Persian toad agama

Description

Phrynocephalus persicus,commonly known as the Persian toad-headed agama,is a small diurnal desert lizard of the family Agamidae.It is the westernmost representative of the Central Asian genus of toad-headed agamas Phrynocephalus and is only known from deserts and semideserts of Iran and possibly Azerbaijan.The snout-vent length of the body and weight ranges between 2.3 cm and 0.4 g in newborns and 7 cm and 7.8 g in adults.There is a sexual dimorphism in morphology (size,color) and behavior.Females are slightly larger than males.P.persicus appears to have a shorter tail compared to P.Horvathi.Like its relatives,the species does not have visible ear-drums.Head and body are wide and covered with small scales.There is no large shield on the head as in Lacertidae lizards.Coloration is cryptic and usually corresponds to the color of the surrounding substrate,which makes the lizard almost invisible.Scales of different size,shape and color associated to create a mosaic pattern,which serves as camouflage allowing the lizard to blend in with a sandy substrate.Accumulations of conical scales create more or less symmetrically distributed dark spots of the color pattern.The dorsal pattern consists of transverse series of dark dots which form pronounced dark areas on the shoulders and the lumbar region of the body.The center of the back may carry 1–3 latitudinally spread groups of dark spots,or may be free of any pattern.There are usually 2–3 prolonged red surrounded by blue areas on the neck.Color of these areas serves as a "pregnancy indicator".In gravid females red coloration turns bluish-grey and areas become blue.Belly is white with bright orange wash in the rare (abdominal) part.Tail usually carries latitudinally striped pattern form dark and white segments.Ventral surface of the tail in lizards from Armenia is dark grey in males and yellowish in females.[citation needed]