Saara (genus)
| Saara | ||||||||||||
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Iranian thorntail dragon ( Saara asmussi ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Saara | ||||||||||||
| Gray , 1845 |
Saara is a genus of lizards from the subfamily of the thorn- tailed dragons (Uromasticinae). The three species of the genus occur from eastern Iraq via Iran , Afghanistan and Pakistan to northwestern India. The genus was described in 1845 by the British zoologist John Edward Gray , but later synonymous with Uromastyx . In 2007 the genus wasrevalidatedby the German zoologist and curator at Frankfurt Zoo, Thomas Wilms and colleagues.
features
In his original description, Gray gave as generic characteristics the short, broad and highly domed head, the flattened body with a fold on each side of the body and the small, equally large scales , furthermore the clearly visible femoral pores and the short, wide and flattened tail. On the top of the tail there are transverse stripes of narrow conical scales, which are separated from each other by stripes of square scales with a granular and smooth surface. The belly and underside of the tail are covered with smooth, roof-tile-like overlapping scales.
Wilms and colleagues also mention the acrodontic dentition (teeth sit on the upper edge of the jaw), the sharp intermaxillary bone (premaxillary) that replaces the incisors in the adult animals, and the arrangement of the scales on the upper side of the tail in whorls, each from one to six rows of scales from each other are separated.
Saara species are a maximum of 43.8 to 53 cm long with a maximum head-trunk length of 23.3 to 29 cm , depending on the species . The animals are predominantly brownish, olive, yellow-brown or yellow-gray in color.
species
- Iranian thorn- tailed dragon , Saara asmussi ( shrub , 1863)
- Indian thorntail dragon , Saara hardwickii ( Gray , 1827)
- Iraqi thorntail dragon , Saara loricata ( Blanford , 1874)
literature
- Thomas M. Wilms , Wolfgang Böhme , Philipp Wagner , Nicolà Lutzmann, Andreas Schmitz: On the Phylogeny and Taxonomy of the Genus Uromastyx Merrem, 1820 (Reptilia: Squamata: Agamidae: Uromastycinae) - Resurrection of the Genus Saara Gray, 1845. In: Bonn zoological contributions. Vol. 56, No. 1/2, 2007, ISSN 0006-7172 , pp. 55-99, digital version (PDF; 1.34 MB) .