Added 5 April 2026.
A genus of three species that were formerly considered part of the Gonyocephalus or Hypsilurus.
Denzer and Manthey classified the genus as follows: medium to large sized, arboreal amphibolurine lizards without femoral or precloacal pores (present in all Australian agamid lizards apart from Chelosania and Moloch); no spines on the body (present in Moloch), no frill around the neck (present in Chlamydosaurus); a transverse gular fold (absent in Chelosania), dorsal scales heterogeneous in size (homogeneous in all Hypsilurus s. l.); TL/HBL < 2.3, typically < 2; lacrimal bone present (absent in all Australian Amphibolurinae apart from Intellagama and Chelosania). Cogger notes that L. boydii and L. spinipes are similar in habits, L. boydii being an arboreal diurnal species that is well camouflaged and confined to areas of tropical rainforest (H. spinipes is also found in adjacent wetter forests).
These agamids have been seen in the pet trade in the past, but there appears to be little information about them for the ordinary keeper. The Australian species would in any case be normally be unobtainable outside the country. Manthey and Schuster have details for L. dilophus and L. spinipes (there, listed under Hypsilurus). There may well be books or articles published in Australia for the native keeper.
|
QUICK INDEX |
|
L. boydii, Boyd’s Forest Dragon |
L. dilophus, Indonesian Forest Dragon |
L. spinipes, Southern Forest Dragon |
Species Name |
Common Name |
Distribution |
Size |
Notes |
Lophosaurus |
||||
Boyd's Forest Dragon |
Australia (NE Queensland) |
TL 45 cm, SVL 15 cm |
Description: snout triangular and shelving; upper surface of head a little concave, covered with minute roughly keeled scales; scales largest below the mouth, expanding behind the ear into a few ivory-looking tubercles of larger size. Gular pouch covered with very minute pointed scales, with broad, pointed, compressed, triangular teeth along its median fold. A large compressed skinny nuchal crest, densely covered with very small smooth scales, and armed with three or four erect, broad, pointed, triangular, very compressed bony teeth; dorsal crest composed of acute, very much compressed, triangular bony spines. Dorsal scales small and more or less keeled; ventral scales larger and more strongly keeled. Scales on the legs keeled. Caudal scales very strongly keeled; occasionally bands of larger keeled scales across the tail at irregular intervals. Coloration: reddish brown, with seven or eight narrow dark-brown fasciae on the body, and similar but indistinct fasciae on the tail and feet; front of the head and nape greyish, sides of the head stone-blue; gular pouch and space between tympanum and eye yellow; underside of body greyish yellow. [SOURCE: Boulenger] |
|
Indonesian Forest Dragon |
Indonesia (New Guinea), Papua New Guinea (inc. d’Entrecasteaux Archipelago and Normanby Island) |
TL 55 cm, SVL 22 cm |
Description: upper head-scales small, strongly keeled; occipital enlarged; tympanum quite as large as the eye-opening; eleven upper and as many lower labials. Gular sac very large, with strongly serrated anterior edge; gular scales small, keeled, with scattered strongly enlarged ones. Nuchal crest not continuous with dorsal, its height greater than the length of the snout; it is composed of a few large lanceolate spines directed backwards, implanted on a strong dermal fold covered with small keeled scales; dorsal crest formed of spines similar to the nuchals. Dorsal scales small, keeled, with the points turned upwards and backwards, intermixed with scattered enlarged ones forming more or less regular transverse series; ventral scales twice as large as dorsals, keeled. Limbs above with subequal keeled scales. Tail: strongly compressed, with a very high crest of lanceolate scales; caudal scales feebly keeled except interiorly; tail once and a half the length of head and body. Coloration: reddish-brown above, with indistinct darker spots; dorsal crest olive. [SOURCE: Boulenger] |
|
Southern Forest Dragon |
Australia (New South Wales, Queensland) |
|
Description: snout slightly longer than the diameter of the orbit; canthus rostralis and supraciliary edge angular, projecting ; tympanum as large as the eye-opening; occiput concave; upper head-scales small, subequal, keeled; fourteen or fifteen upper and as many lower labials. Gular sac rather small, with serrated anterior edge; gular scales strongly keeled, smaller than ventrals, intermixed with a few enlarged ones. Nuchal and dorsal crests subcontinuous; the former composed of triangular spines, the longest of which do not quite equal the vertical diameter of the tympanum, inserted on a fold of the skin; dorsal crest, a denticulation formed of triangular scales. Dorsal scales small, unequal, keeled, intermixed with irregularly scattered, enlarged, strongly keeled mucronate ones; the points of the scales directed upwards and backwards; ventral scales rather small, strongly keeled. Limbs above with unequal keeled scales, intermixed with strongly enlarged mucronate ones; fourth finger longer than third; the adpressed hind limb reaches the anterior border of the orbit or the tip of the snout. Tail: compressed, at the base with a serrated upper edge ; caudal scales strongly keeled, largest inferiorly ; tail twice as long as head and body. Coloration: brown or dark olive above, with indistinct darker spots; a more or less distinct white line along the hind side of the thigh. [SOURCE: Boulenger] |
|
Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, Harold Cogger, 6th edition.
A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia, Steve Wilson and Gerry Swan, Reed New Holland, Sydney, 2003.
Agamid Lizards, Ulrich Manthey and Norbert Schuster, TFH 1996 (originally published in German, 1992, as Agamen).
“Remarks on the taxonomy and nomenclature of the genus Hypsilurus Peters, 1867 (Reptilia, Agamidae, Amphibolurinae)”, Wolfgang Denzer and Ulrich Manthey, Zoosystematics and Evolution 92(1):103-110, 17 March 2016. Describes the genus Lophosaurus.