Laudakia tuberculata
Encyclopedia
The Kashmir Rock Agama (Laudakia tuberculata) is a species of agamid lizard found in N Pakistan
, India
(W Himalaya, Kashmir
, Punjab
), Nepal
(Kathmandu), Afghanistan
, and China (Tibetan Plateau
).
; nostril lateral, below the canthus rostralis, slightly tubular. Upper head-scales smooth or feebly keeled: occipital
not enlarged; small closely set spinose scales on the sides of the head near the ear, and on the neck; ear entirely exposed, larger than the eye-opening. Throat strongly plicate; no gular pouch. Body depressed, with a more or less distinct fold on each side of the back; scales on the neck and sides minute, almost granular, keeled, uniform or intermixed with scattered enlarged scales; those on the vertebral region enlarged, equal, rhomboidal, imbricate, strongly keeled; a very slight indication of a nuchal denticulation; ventral scales smooth, nearly as large as the enlarged dorsals. Limbs strong, with compressed digits; the scales on the upper surface of the limbs much enlarged and very strongly keeled; third and fourth fingers equal, or fourth very slightly longer; fourth toe slightly longer than third, fifth extending beyond first. Tail rounded, much depressed at the base, covered with moderate-sized strongly keeled scales arranged in rings; its length equals 2.5 to 3 times the distance from gular fold to vent.
Males with a large patch of thickened preanal scales and a patch of similar scales on the middle of the belly. Olive-brown above, spotted or speckled with blackish, sometimes with small yellowish spots; the breeding male's throat blue, with light spots; sometimes a light vertebral band.
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
(W Himalaya, Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
, Punjab
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
), Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
(Kathmandu), Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, and China (Tibetan Plateau
Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau , also known as the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau is a vast, elevated plateau in Central Asia covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai, in addition to smaller portions of western Sichuan, southwestern Gansu, and northern Yunnan in Western China and Ladakh in...
).
Description
Head much depressed; snout longer than the diameter of the orbitOrbit (anatomy)
In anatomy, the orbit is the cavity or socket of the skull in which the eye and its appendages are situated. "Orbit" can refer to the bony socket, or it can also be used to imply the contents...
; nostril lateral, below the canthus rostralis, slightly tubular. Upper head-scales smooth or feebly keeled: occipital
Occipital scales
In reptiles, occipital scales are enlarged plates that lie directly behind the parietal scales.An interoccipital is a scale located between the occipital scales....
not enlarged; small closely set spinose scales on the sides of the head near the ear, and on the neck; ear entirely exposed, larger than the eye-opening. Throat strongly plicate; no gular pouch. Body depressed, with a more or less distinct fold on each side of the back; scales on the neck and sides minute, almost granular, keeled, uniform or intermixed with scattered enlarged scales; those on the vertebral region enlarged, equal, rhomboidal, imbricate, strongly keeled; a very slight indication of a nuchal denticulation; ventral scales smooth, nearly as large as the enlarged dorsals. Limbs strong, with compressed digits; the scales on the upper surface of the limbs much enlarged and very strongly keeled; third and fourth fingers equal, or fourth very slightly longer; fourth toe slightly longer than third, fifth extending beyond first. Tail rounded, much depressed at the base, covered with moderate-sized strongly keeled scales arranged in rings; its length equals 2.5 to 3 times the distance from gular fold to vent.
Males with a large patch of thickened preanal scales and a patch of similar scales on the middle of the belly. Olive-brown above, spotted or speckled with blackish, sometimes with small yellowish spots; the breeding male's throat blue, with light spots; sometimes a light vertebral band.
External links
- http://www.kashmirnetwork.com/wikipedia/agama_kashmir_rock_w.jpg
- http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Laudakia_tuberculata.jpg
- http://www.indianaturewatch.net/displayimage.php?id=6166