Significant Agamid Reptile Taxonomic Split - Australia

[garrytre]

I don’t know what to do with this, so plz move it to wherever is appropriate, and advise me for the future
here it is, in part.

The SA Ctenophorus fordi concept has recently been split into the five geographically distinct species (see map below), following a revision by Edwards & Hutchinson (2023). C. fordi is now considered a WA endemic species.

New species concepts split from C. fordi:

• C. kartiwarru, Red-backed Sand Dragon
• C. ibiri, Eyre Peninsula Mallee Dragon
• C. spinodomus, Eastern Mallee Dragon
• C. tuniluki, Southern Mallee Dragon
• C. tjakalpa, Ghost Sand Dragon

These concepts are now included in the BDBSA fauna taxonomy

Reference:
Danielle. L. Edwards, Mark. N. Hutchinson “Sand Dragons: Species of the Ctenophorus maculatus Complex (Squamata: Agamidae) of Australia’s Southern and Western Interior,” Journal of Herpetology, 57(2), 176-196

[https://www.researchgate.net/publication
/335453945_Ctenophorus_spinodomus_sp_nov_a_new_species_of_dragon_lizard_Squamata_Agamidae_from_Triodia_Mallee_habitat_of_southeast_Australia]

[thebeachcomber]

This change was implemented on iNat last month
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxon_changes/127436

[cthawley]

In general, the best way to address new taxonomic info is to check the taxa in question on iNat, and, if the change hasn’t been incorporated already, raise a flag on iNat for the taxon in question and add the relevant info there for curators to look at, so in this case that would be Ctenophorus.

For taxonomic changes, it may be necessary to wait until they get into whatever taxonomic backbone/source iNat uses for certain groups (for reptiles, it’s Reptile Database).