinae), Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Northern Forest Dragon 
SynonymLophura (Hypsilurus) Godeffroyi PETERS 1867: 707
Gonyocephalus mocrolepis MEYER 1874
Gonyocephalus godeffroyi — BOULENGER 1885: 295
Gonyocephalus godeffroyi — DE ROOIJ 1915: 112
Hypsilurus godeffroyi — MANTHEY & SCHUSTER 1999: 73
Hypsilurus godeffroyi — MANTHEY & DENZER 2006: 12 
DistributionPapua New Guinea, Palau Island, Bismarck Archipelago, Admirality Islands, Fidji Island)

Type locality: Pelew Inseln [= Palau Islands]  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntype: NMW 21049
Lectotype: ZMB 5891 [designated by MARX 1958]
Holotype: ZMB 7510 [Hypsilurus macrolepis PETERS 1873] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): Body laterally compressed, dorsalssmall, rhomboid, hardly overlapping, keeled, directed backwards and upwards; uniform ventrals significantly larger, strongly keeled. Upper head scales small, slightly heterogeneous; a more or less curved row of enlarged scales below the eye adjacent to the orbit (weakly or not developed in H. boydii, dilophus and spinipes); tympanum visible; males and females with almost equally developed gular pouch (frequently with one or two transverse folds in the relaxed state) and well developed vertebral crest (no dorsal crest in H. modestus). Sexual dimorphism usually only weakly developed. No preanal– or femoral pores (from MANTHEY & DENZER 2006). 
CommentSynonymy: MANTHEY & DENZER (2006) removed H. longi from the synonymy of H. godeffroyi. Hypsilurus macrolepis was regarded as valid by MOODY 1980.

Type species: Lophura (Hypsilurus) Godeffroyi is the type species of the genus Hypsilurus PETERS 1867: 707.

Distribution: Australia (probably erroneous). The type locality is probably in error. BAUER (2004) hypothesizes that the type was from Anchorite, Hermit, or the Ninigo Groups off the northern New Guinea coast. Not listed by COGGER 2014. Not on the Solomon Islands fide McCoy 2015.

Key: Manthey & Denzer 2006: 31 provide a key to the species of Hypsilurus, but they include also a number of species that are not assigned to Lophosaurus. They also provide a list of species groups and diagnoses for them, namely the modestus, nigrigularis, godeffroyi, and dilophus groups. 
EtymologyNamed after Johann Caesar Godeffroy (1813-1885), a German trader (of French origin) whose company imported copra from the Pacific, was interested in ornithology. His family moved to Germany to avoid religious persecution. He founded a museum in Hamburg and named it after himself (1860). 
References
  • Bauer, A. M.; Watkins-Colwell, G. J. 2001. On the origin of the types of Hypsilurus godeffroyi (Reptilia: Squamata: Agamidae) and early German contributions to the herpetology of Palau. Micronesica 34 (1): 73-84
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. Geckonidae, Eublepharidae, Uroplatidae, Pygopodidae, Agamidae. London: 450 pp. - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1886. On the reptiles and batrachians of the Solomon Islands. Trans. Zool. Soc. London 12: 35-62
  • Crombie, Ronald I. and Gregory K. Pregill 1999. A Checklist of the Herpetofauna of the Palau Islands (Republic of Belau), Oceania. Herpetological Monographs 13: 29-80 - get paper here
  • de Rooij, N. de 1915. The Reptiles of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. I. Lacertilia, Chelonia, Emydosauria. Leiden (E. J. Brill), xiv + 384 pp. - get paper here
  • Hediger, H. 1934. Beitrag zur Herpetologie und Zoogeographie Neu-Britanniens und einiger umliegender Gebiete. Zool. Jahrb. (Syst.) 65: 441-582
  • Manthey, U. & Denzer, W. 2006. A revision of the Melanesian-Australian angle head lizards of the genus Hypsilurus (Sauria: Agamidae: Amphibolurinae), with description of four new species and one new subspecies. Hamadryad 30 (1-2): 1 – 40 - get paper here
  • Manthey,U. & SCHUSTER,N. 1999. Agamen, 2. Aufl. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 120 pp. - get paper here
  • Marx,H. 1958. Catalogue of type specimens of reptiles and amphibians in Chicago Natural History Museum. Fieldiana Zool. 36: 407-496 - get paper here
  • McCoy, M. 2000. Reptiles of the Solomon Islands. ZooGraphics, Kuranda (Australia), CD-ROM.
  • McCoy, M. 2015. A Field Guide to the Reptiles of the Solomon Islands. Michael McCoy, Kuranda - get paper here
  • Moody,S.M. 1980. Phylogenetic and historical biogeographical relationships of the genera in the family Agamidae (Reptilia: Lacertilia). PhD thesis, Univ. Michigan, Ann Arbor, 373 pp.
  • Peters, W. 1873. Mittheilung über eine, zwei neue Gattungen enthaltende, Sammlung von Batrachiern des Hrn. Dr. O. Wucherer aus Bahia, so wie über einige neue oder weniger bekannte Saurier. Monatsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1872: 768-776. - get paper here
  • Peters, Wilhem Carl Hartwig 1867. Über Flederthiere (Pteropus gouldii, Rhinolophus deckenii, Vespertilio lobipes, Vesperugo temminckii) und Amphibien (Hypsilurus godeffroyi, Lygosoma scutatum, Stenostoma narirostre, Onychocephalus unguirostris, Ahaetulla poylepis, Pseudechis scutella Monatsber. königl. Akad. Wiss. Berlin. 1867 (November): 703-712 - get paper here
  • Tiedemann,F.; Häupl,M. & Grillitsch,H. 1994. Katalog der Typen der herpetologischen Sammlung nach dem Stand vom 1. Jänner 1994. Teil II: Reptilia. Kat. wiss. Samml. Naturhist. Mus. Wien 10 (Vertebrata 4): 1-110
 
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