Hydrosaurus

Hydrosaurus, commonly known as the sailfin lizards, is a genus in the family Agamidae.[2] These relatively large lizards are named after the sail-like structure on their tails. They are native to the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, where they are generally found near water, such as rivers and mangrove.[3] Sailfin lizards are semiaquatic and able to run short distances across water using both their feet and tail for support, similar to the basilisks.[4] They are threatened by both habitat loss and overcollection for the wild animal trade.[3]

This article is about a lizard genus. For the mosasaur genus which previously held the same name, see Pontosaurus.

Sailfin lizards
Hydrosaurus amboinensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Iguania
Family: Agamidae
Subfamily: Hydrosaurinae
Genus: Hydrosaurus
Kaup, 1828[1]
Species

See text

They are the only members of the subfamily Hydrosaurinae.

Species

There are currently five valid species according to the Reptile Database,[2][3][5]

  • Hydrosaurus amboinensis (Schlosser, 1768) – Amboina sailfin lizard or Amboina sail-finned lizard
  • Hydrosaurus celebensis (Peters, 1872) – Sulawesi sailfin lizard
  • Hydrosaurus microlophus (Bleeker, 1860) – Makassar sailfin lizard
  • Hydrosaurus pustulatus (Eschsholtz, 1829) – Philippine sailfin lizard, crested lizard, sail-fin lizard, sailfin water lizard, or soa-soa water lizard[6]
  • Hydrosaurus weberi Barbour, 1911 – Weber's sailfin lizard

References
  1. Hydrosaurus, ITIS report
  2. Hydrosaurus, The Reptile Database
  3. Cameron D. Siler, Andrés Lira-Noriega, Rafe M. Brown (2014). Conservation genetics of Australasian sailfin lizards: Flagship species threatened by coastal development and insufficient protected area coverage. Biological Conservation 169: 100–108. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2013.10.014
  4. Jackman Bauer (2008). Global diversity of lizards in freshwater (Reptilia: Lacertilia). Hydrobiologia 595(1): 581–586.
  5. Denzer, W.; P.D. Campbell; U. Manthey; A. Glässer-Trobisch; A. Koch (2020). "Dragons in Neglect: Taxonomic Revision of the Sulawesi Sailfin Lizards of the Genus Hydrosaurus Kaup, 1828 (Squamata, Agamidae)". Zootaxa. 4747 (2): 275–301. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4747.2.3.
  6. Hydrosaurus pustulatus, IUCN


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