Uromastyx
| Uromastyx | ||||||||||||
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Egyptian thorntail ( Uromastyx aegyptia ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Uromastyx | ||||||||||||
| Merrem , 1820 |
Uromastyx is a genus of lizards from the subfamily of the thorn- tailed dragons (Uromasticinae). The 15 species of the genus are found in North and Northeast Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Mauritania, Mali and Niger), in all states on the Arabian Peninsula , as well as in one narrow strip along the north coast of the Persian Gulf to the Iranian city of Bandar Abbas . The genus was in 1820 by the German biologist Blasius Merrem described .
features
The most striking characteristic of the genus is the thick tail, reinforced with spiky scales , a feature that also applies to the second genus of the thorntail, Saara . In contrast to Saara , the whorls of the tail of Uromastyx are not separated by transverse rows of smooth or granular scales. Like Saara and all other agamas, Uromastyx has acrodontic dentition (teeth sit on the upper edge of the jaw). The sharp intermaxillary bone (premaxillary) replaces the incisors in adult animals.
species
The genus includes 15 currently recognized species:
- North African thorntail dragon ( Uromastyx acanthinura Bell , 1825)
- Egyptian thorntail ( Uromastyx aegyptia ( Forskal , 1775))
- Schmidts thorntail dragon ( Uromastyx alfredschmidti Wilms & Böhme , 2001)
- Yemen thorntail dragon ( Uromastyx benti ( Anderson , 1894))
- South Saharan thorntail dragon ( Uromastyx dispar Heyden , 1827)
- Geyr's thorntail dragon ( Uromastyx geyri Müller , 1922)
- Macfadyen's thorn- tailed dragon ( Uromastyx macfadyeni ( Parker , 1932))
- Morocco thorntail ( Uromastyx nigriventris Rothschild & Hartert , 1912)
- Western Saharan thorntail ( Uromastyx occidentalis Mateo , Geniez , Lopez-Jurado & Bons , 1999)
- Decorated thorntail ( Uromastyx ocellata Lichtenstein , 1823)
- Colorful thorn- tailed dragon ( Uromastyx ornata Heyden , 1827)
- Somali thorntail dragon ( Uromastyx princeps O'Shaughnessy , 1880)
- South Arabian thorntail dragon ( Uromastyx shobraki Wilms & Schmitz 2007)
- Oman-thorntail dragon ( Uromastyx thomasi Parker , 1930)
- Yemeni thorntail dragon ( Uromastyx yemenensis Wilms & Schmitz , 2007)
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. Volume 56, No. 1/2, 2007, ISSN 0006-7172 , pp. 55-99 ( digital version (PDF; 1.34 MB) ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Uromastyx in The Reptile Database ; accessed on August 23, 2020.
