Kashmir rock agama

Laudakia tuberculata

The Kashmir Rock Agama (Laudakia tuberculata) is a species of agamid lizard found in N Pakistan, India (W Himalaya, Kashmir, Punjab), Nepal (Kathmandu), Afghanistan, and China (Tibetan Plateau).
One of the best sightings of 2019 This amazing male lizard turns blue in breeding season and I had lived this moment of witnessing it and documenting it. I witnessed many individuals of this species and also documented them but this male which gave me few seconds to be able to document it is surely a memorable one. I have seen this at an altitude of 2400m+ and where there is sub zero temperature. It is an amazing species from Himalayan landscape as it withstands temperature range of -10°C to sometimes 35°C+. Agama,Agamid,Agamidae,Chamba,Geotagged,Himachal,Himachal Pradesh,HimachalPradesh,India,Kashmir rock agama,KashmirRockAgama,Laudakia,Laudakia tuberculata,Nikon,Nikon D5600,RockAgama,Spring,Tamron,Tamron AF 70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD MACRO 1:2

Appearance

Head much depressed; snout longer than the diameter of the orbit; nostril lateral, below the ''canthus rostralis'', slightly tubular. Upper head-scales smooth or feebly keeled: occipital not enlarged; small closely set spinose scales on the sides of the head near the ear, and on the neck; ear entirely exposed, larger than the eye-opening. Throat strongly plicate; no gular pouch. Body depressed, with a more or less distinct fold on each side of the back; scales on the neck and sides minute, almost granular, keeled, uniform or intermixed with scattered enlarged scales; those on the vertebral region enlarged, equal, rhomboidal, imbricate, strongly keeled; a very slight indication of a nuchal denticulation; ventral scales smooth, nearly as large as the enlarged dorsals. Limbs strong, with compressed digits; the scales on the upper surface of the limbs much enlarged and very strongly keeled; third and fourth fingers equal, or fourth very slightly longer; fourth toe slightly longer than third, fifth extending beyond first. Tail rounded, much depressed at the base, covered with moderate-sized strongly keeled scales arranged in rings; its length equals 2.5 to 3 times the distance from gular fold to vent.

Males with a large patch of thickened preanal scales and a patch of similar scales on the middle of the belly. Olive-brown above, spotted or speckled with blackish, sometimes with small yellowish spots; the breeding male's throat blue, with light spots; sometimes a light vertebral band.
Lizard on Rock I found this on the way to Annapurna, Nepal Annapurna Conservation Area,Geotagged,Kashmir rock agama,Laudakia tuberculata,Lizard,Nepal,Rizard,Spring

Naming

Synonyms
Stellio indicus
Agama tuberculata
Barycephalus sykesii

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionChordata
ClassReptilia
OrderSquamata
FamilyAgamidae
GenusLaudakia
SpeciesL. tuberculata
Photographed in
India
Nepal