Speices Profile: Common Agama

Hello everyone, welcome back to animals under threat. Today we will be covering the Common Agama (Agama agama). This lizard resides in areas of sub-Saharan Africa and is sometimes called the Rainbow Agama due to the males been brightly coloured. Dominant male Agama’s have a brightly coloured red head, blue body and a banded tail. Other male Agama are a duller colour and are similar to females as females are brown coloured with an olive green head (Agama, 2003).

Male Agama on bottom and Female Agama on top, pictures taken by unknown.

During the day, dominant male Agama are highly territorial and very alert. Patrolling their territory to keep other dominant male Agama as one dominant male may have eight females Agama living in his territory as well as some subordinate males (James & Porter, 1979). Only the dominant male is allowed to mate with the females. When the dominant male attacks a rival, both lizards lose their bright colour and the defeated lizard loses it bright colour becoming a brown colour (Inoue et al, 1977). The Common Agama feeds on insects, mostly beetles and is active for most of the day expect during the hottest part (Anibaldi et al, 1998).

The Common Agama is under threat from parasites Plasmodium giganteum and P. agamae as they are known to carry malaria. The blood of the infected lizard doesn’t receive enough oxygen in the blood causing it to struggle while running and fighting another Agama. Currently it is not known if the parasites affect the female Common Agama reproductive rate or their eggs (Schall et al, 1994). It is currently being debated if humans have an effect on this species.

Next time, we will be covering a species that is consider to be a pest to farmers and is been hunted for sports.

References

Agama. (2003). In The MacMillan encyclopedia. (2nd ed.). [Online]. Aylesbury: Market House Books Ltd. Available from: https://elibrary.jcu.edu.au/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/move/agama/0?institutionId=429 [Accessed 30 March 2019].

ANIBALDI, C., LUISELLI, L. & ANGELICI, F. 1998, "Notes on the ecology of a suburban population of Rainbow lizards in coastal Kenya", African Journal of Ecology, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 199-206.

James, F.C. & Porter, W.P. 1979, "Behavior-Microclimate Relationships in the African Rainbow Lizard, Agama agama", Copeia, vol. 1979, no. 4, pp. 585-593.

Inoue, S., Inoué, S., Inoue, Z. & Inoué, Z. 1977, "Colour changes induced by pairing and painting in the male rainbow lizard, Agama agama agama", Experientia, vol. 33, no. 11, pp. 1443-1444.

SCHALL, J. & BROMWICH, C. 1994, "INTERSPECIFIC INTERACTIONS TESTED - 2 SPECIES OF MALARIAL PARASITE IN A WEST-AFRICAN LIZARD", OECOLOGIA, vol. 97, no. 3, pp. 326-332.

Picture references

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agama_agama