Painted Dragon
S2, Blue Morph, Male, anterior
Painted Dragon
S15, Yellow Morph, Male, anterior
| Painted Dragon S2, Blue Morph, Male, anterior | | Painted Dragon S15, Yellow Morph, Male, anterior | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Chordates (Chordata) - Reptiles (Reptilia) | |||
| Order: | Scaled Reptiles (Squamata) | ||||
| Family: | Dragon (Agamidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Painted Dragon (Ctenophorus pictus) | ||||
| This Photo: | S10, Yellow Morph, Male, anterior | ||||
Thank you Reiner Richter, Ralph Foster, Mark Hura, Asimakis Patitsas, Stephen Mahony, Scott Eipper & Petra Hanke for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Flinders Ranges, the Riverland and elsewhere Painted dragons are a beautifully coloured, small, dragon lizard native to Australia. Females are more plain brown coloured. Females will mate with multiple males in one season; but she will chose males of different colour morphs and with few ticks. The lack of ticks indicates health, so taking ticks off a male will interrupt breeding selection and hence the gene pool. The female's habit of mating with males of different colour morph improves genetic diversity which is important for the species survival. Males come in 4 colour morphs: Blue, Orange, Red & Yellow colours. All male morphs have blue belly & legs. The Blue morphs have a blue throat; with white / brown cheeks like females. HD saw a pair mating and observed the male "was lethargic and slow" afterwards, indicating it was a taxing process for him. She sprinted away afterwards; keeping her energy for the upcoming egg production. | |||||
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