You are here » home › advanced search › search results › Acanthocercus cyanogaster

Acanthocercus cyanogaster (RÜPPELL, 1835)

IUCN Red List - Acanthocercus cyanogaster - Least Concern, LC
iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Acanthocercus cyanogaster?

Add your own observation of
Acanthocercus cyanogaster »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaAgamidae (Agaminae), Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Blue-bellied Ridgeback agama, Black-necked tree agama 
SynonymStellio cyanogaster RÜPPELL 1835: 10
Stellio cyanogaster — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1837: 532
Acanthocercus cyanogaster — FITZINGER 1843: 84
Agama cyanogaster — BOULENGER 1885: 359
Agama cyanogastra — BOETTGER 1893: 114
Agama cyanogaster — CALABRESI 1925: 102
Agama cyanogaster — SCORTECCI 1929: 316
Agama cyanogaster — PARKER 1942: 50
Agama cyanogaster — LOVERIDGE 1957: 196
Agama cyanogaster — WERMUTH 1967: 12
Acanthocercus cyanogaster — BAIG & BÖHME 1997
Agama cyanogaster — SPAWLS & ROTICH 1997
Acanthocercus cyanogaster — LARGEN & SPAWLS 2006: 27 
DistributionEthiopia, Eritrea

Type locality: Massaua, an der abyssinischen Küste.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: SMF 10145 (formerly 4359a) 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Klausewitz 1954: 141, 142


Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 68 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentPeters (1982) raised a number of subspecies of what he called Agama cyanogaster to full species status.

Type species: Stellio cyanogaster RÜPPELL 1835 is the type species of the genus Acanthocercus FITZINGER 1843: 18, 82.

Distribution: not in Yemen, Zimbabwe (P. Wagner, pers. comm., 27 Feb 2012); not in East Africa (S. Spawls, pers. comm., 28 June 2018).

Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species.

Genome: Colston et al. 2025. 
EtymologyNamed after Greek kyanos = blue, and Greek gaster = belly.

The genus was named after Greek akanthos (άκανθης), thorn, spine, and Greek cercos (κέρκος), tail. 
References
  • Angel, Fernand 1925. Résultats Scientifiques. Vertebrata. Reptiles et Batraciens. [Mabuia (Mabuiopsis) jeanneli, Lygosoma graueri quinquedigitata, Ablepharus massaiensis]. In: Voyage de Ch. Alluaud et R. Jeannel en Afrique Orientale (1911-1912). - Paris, 2: 1-63.
  • Baig,K.J. & Böhme, W. 1997. Partition of the “Stellio” group of Agama into two distinct genera: Acanthocercus FITZINGER 1843, and Laudakia GRAY 1845 (Sauria: Agamidae). in: Bischoff, W.; Böhme, W. & Ziegler, T. (eds.) Herpetologia Bonnensis, Bonn (SEH), 416 pp.
  • Boettger,O. 1893. Übersicht der von Prof. C. Keller anlässlich der Ruspoli'schen Expedition nach den Somaliländern gesammelten Reptilien und Batrachier. Zool. Anz. 16 (416): 113-119 - 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
  • Broadley, D.G. 1962. On some reptile collections from the North-Western and North-Eastern Districts of Southern Rhodesia 1958-1961, with descriptions of four new lizards. Occ. Pap. Nat. Mus. South. Rhodesia 26 (B): 787-843
  • Calabresi, Enrica 1923. Anfibi e Rettili dell'Africa orientale raccolti durante le Spedizioni Franchetti e Zammarano. Atti Soc. Ital. Sci. Nat. (Milano), 62: 145-163. - get paper here
  • Calabresi, Enrica 1925. Anfibi e rettili raccolti dal Signor Ugo Ignesti nell'Abissinia settentrionale. Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali, e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Milano 64: 100-109 - get paper here
  • Colston, Timothy J., Stacy Pirro, and R. Alexander Pyron. 2025. The Complete Genome Sequences of 101 Species of Reptiles. Biodiversity Genomes, February - get paper here
  • Duméril, A. M. C. and G. Bibron. 1837. Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete des Reptiles. Vol. 4. Libr. Encyclopédique Roret, Paris, 570 pp. - get paper here
  • Fitzinger, L. 1843. Systema Reptilium, fasciculus primus, Amblyglossae. Braumüller et Seidel, Wien: 106 pp. - get paper here
  • Klausewitz,W. 1954. Eidonomische Untersuchungen über die Rassenkreise Agama cyanogaster und Agama atricollis. 1. Der Rassenkreis der Agama cyanogaster. Senckenbergiana biologica 35: 137-146
  • Largen, M.J.; Spawls, S. 2006. Lizards of Ethiopia (Reptilia Sauria): an annotated checklist, bibliography, gazetteer and identification. Tropical Zoology 19 (1): 21-109 - get paper here
  • Largen, M.J.; Spawls, S. 2010. Amphibians and Reptiles of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 694 pp.
  • Loveridge, A. 1936. African reptiles and amphibians in the Field Museum of Natural History. Zool. Ser. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Chicago, 22 (1): 1-122 - get paper here
  • Loveridge, A. 1957. Check list of the reptiles and amphibians of east Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar). Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 117 (2): 153-362 - get paper here
  • Mertens, R. 1922. Verzeichnis der Typen in der herpetologischen Sammlung des Senckenbergischen Museums. Senckenbergiana 4: 162-183 - get paper here
  • Peters, G. 1982. Eine neue Wirtelschwanzagame aus Ostafrika (Agamidae: Agama). Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin 58 (2): 265-268 - get paper here
  • Rüppell, E. 1835. Neue Wirbelthiere zu der Fauna von Abyssinien gehörig, entdeckt und beschrieben. Amphibien. S. Schmerber, Frankfurt a. M. - get paper here
  • Scortecci, G. 1929. Rettili dell'Eritrea esistenti nelle Collezioni del Museo Civico de Milano. Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali, e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Milano 67 (3-4): 290-339 [1928] - get paper here
  • Spawls, S. & Rotich, D. 1997. An annotated checklist of the lizards of Kenya. J. East African Nat. Hist. 86: 61-83
  • Spawls, S.; Howell, K.; Drewes, R.C. & Ashe, J. 2002. A field guide to the reptiles of East Africa. Academic Press, 543 pp. [reviews in HR 34: 396 and Afr. J. Herp. 51; 147] - get paper here
  • Spawls, Stephen; Tomáš Mazuch & Abubakr Mohammad 2023. Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of North-east Africa. Bloomsbury, 640 pp. - get paper here
  • Uetz, P.H.; Patel, M.; Gbadamosi, Z.; Nguyen, A.; Shoope, S. 2024. A Reference Database of Reptile Images. Taxonomy 4: 723–732 - get paper here
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:

As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Acanthocercus&species=cyanogaster

without field 'search_param'. Field 'search_param' is used for browsing search result.



Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator