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Agama finchi BÖHME, WAGNER, MALONZA, LÖTTERS & KÖHLER, 2005

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Higher TaxaAgamidae (Agaminae), Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesAgama finchi finchi BÖHME et al. 2005
Agama finchi leucerythrolaema WAGNER et al. 2011 
Common NamesE: Finch’s agama 
SynonymAgama finchi BÖHME, WAGNER, MALONZA, LÖTTERS & KÖHLER 2005
Agama finchi — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 229

Agama finchi leucerythrolaema WAGNER et al. 2011
Agama finchi leucerythrolaema WAGNER, FREUND, MODRY, SCHMITZ & BÖHME 2011 
DistributionW Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan

Type locality: km 11 on road from Malaba to Busia, Western Province, Kenya (00°34  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: NMK L 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: A small species of Agama (total length of adult males below 25 cm) which is characterized by a bright nuptial coloration of breeding males, the females retaining a characteristic juvenile pattern. A. finchi sp.n. differs from A. agama sensu lato (see below) not only by the small size but mainly by the nuptial colors of breeding males: flame-to scarlet-red head and forelimbs (vs. yellow, orange or greenish), jet- or velvety-black body, and hindlimbs (vs. bluish) and a bicolored, viz. red and black tail (vs. three-colored: whit- ish, orangeyellow, and black in West and Central African forms or bluish with narrow light rings in East African forms). Moreover, the new species has less sharply keeled dorsal scales than the A. agama populations from Ethiopia, Sudan, Central and West Africa). A. finchi sp.n. differs from A. planiceps (Namibia, S. Angola) in having keeled (vs. smooth) dorsal scales and a different color pattern; from the geographically neighboring, parapatric species A. mwanzae by stronger mucrones at the dorsal scales and a different color pattern, from the likewise parapatric A. caudospinosa by a less spiny tail scalation and again a strikingly different color pattern. All three species attain a considerably larger size than A. finchi sp.n. (see Table 1). It should be noted here that also the taxon kaimosae Loveridge, 1935 (synonymized with A. caudospinosa by Loveridge 1936, but regarded as a full species by Moody 1980) the type locality of which (Kaimosi, Kakamega) is close to Malaba, is also much bigger than A. finchi sp.n. (35 vs. less than 25 cm maximum total length) and is also differently colored.


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CommentIllustration: Figure 147 in Largen & Spawls 2010 (not A. agama as indicated fide Wagner 2011, Salamandra 47: 61).

Distribution: see map in Kissling et al. 2016: Fig. 1. 
EtymologyNamed after Brian W. Finchi who discovered this new species in the field.

Etymology (leucerythrolaema). The new species is named after its remarkably characteristic red and white vermiculated throat as compared to the nominate form. The name is derived from the Greek words ‘leukos’ for white, ‘erythros’ for red and ‘laema’ for the throat. 
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Böhme, W.; Wagner, P.; Malonza, P.; Lötters, S & Köhler, J. 2005. A new species of the Agama agama group (Squamata: Agamidae) from Western Kenya, East Africa, with comments on Agama lionotus Boulenger 1896. Russ. J. Herpetol. 12 (2): 143-150 (83-90?) - get paper here
  • Kissling, W. Daniel; Anne Blach-Overgaard, Roelof E. Zwaan & Philipp Wagner 2016. Historical colonization and dispersal limitation supplement climate and topography in shaping species richness of African lizards (Reptilia: Agaminae). Scientific Reports 6: 34014, doi:10.1038/srep34014 - get paper here
  • Largen, M.J.; Spawls, S. 2010. Amphibians and Reptiles of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 694 pp.
  • LEACHÉ, Adam D.; Rebecca A. CHONG, Theodore J. PAPENFUSS, Philipp WAGNER, Wolfgang BÖHME, Andreas SCHMITZ, Mark-Oliver RÖDEL, Matthew LEBRETON, Ivan INEICH, Laurent CHIRIO, Aaron BAUER, Edem A. ENIANG, & Sherif BAHA EL DIN 2009. Phylogeny of the genus Agama based on mitochondrial DNA sequence data. Bonner zoologische Beiträge 56 (4): 273–278 - 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
  • Spawls, Steve; Kim Howell, Harald Hinkel, Michele Menegon 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles. Bloomsbury, 624 pp. - get paper here
  • Wagner, P. 2008. Neues von afrikanischen Agamen. Iguana Rundschreiben 21 (1): 13
  • Wagner, P.; Barej, M.F. & Schmitz, A. 2009. Studies on African Agama VII. A new species of the Agama agama-group (Linnaeus, 1758) (Sauria: Agamidae) from Cameroon & Gabon, with comments on Agama mehelyi Tornier, 1902. Bonner zoologische Beiträge 56 (4): 285–297 - get paper here
  • Wagner, Philipp, Wolfram Freund, David Modrý, Andreas Schmitz & Wolfgang Böhme 2011. Studies on African Agama IX. New insights into Agama finchi Böhme et al., 2005 (Sauria: Agamidae) with the description of a new subspecies. Bonn zoological Bulletin 60 (1): 25-34 - get paper here
 
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