Lophosaurus Fitzinger, 1843

Denzer, Wolfgang & Manthey, Ulrich, 2016, Remarks on the taxonomy and nomenclature of the genus Hypsilurus Peters, 1867 (Reptilia, Agamidae, Amphibolurinae), Zoosystematics and Evolution 92 (1), pp. 103-110 : 107-108

Taxon classification Animalia Squamata Agamidae

Lophosaurus Fitzinger, 1843

Type species.

Lophyrus dilophus Duméril & Bibron, 1837.

Nomenclature of the type species.

On p. 419 Duméril and Bibron (1837) introduce the new species Lophyrus dilophus . A line further down they refer to a drawing of this species on plate 46 under the genus name of Tiaris . This discrepancy is explained on p. 421 where the authors state that it was originally intended to erect a new genus Tiaris for this species and that they decided against it at a later stage. We assume that the plates containing the name Tiaris had already been printed and subsequent changes would have been difficult to realize. On the same page the authors remark that the Leiden Museum holds specimens of this species under the name Calotes megapogon . This name has never been published in conjunction with a description and therefore constitutes a nomen nudum.

Diagnosis.

Medium to large sized, arboreal amphibolurine lizard 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 )

Content

Lophosaurus dilophus ( Duméril & Bibron, 1837)

Distribution: New Guinea and adjacent islands

Lophosaurus boydii (Macleay, 1884)

Distribution: Australia (Northeastern Queensland)

Lophosaurus spinipes ( Duméril & Bibron, 1851)

Distribution: Australia (Southeastern Queensland, northeastern New South Wales)

Key to the species