Kingdom Animalia Class Reptilia Suborder Iguania Scientific name Draco norvillii | Phylum Chordata Order Squamata Family Agamidae Rank Species | |
Similar Draco mindanensis, Draco indochinensis, Draco spilopterus, Draco dussumieri, Draco blanfordii | ||
Draco norvillii, also known as Norvill's flying lizard, is species of agamid flying lizard endemic to India. This species is capable of gliding from tree to tree, and has been recorded gliding up to 50 metres (160 ft). It feeds on insects and other small invertebrates.
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Etymology
The specific name, norvillii, is in honor F.H. Norville who was the collector of the holotype.
Taxonomy
Musters (1983) examined specimens of D. norvillii but was not able to examine the type. He opines that this lizard is a subspecies of Draco blanfordii. This view has not been endorsed in McGuire & Heang's (2001) study on the phylogenetic systematics of Southeast Asian flying lizards (Iguania: Agamidae: Draco).
Geographic range
Draco norvillii has been recorded from Assam, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh in NE India. A rare and endangered species of lizard, it was described by Alcock and named after the collector of the type (F. H. Norvill) of Doom Dooma, Upper Assam (now Arunachal Pradesh). The type locality may be considered restricted to "North-eastern India, possibly Doom Dooma (27.57°N 95.57°E), Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India".
D. norvillii was recently rediscovered after 118 years in the Jeypore Reserve Forest by Mazedul Islam and Professor Prasanta Kumar Saikia of the Animal Ecology and Wildlife Biology Laboratory of the Zoology Department, Gauhati University in 2012. Two lizards were recorded.
Description
Two individuals of D. norvillii, a female and juvenile, were encountered in Jeypore Reserve Forest in 2012 during a survey by biologists from Gauhati University.
Islam & Saikia describe the specimens as follows :