Draco blanfordii

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Blanford's Flying Lizard

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Sauria
Family:	Agamidae
Genus:	Draco
Species:	D. blanfordii

Binomial name

Draco blanfordii
Boulenger, 1885

Draco blanfordii is an agamid "flying" lizard capable of gliding from tree to tree found in China (SW Yunnan), E Thailand, W Malaysia, Myanmar (= Burma), Vietnam, India and Bangladesh.

The species is named after William Thomas Blanford of the Geological Survey of India.

The dewlap of Draco indochinensis is widest at its base, decreases in width over its entire length, and terminates in a sharp point. In contrast, the dewlap of D. blanfordii is distally expanded with a basal constriction, and terminates in a rounded distal edge. D. indochinensis also differs from D. blanfordii in the presence (in both sexes) of a thick, black transverse band that extends across the posterior gular region from one throat lappet to the other, and in the presence of dark radial bands on the dorsal surfaces of the patagia in both sexes rather than in females only.

[edit] References

Barts, M. & Wilms, T. 2003 Die Agamen der Welt. Draco 4 (14): 4-23
Blanford,W.T. 1878 Notes on some Reptilia from the Himalayas and Burma. J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal (2) xlvii: 125-131
Boulenger, G.A. 1885 Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. Geckonidae, Eublepharidae, Uroplatidae, Pygopodidae, Agamidae. London: 450 pp.
McGuire, Jimmy A. & Heang, Kiew Bong 2001 Phylogenetic systematics of Southeast Asian flying lizards (Iguania: Agamidae: Draco) as inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequence data. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 72: 203-229