''Laudakia stellio '' is a

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), ...

agamid 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, ...

lizard.Baig KJ et al. (2012)
"A morphology-based taxonomic revision of ''Laudakia'' Gray, 1845 (Squamata: Agamidae)".
''Vertebrate Zoology'' 62 (2): 213–260. (''Stellagama'', new genus, p. 222). also known as the starred agama or the roughtail rock agama.

Common names

Common names for ''L. stellio'' include dikenli keler, hardim, hardun, kourkoutas (

Cypriot Greek Cypriot Greek (, or ) is the variety of Modern Greek that is spoken by the majority of the Cypriot populace and Greek Cypriot diaspora. It is considered a divergent dialect as it differs from Standard Modern Greek in various aspects of its ...

), kourkoutavlos, painted dragon, roughtail rock agama, short-toed rock agama, sling-tailed agama, star lizard, starred agama, and stellion.

Geographic range

''Laudakia stellio'' can be found in Greece and Turkey, the other species in this species complex are recorded elsewhere.

Description

''Laudakia stellio'' may attain a total length (including tail) of or slightly longer.

Behaviour and habitat

Like many agamids, ''L. stellio'' can change its color to express its mood. It basks on stone walls, rocks, and trees. It is usually found in rocky habitats, and is quite shy, being very ready to dive into cracks to hide from potential predators.

Etymology

The

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

"stellion" comes from Latin ''stellio'', ''stēlio'' (''stelliōn-'', ''stēliōn-''), from ''stella'',

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

. It may have referred to any spotted lizard.

Mythology

Stellio is mentioned in

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...

Book 5 line 461. A naughty boy mocks the

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...

Ceres for drinking a drink containing

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

and

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

with too much greed, as she is quite thirsty. Angrily the goddess throws the drink in the face of the boy, and there by changes him into a Stellio or a starred agama. It is an

etiological myth An origin myth is a type of myth that explains the beginnings of a natural or social aspect of the world. Creation myths are a type of origin myth narrating the formation of the universe. However, numerous cultures have stories that take place af ...

explaining how the starred agama got its spotted skin.

Uses

For the indigenous people of Europe, and perhaps the Middle East, traditionally the excrement of the stellio was a popular medicine for the eyes, also used as a cosmetic, known as ''cordylea'', ''crocodilea'' or ''stercus lacerti'' (i.e. 'lizard shit'), the faeces being imported to European pharmacies from the Levant – a rarer and more potent form was acquired from monitor lizards in olden days (''stercus magni lacerti''). The dung was used to improve one's eyesight, as well as take away any itches and cure cataracts (webbe).

Subspecies

The following 2 subspecies, including the

nominotypical subspecies In 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), but that can successfully interbreed. ...

, are recognized as being valid. *''Laudakia stellio daani'' *''Laudakia stellio stellio'' ''

Nota bene ( ; plural: ) is the Latin language, Latin phrase meaning ''note well''. In manuscripts, ''nota bene'' is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of ''nota bene'' and ''notate bene'' fi ...

'': A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than ''Laudakia''.

References

External links

European Field Herping Community
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q25693253, from2=Q510067 Laudakia Reptiles of Cyprus Reptiles of Europe Reptiles of Turkey Reptiles of the Middle East Reptiles of Iraq Reptiles of North Africa Reptiles described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus ar:حرذون