Arabian toad-headed agama (''Phrynocephalus arabicus'') is a species of agamid lizard found in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, and

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

Description

It is one of 34 recognized species within the genus ''Phrynocephalus''. In 2014, Melkinov split ''P. arabicus'' into 4 distinct species: ''arabicus

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...

'', ''nejdensis'', ''macropeltis'', and ''ahvazicus''. To date only '' P. ahvazicus'' has been formally recognized as a separate species. ''P. arabicus sensu stricto'' is recognizable by its unique tail coloration. It has a white coloration on the underside of the tail with a black tip. When the animal is alerted the whole last quarter of the tail becomes black. ''P. arabicus'' also has a relatively long tail and a pointed snout. Adults may attain a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of 51 mm (2 in) and weigh 4.08g on average.

Behavior

This species is diurnal. They are

insectivore file:Common brown robberfly with prey.jpg, A Asilidae, robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivore, carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the Entomophagy ...

s and females only lay 1–2 eggs per clutch.

References

arabicus Reptiles described in 1894 Taxa named by John Anderson (zoologist) Reptiles of the Arabian Peninsula Reptiles of Iran Reptiles of Jordan {{Agamidae-stub