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COMMON NAME: Southern Rainforest
Dragon
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Hypsilurus spinipes
FAMILY: Agamidae
GENUS: Hypsilurus
STATUS: Secure
SIZE (cm): 11 |
DESCRIPTION: Smallest Australian Hypsilurus. Nuchal
and vertebral crests moderately large and continuous. Angular brow (common
to both Australian Hypsilurus) is extremely pronounced on juveniles.
Ground colour ranges through shades of brown, grey and green. Pattern
(when present) comprises irregular dark brown to reddish brown, and
pale brown, yellow to greenish mottling, blotches or variegations. These
are often centred on anterior flanks. Obscure dark vertical bars sometimes
extend from vertebral crest onto flanks. Dark brown bar usually present
from eye to ear. Short dark streaks may radiate from eye to brow. Lower
lips paler shade of ground colour to white, often obscurely barred with
brown. Gular pouch paler shade of ground colour, occasionally bearing
yellow flush near gular fold. Remainder of ventral surfaces pale brown
to white, sometimes flushed with reddish on chest. SVL 110 mm.
PREFERRED HABITAT: Rainforests and adjacent margins
of wet sclerophyll forest on coast and ranges of mideastern Australia,
from Gympie district, Qld, south to Gosford area, NSW.
MICROHABITAT: Predominantly arboreal. Rainforest
dragons forage on trunks, limbs, buttresses and vines, regularly descending
to ground or fallen timber. They are usually encountered basking in
filtered sunlight after rain. In warm weather rainforest dragons sleep
on exposed trunks or limbs. During cooler periods, hollows or dense
thickets of vegetation are probably used.
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