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Laudakia stellio daani Beutler & Frör, 1980 ♂

Laudakia stellio daani-M-Rahes.jpg <i><b>Laudakia stellio daani</b></i> Beutler & Frör, 1980 ♀Thumbnails<i><b>Laudakia stellio daani</b></i> Beutler & Frör, 1980  (juvenile)<i><b>Laudakia stellio daani</b></i> Beutler & Frör, 1980 ♀Thumbnails<i><b>Laudakia stellio daani</b></i> Beutler & Frör, 1980  (juvenile)<i><b>Laudakia stellio daani</b></i> Beutler & Frör, 1980 ♀Thumbnails<i><b>Laudakia stellio daani</b></i> Beutler & Frör, 1980  (juvenile)<i><b>Laudakia stellio daani</b></i> Beutler & Frör, 1980 ♀Thumbnails<i><b>Laudakia stellio daani</b></i> Beutler & Frör, 1980  (juvenile)

Laudakia stellio daani Beutler & Frör, 1980 ♂
Common names: Rough-tailed Agama, Starred Agama, Hardun, Stellion [En], Agame d’Europe [Fr], Stellione [It], Κροκοδειλάκι [Gr], Κορκόφιλας [Ikarian Gr], Dikenli keler [Tu], Gurkuda [Cypriot Tu].

Rahes, IKARIA ● Greece

Description: Laudakia stellio, formally Agama stellio is a large rocky lizard. It has a flat triangular head and a flat short body with long legs.

Seven subspecies have been described:
L. s. brachydactyla Haas, 1951 – Negev and vicinity.
L. s. cypriaca Daan, 1967 – Cyprus.
L. s. daani Beutler & Frör, 1980 – South Aegean island, South Western Anatolia, Black sea
L. s. picea Parker, 1935 – Jordanian basalt desert.
L. s. salehi Werner, 2006 – Southern Sinai
L. s. stellio Linnaeus, 1758 – Central Cyclades (Delos, Mikro Rhematiaris, Mykonos, Rinia, Tinos) and Central, Southern and South-Eastern Anatolia.
L. s. vulgaris Sonnini & Latereille,1802 – North-western Egypt

The distinction of L. s. daani from L. s. stellio is uneasy. It relied primarily on coloration (Beutler and Frör, 1980). In L. s. daani the top of the head is blackish grey, similar to the back, while in L. s. stellio, the back of the head is yellow to red.
L. s. stellio is also more colourful than L. s. daani. Its sexual dimorphism is mainly chromatic, versus mensural in L. s. daani; and its population seems to include many males with underdeveloped callous scales, presumably socially subordinate, versus very few in L. s. daani.
L. s. daani in life have blue markings on the head and legs and often on the back, which are absent in L.s.stellio (Beutler 1981, Arbel 1982). In L. s. daani, the throat is mostly amply spotted with black, and only rarely marbled; in contrast, L. s. stellio is characterized by an unspotted, at most weakly marbled throat (Daan 1967).

Biology: It basks on stone walls, rocks and buildings, and also on trees. It hibernates during winter. Its diet consists of mainly insects. It is a shy and harmless lizard, ready to hide in the rocks.

Habitat: In Turkey they inhabit suitable habitats, whether arid or vegetated, such as sand-dunes to ruins, crevices of terraces, stone walls and stones, the underside of large rocks, and crevices in tree-trunks.

References:
Göçmen B., Tosunoglu M. & Taskavak E., 2003. A Taxonomic Comparison of the Hardun, Laudakia stellio (Reptilia, Agamidae), Populations of Southern Turkey (Hatay) and Cyprus. Zoology in the Midle East, 28: 25-32.
Almog A., Bonen H., Herman K., Werner Y., 2005. Subspeciation or none? The hardun in the Aegean (Reptilia: Sauria: Agamidae: Laudakia stellio), Journal of Natural History,39(7):567–586.
Strachinis I., Herpetofauna of Greece
The Reptile Database



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