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Diporiphora ameliae. Photo by Angus Emmott |
A new species of
Australian lizard has been discovered in western Queensland that has just been described in the journal
Zootaxa. The lizard,
Diporiphora ameliae, is of the
agamidae family and is somewhat similar in appearance to
Diporiphora winneckei, but features four longitudinal gray stripes on a cream colored background on its back along with three v shaped markings near its throat. The lizard also known as Amelia's canegrass dragon, was found in an arid area in Longreach, western Queensland several years ago. The lizard was first discovered by arid zone biologist Angus Emmott, who was also part of the team that studied it. Emmott named the lizard after his 21-year-old daughter Amelia, who is a fourth generation custodian of Noonbah Valetta, where the lizard was found.
Amelia's canegrass dragon has a maximum size of around 2.6 inches in length and can be found in acacia woodland on hard and pebbly soils. Its distribution includes Bladensberg National Park and Valetta and Noonbah Stations, and is separated by Diporiphora winneckei by about 200 kilometers. An abstract of the paper describing Diporiphora ameliae can be found on the Zootaxa website.