Draco guentheri

Draco guentheri, commonly known as Günther's flying lizard[2] or Guenther's flying lizard,[1] is a species of agamid "flying dragon" endemic to the Philippines.

Draco guentheri
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Iguania
Family: Agamidae
Genus: Draco
Species:
D. guentheri
Binomial name
Draco guentheri
Boulenger, 1885
Synonyms[1]
  • Draco guentheri
    Boulenger, 1885
  • Draco dapitani
    Rizal, 1893
  • Draco rizali
    Wandolleck, 1900
  • Draco volans reticulatus
    — Hennig, 1936 (part)
  • Draco reticulatus
    — Gaulke, 1993
  • Draco guentheri
    — McGuire & Alcala, 2000

Geographic range

D. guentheri is found on the islands of Basilan, Bongao, Jolo, Mindanao, Sanga-Sanga, Siasi, and Simunul.

Etymology

The specific name, guentheri, is in honor of German-British zoologist Albert Gunther.[1][2]

Taxonomy

This species was originally described in 1885 by the Belgian-British zoologist George Albert Boulenger, who named it Draco guentheri.

This species is also notable for having been collected by the Philippine national hero Jose Rizal during his exile in Dapitan, Mindanao in 1893 and identified it as a new type of lizard in which he tentatively named, Draco dapitani. Rizal sent specimens to Europe, to the German zoologist Benno Wandolleck. In 1900 Wandolleck, thinking Rizal's specimens represented a new species, described it and named it Draco rizali, thereby creating a synonym. Rizal's specimens, subsequently, were destroyed during the bombing of Dresden in World War II.[3]

In 1936 Hennig considered this lizard to be part of what he called a subspecies, Draco volans reticulatus. In 1993 Gaulke raised it to full species status. And most recently, in 2000, McGuire and Alcala once again recognized Boulenger's original Draco guentheri as a valid species.

References
  1. Uetz, Peter; Hallermann, Jakob; Hosek, Jiri. "Draco guentheri BOULENGER, 1885". The Reptile Database. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  2. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Draco guentheri, p. 110).
  3. Fadul, José A., ed. (2007). Encyclopedia Rizaliana: Student Edition. Morrisville, South Carolina: Lulu Press. p. 32. ISBN 1430311428.

Further reading
  • Boulenger GA (1885). Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume I. Geckonidæ, Eublepharidæ, Uroplatidæ, Pygopodidæ, Agamidæ. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 436 pp. + Plates I- XXXII. (Draco guentheri, new species, pp. 257–258 + Plate XX, Figure 2).
  • McGuire JA, Alcala AC (2000). "A Taxonomic Revision of the Flying Lizards (Iguania: Agamidae: Draco) of the Philippine Islands, with a Description of a New Species". Herpetological Monographs 14: 81-138. (Draco guentheri, p. 100).


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.