Hydrosaurus

Hydrosaurus, commonly known as the sailfin lizards, is a genus in the family Agamidae.[2] These relatively large lizards are named after the sail-like structure on their tails. They are native to the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, where they are generally found near water, such as rivers and mangrove.[3] Sailfin lizards are semiaquatic and able to run short distances across water using both their feet and tail for support, similar to the basilisks.[4] They are threatened by both habitat loss and overcollection for the wild animal trade.[3]

This article is about a lizard genus. For the mosasaur genus which previously held the same name, see Pontosaurus.

Sailfin lizards
Hydrosaurus amboinensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Iguania
Family: Agamidae
Subfamily: Hydrosaurinae
Genus: Hydrosaurus
Kaup, 1828[1]
Type species
Hydrosaurus amboinensis
Species

See text

Synonyms
  • Lophura Gray, 1827
  • Istiurus Cuvier, 1829

They are the only members of the subfamily Hydrosaurinae.

Species

There are currently five valid species according to the Reptile Database,[2][3][5]

ImageScientific nameCommon NameDistribution
Hydrosaurus amboinensis (Schlosser, 1768)Amboina sailfin lizard or Amboina sail-finned lizardNew Guinea (both Papua New Guinea and Western New Guinea, Indonesia) and Ambon/Amboina Island (Indonesia)
Hydrosaurus celebensis (Peters, 1872)Sulawesi sailfin lizardIndonesia (Sulawesi)
Hydrosaurus microlophus (Bleeker, 1860)Makassar sailfin lizardIndonesia (Sulawesi)
Hydrosaurus pustulatus (Eschsholtz, 1829)Philippine sailfin lizard, crested lizard, sail-fin lizard, sailfin water lizard, or soa-soa water lizard[6]Philippine archipelago (from Mindanao in south to Luzon in north)
Hydrosaurus weberi Barbour, 1911Weber's sailfin lizardIndonesia

References
  1. Hydrosaurus, ITIS report
  2. Hydrosaurus, The Reptile Database
  3. Cameron D. Siler, Andrés Lira-Noriega, Rafe M. Brown (2014). Conservation genetics of Australasian sailfin lizards: Flagship species threatened by coastal development and insufficient protected area coverage. Biological Conservation 169: 100–108. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2013.10.014
  4. Jackman Bauer (2008). Global diversity of lizards in freshwater (Reptilia: Lacertilia). Hydrobiologia 595(1): 581–586.
  5. Denzer, W.; P.D. Campbell; U. Manthey; A. Glässer-Trobisch; A. Koch (2020). "Dragons in Neglect: Taxonomic Revision of the Sulawesi Sailfin Lizards of the Genus Hydrosaurus Kaup, 1828 (Squamata, Agamidae)". Zootaxa. 4747 (2): 275–301. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4747.2.3.
  6. Hydrosaurus pustulatus, IUCN


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