Common Gliding Lizard

Common Gliding Lizard
Common Gliding Lizard
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Iguania
Family: Agamidae
Genus: Draco
Species: D. sumatranus
Binomial name
Draco sumatranus
McGuire, 2001

The Common Gliding Lizard (Draco sumatranus) is a lizard with elongated ribs and skin flaps on the sides of its body. When opened, these skin flaps allow it to glide between tree trunks. It is primarily a tree dweller, except that the females come down to the forest floor to lay eggs. The body length is of about 9 cm, with a slightly longer tail. The body is of a dark grey/brown colouration with stripes and patterns to help it camouflage against the tree trunks. The males have a yellow triangular flap of skin under the chin, the gular fold, which is used to communicate with other lizards, mostly for mating. Females have a much smaller and blue flap. They feed on small insects.

They are relatively common in forests and in urban settings such as parks and gardens. They are found in Southeast Asia: Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra and Borneo.

It used to be thought of as a sub-species of Draco volans.

References

  • Photos and description
  • [1] J.Mcguire,Phylogenetic systematics of Southeast Asian flying lizards (Iguania: Agamidae: Draco) as inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequence data, 2001, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
  • Nick Baker & Kelvin Lim Wild Animals of Singapore: A Photographic Guide to Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians and Freshwater Fishes, 2008, ISBN 9810594596


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