Added 21 July 2022.
This smallish genus is restricted to Indonesia. As Phoxophrys, it was characterised by lack of any gular pouches and frontal appendages, and small scales are intermixed with large conical tubercles, with dorsal and nape crests being either present or absent. Unfortunately I have not been able to read the paper by Harvey et al, so am uncertain as to whether the new genus is greatly altered in terms of characteristics.
I have not seen any of these species offered in the UK, and the name does not seem to crop up in herpetological circles in Germany or the US either. Manthey and Schuster cover the genus and P. nigrilabris in their book and note that they are not particularly difficult captives, not least because they are small as agamids go - P. nigrilabris is no more than 9cm in total length. They would appear to be at least somewhat arboreal.
Hubrecht in 1881 summarised the differences between Phoxophrys (to which the species listed here were assigned until recently) and Japalura as follows (taken from Inger 1960):
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Phoxophrys |
Japalura |
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Lacks dorsal crest |
Dorsal crest present |
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Few large tubercular scales laterally |
Enlarged scales are simply unicarinate |
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Supraciliaries juxtaposed or very slightly imbricate |
Each supraciliary overlaps its successor by at least one third |
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Head relatively short and deep |
Head relatively long and flat |
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Lacks hair-like sense organs on cephalic scales |
Hair-like sense organs present on cephalic scales |
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Rostral if distinguishable is at most twice as wide as high and only occupies centre of end of snout |
Rostral 3-4 times as wide as high and occupies entire end of snout |
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Tail of male is markedly swollen basally, flattened above and furnished with dorsolateral keels formed by enlarged angular scales |
Tail of male is compressed, oval in cross section and not flattened above; usually a low middorsal caudal crest is formed by median row of enlarged keeled scales (only J. flaviceps deviates from this rule) |
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QUICK INDEX |
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P. borneensis, Sabah Eyebrow Lizard |
P. cephalum, Mocquard's Eyebrow Lizard |
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P. nigrilabris, Black-Lipped Eyebrow Lizard |
P. spiniceps, Sarawak Eyebrow Lizard |
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Species Name |
Common Name |
Distribution |
Size |
Notes |
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Pelturagonia |
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Indonesia (Borneo: Kalimantan) |
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First described in 2019 as part of the work by Harvey at al (see Bibliography). |
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Sabah Eyebrow Lizard |
Indonesia (N Borneo) |
TL 15-17cm |
Scalation details: nasal contacts supralabial; 1 continuous row of infraorbitals; supraciliary spine absent; gular scales sharply keeled, mucronate; nuchal crest with 4 conical scales; vertebral scale row posteriorly with widely separated, enlarged but not elevated scales; lateral caudal scales sharply keeled; 4 rows of keeled subcaudals near base. Reproduction: males are distinguished from females by having 11-12 strongly keeled dorsolateral scales on tail near base, and also by nuchal crest, whose conical scales are thick in males but compressed in females. |
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Mocquard's Eyebrow Lizard |
Indonesia (Borneo, Sabah) |
SVL 6-8½cm |
Scalation details: nasal contacts supralabials; 2 continuous rows of infraorbitals; supraciliary spine absent; gular scales obtusely keeled or smooth; short nuchal crest with 7-8 thick conical scales; vertebral scale row posteriorly with a few feebly elevated, widely separated, enlarged scales; lateral caudal scales smooth; 2 rows of keeled subcaudals near base. Reproduction: males are distinguished from females by having 6-7 strongly keeled dorsolateral scales on tail near base. |
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Black-Lipped Eyebrow Lizard |
Indonesia (Borneo) |
SVL 5-5½cm |
Scalation details: nasal separated from supralabials; 2 continuous rows of infraorbitals; supraciliary spine absent; gular scales sharply keeled; nuchal crest with 6-12 compressed scales; vertebral scale row posteriorly with continuous row of enlarged, elevated scales; lateral caudal scales keeled; 4 rows of enlarged keeled subcaudals near base. Reproduction: males are distinguished from females by having 8-9 strongly keeled dorsolateral scales on tail near base. |
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Sarawak Eyebrow Lizard |
Indonesia (Borneo, Sarawak) |
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Scalation details: nasal contacts 2nd supralabial; 1 continuous row of infraorbitals; supraciliary spine formed by scale about ¾ diameter of eye; gular scales keeled; nuchal crest with 3 spinose scales separated by 2-6 small, keeled scales; vertebral scale row posteriorly with widely separated, enlarged scales; lateral caudal scales keeled; 2 rows of keeled subcaudals near base. Reproduction: no details available. |
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Gives brief overview of Phoxophrys and details of P. nigrilabris.
“Phoxophrys After 60 Years: Review of Morphology, Phylogeny, Status of Pelturagonia, and a New Species from Southeastern Kalimantan”, Michael B. Harvey, Thorton R. Larson, Justin L. Jacobs, Kyle Shaney, Jeffrey W. Streicher, Amir Hamidy, Nia Kurniawan, Eric N. Smith, Herpetological Monographs 33(1), 71-107, 13 March 2020. I have not read this paper.
A Guide to the Lizards of Borneo, by Dr Indraneil Das and Ghazally Ismail, has some information on P. borneensis and P. nigrilabris and some images.