''Ctenophorus'', from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

κτείς (''kteís''), meaning "comb", and φόρος (''phóros''), meaning "bearing", is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

s, commonly known as comb-bearing dragons, found in Australia. They are in the dragon lizard

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

, known as

Agamidae Agamidae is a family containing 582 species in 64 genera of iguanian lizards indigenous to Africa, Asia, Australia, and a few locations in Southern Europe. Many species are commonly called dragons or dragon lizards. Overview Phylogenetically ...

Description

The genus contains the most diverse group of dragon lizards in Australia. It is the largest group of Australian lizards and it has an extensive radiation in the arid zones. Many of the

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of ''Ctenophorus'' have been grouped by a similar

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

. The informal names and groupings within this genus — rock dragon, sand dragon, crevice-dragon, ground dragon, and bicycle-dragon — are named after the mythological creature, the

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

. Lizards in the genus ''Ctenophorus'' may be confused with lizards in the genera '' Tympanocryptis'' and '' Diporiphora''. Swan G, Shea G, Sadlier R (2004) ''A Field Guide to Reptiles of New South Wales''. Sydney, New South Wales: Reed New Holland. .

Species

There were 34 recognised species in the genus until a new study published in June 2023 discovered four more in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

adding up to a total of 38 species. The new species are included in the list below. * '' Ctenophorus adelaidensis'' (

Gray Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

, 1841) – western heath dragon * '' Ctenophorus butlerorum'' ( Storr, 1977) – Butler's dragon, Shark Bay heath dragon, Edel heath dragon * '' Ctenophorus caudicinctus'' ( Günther, 1875) – ring-tailed bicycle-dragon, ring-tailed dragon * '' Ctenophorus chapmani'' (Storr, 1977) – Chapman's dragon, southern heath dragon, Bight heath dragon * '' Ctenophorus clayi'' (Storr, 1967) – black-shouldered ground-dragon, black-collared dragon * '' Ctenophorus cristatus'' (Gray 1841) – crested bicycle-dragon, crested dragon, bicycle dragon * '' Ctenophorus decresii'' ( A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1837) – tawny crevice-dragon, tawny dragon * '' Ctenophorus femoralis'' (Storr, 1965) – long-tailed sand dragon * '' Ctenophorus fionni'' ( Procter, 1923) – Peninsula crevice-dragon, Peninsula dragon * '' Ctenophorus fordi'' (Storr, 1965) – Mallee dragon, Mallee sand dragon, Mallee military dragon * '' Ctenophorus gibba'' (

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, 1974) – Bulldust ground-dragon, gibber dragon * '' Ctenophorus graafi'' (Storr, 1967) – Graaf's dragon * '' Ctenophorus ibiri'' (Edwards & Hutchinson, 2023) * '' Ctenophorus infans'' (Storr, 1967) – Laverton ring-tailed dragon * '' Ctenophorus isolepis'' (

Fischer Fischer is a German occupational surname, meaning fisherman. The name Fischer is the fourth most common German surname. The English version is Fisher. People with the surname A * Abraham Fischer (1850–1913) South African public official * ...

, 1881) – central military dragon * '' Ctenophorus kartiwarrui'' (Edwards & Hutchinson, 2023) * '' Ctenophorus maculatus'' (Gray, 1831) – spotted military dragon, spotted dragon, spotted sand dragon * '' Ctenophorus maculosus'' ( F.J. Mitchell, 1948) – Lake Eyre dragon, salt-lake ground-dragon * '' Ctenophorus mckenziei'' (Storr, 1981) – dwarf bicycle-dragon, McKenzie's dragon * '' Ctenophorus mirrityana'' ( McLean et al., 2013) – Barrier Range dragon * '' Ctenophorus modestus'' ( Ahl, 1926) * '' Ctenophorus nguyarna'' Doughty, Maryan, Melville & J. Austin, 2007 – Lake Disappointment dragon * '' Ctenophorus nuchalis'' ( De Vis, 1884) – central netted dragon, central netted ground-dragon * '' Ctenophorus ornatus'' (Gray, 1845) – ornate dragon, ornate crevice-dragon * '' Ctenophorus parviceps'' (Storr, 1964) – Gnaraloo heath dragon, northwestern heath dragon * '' Ctenophorus pictus'' ( W. Peters, 1866) – painted dragon * '' Ctenophorus reticulatus'' (Gray, 1845) – western netted dragon, western netted ground-dragon * '' Ctenophorus rubens'' – reddening sand-dragon, rufus sand dragon * '' Ctenophorus rufescens'' (

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

& Zietz, 1893) – rusty crevice-dragon, rusty dragon * '' Ctenophorus salinarum'' (Storr, 1966) – saltpan ground-dragon, claypan dragon * '' Ctenophorus scutulatus'' (Stirling & Zietz, 1893) – lozenge-marked dragon, lozenge-marked bicycle-dragon * '' Ctenophorus slateri'' (Storr, 1967) – Slater's dragon * '' Ctenophorus spinodomus'' Sadlier, Colgan, Beatson & Cogger, 2019 – Eastern Mallee dragon * '' Ctenophorus tjakalpa'' (Edwards & Hutchinson, 2023) * '' Ctenophorus tjantjalka'' Johnston, 1992 – ochre dragon * '' Ctenophorus tuniluki'' (Edwards & Hutchinson, 2023) * '' Ctenophorus vadnappa'' (Houston, 1974) – red-barred crevice-dragon, red-barred dragon * '' Ctenophorus yinnietharra'' (Storr, 1981) – Yinnietharra crevice-dragon, Yinnietharra rock dragon

2023 identification of new species

Danielle Edwards, curator of terrestrial vertebrates at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, and Mark Hutchinson, of the South Australian Museum, both started studying sand dragons in 2008, when only three species (''C. fordi'', ''C. femoralis'', and ''C. maculatus'') had been identified. Their June 2023 study published in the '' Journal of Herpetology'' provided additional morphological data from all of candidate species, which led to the recognition of 11 species. Of these, four

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

were found to be species rather than

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

, with another four species newly described. The four new species, all endemic to the state of

, have been assigned names relating to their respective Aboriginal language of their habitat: * ''C. ibiri'' – meaning "small lizard" in the

Barngarla language Barngarla, formerly known as Parnkalla, is an Aboriginal language of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. It was formerly extinct, but has undergone a process of revival since 2012. Language revival The last native speaker of the language die ...

; found in parts of the

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Earlier called Eyre's Peninsula, it was named after e ...

* ''C. kartiwarrui'' – a derivation of the Dieri language term "kartiwarru", meaning "red-backed lizard'; found in the Strzelecki Desert * ''C. tjakalpa'' – named after the traditional name for the

Great Victoria Desert The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia. History In 1875, British-born Australian explore ...

, where it lives * ''C. tuniluki'' – meaning "sand lizard" in the Ngarrindjeri language, which is found in the Mallee region along the River Murray

Polymorphism

Lizards of the genus ''Ctenophorus'' are known to display colour polymorphism, more than one colour type being found within a population. It is believed that colour polymorphism in this group has evolved as a result of a combination of sexual selection and natural selection.

References

External links

List of links to a page about each species, some with images

Google search for images
* https://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/Upload/Files-Biological-Sciences/R-and-A-text/Key-to-the-Dragons-of-South-Australia_1.pdf * {{Taxonbar, from=Q678098 Agamid lizards of Australia Lizard genera Taxa named by Leopold Fitzinger