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Ctenophorus adelaidensis (GRAY, 1841)

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Higher TaxaAgamidae (Amphibolurinae), Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Western Heath Dragon 
SynonymGrammatophora muricata adelaidensis GRAY 1841: 439
Grammatophora muricata adelaidensis GRAY 1841: 88
Amphibolurus adelaidensis — BOULENGER 1885: 387
Amphibolurus adelaidensis tasmaniensis BOULENGER 1885
Amphibolurus pallidus BOULENGER 1885
Amphibolurus pulcherrimus — BOULENGER 1885: 388 (fide LOVERIDGE 1934)
Amphibolurus adelaidensis — LUCAS & FROST 1894: 43
Amphibolurus adelaidensis — KINGHORN 1924
Amphibolurus adelaidensis pulcherrimus — GLAUERT 1959
Amphibolurus adelaidensis — WERMUTH 1967: 26
Rankinia adelaidensis — GREER 1991
Rankinia adelaidensis — MACEY et al. 2000
Tympanocryptis adelaidensis — COGGER 2000: 351
Ctenophorus adelaidensis — MELVILLE et al. 2001
Rankinia adelaidensis — BARTS & WILMS 2003
Rankinia adelaidensis — GREER 2006 (online)
Rankinia adelaidensis — MELVILLE et al. 2008
Ctenophorus adelaidensis — HUGALL et al. 2008
Ctenophorus adelaidensis — CHAPPLE et al. 2019: 56 
DistributionAustralia (coastal SW Western Australia)

Type locality: Swan river, Western Australia.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: BMNH 1970.2184-2192
Syntypes: BMNH xxiv.49.n,o,p,q,r & BMNH 69.5.25.15 (6 specimens) [pallidus]
Syntypes: BMNH 69.5.25.11-14 (4 specimens) [pulcherrimus]
Syntypes: BMNH xxiii.50.j,l-o (5 specimens) [tasmaniensis]

 
Diagnosis 
CommentLifestyle: burrowing.

Phylogeny: Hugall et al. (2008) found that Rankinia adelaidensis nested inside Ctenophorus and thus moved it to that genus. 
EtymologyPresumably named after Adelaide, the stated type locality (though the species does not occur near there). (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024) 
References
  • Barts, M. & Wilms, T. 2003. Die Agamen der Welt. Draco 4 (14): 4-23 - 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
  • Chapple, David G.; Reid Tingley, Nicola J. Mitchell, Stewart L. Macdonald, J. Scott Keogh, Glenn M. Shea, Philip Bowles, Neil A. Cox, John C. Z. Woinarski 2019. The Action Plan for Australian Lizards and Snakes 2017. CSIRO, 663 pp. DOI: 10.1071/9781486309474 - get paper here
  • Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp.
  • Davis, R.A.; Wilcox, J. 2008. Range extension of the Western Heath Dragon Rankinia adelaidensis and Gray's legless lizard Delma grayii with notes on the distribution of southern Swan coastal plain reptiles. Western Australian Naturalist 26 (1): 67-70 - get paper here
  • Glauert, L. 1959. Herpetological Miscellanea. XI. Dragon Lizards of the Genus Amphibolurus. Western Australian Naturalist 7 (2): 42-51 - get paper here
  • Gray, J. E. 1841. Description of some new species and four new genera of reptiles from Western Australia, discovered by John Gould, Esq. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (1) 7: 86-91 - get paper here
  • Gray, J.E. 1841. A catalogue of the species of reptiles and Amphibia hitherto described as inhabiting Australia, with a description of some new species from Western Australia. Appendix E, pp. 422-449. In: G. Grey, Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in Northwest T. and W. Boone, London. Vol. 2: 422-449 + plates - get paper here
  • Greer A E 1991. Limb reduction in Squamates: identification of the lineages and discussion of the trends. Journal of Herpetology 25 (2): 166-173 - get paper here
  • Greer, A.E. and G. Shea 1997. Notes on an unusual colour feature and reproduction in the dragon lizard Rankinia adelaidensis adelaidensis. Herpetofauna (Sydney) 27(2):75
  • Hallermann, J. 2020. An annotated list of reptiles and amphibians from the 1905 Hamburg expedition to southwest Australia deposited in the Zoological Museum Hamburg. Evolutionary Systematics 4: 61 - get paper here
  • HUGALL, ANDREW F.; RALPH FOSTER , MARK HUTCHINSON and MICHAEL S. Y. LEE 2008. Phylogeny of Australasian agamid lizards based on nuclear and mitochondrial genes: implications for morphological evolution and biogeography. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 93 (2): 343 -358 - get paper here
  • Kinghorn, J. Roy 1924. Reptiles and batrachians from south and south-west Australia. Rec. Austral. Mus. 14 (3): 163-183 - get paper here
  • Lucas, A. H. S. & Frost, C. 1894. The lizards indigenous to Victoria. Proc. R. Soc. Vict. (ns) 6: 24-92 - get paper here
  • Macey, J. R., J. A. Schulte II, A. Larson, N. B. Ananjeva, Y. Wang, R. Pethiyagoda, N. Rastegar-Pouyani, T. J. Papenfuss 2000. Evaluating trans-Tethys migration: an example using acrodont lizard phylogenetics. Systematic Biology 49 (2): 233-256 - get paper here
  • Melville, Jane; Luke P. Shoo and Paul Doughty 2008. Phylogenetic relationships of the heath dragons (Rankinia adelaidensis and R. parviceps) from the south-western Australian biodiversity hotspot. Australian Journal of Zoology 56 (3): 159-171 - get paper here
  • Melville, Jane; Schulte, James A.; Larson, Allan 2001. A molecular phylogenetic study of ecological diversification in the Australian lizard genus Ctenophorus. Journal of Experimental Zoology: Molecular and Developmental Evolution 291(4): 339-353 - get paper here
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
 
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