To this genus belongs a large number of truly remarkable lizards with extremely long and moveable ribs. When fully expanded, the ribs pull loose lateral skin into a pair of rigid wings, used by the lizards to make controlled glides. There are also large skin flaps on either side of the neck, on the throat, and smaller flaps along the rear of each leg. he tail is depressed with a flap-like ridge along either side.

No flying dragon is large: the giant may reach some 30 cm/11 inches in total length. The body is thin and elongated, the head short and blunt. All limbs are well developed with five digits and sharp claws. The large throat fan (dewlap) of males is used to signal other males about territorial possession and to attract mates. Females lay 1-6 eggs.

Flying lizards are almost totally arboreal, feeding on tree ants, termites, and other small insects that thy ambush from their perches. The genus is restricted to forests between India and the Philippines, and ranging east in Indonesia as far as Sulawesi.

Above: a flying dragon in resting pose. Below: Draco spilopterus
from a plate from the late 1800s.

Click here for more illustrations.

Literature:

Alcala, Angel. 1966. Populations of three tropical lizards on Negros Island, Philippines. Unpublished PhD thesis, Stanford University , 269 pp. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.

Bartlett, Richard. 1992. Little dragons of the trees. Tropical Fish Hobbyist 40(8): 204-208.

Colbert, Edwin. 1967. Adaptations for gliding in the lizard Draco. American Museum Novitates 2283:1-20.

Hairston, Nelson. 1957. Observations on the behavior of Draco volans in the Philippines. Copeia 1957(4):262-265.

Hennig, Willi. 1936. Revision der gattung Draco (Agamidae). Temminckia 1:153-220.

Inger, Robert. 1983. Morphological and ecological variation in the flying lizards (genus Draco). Fieldiana Zoology new series no. 18: 1-35.

Jacobs, George. 1983. Bibliography of the agamid genus Draco. Smithsonian Herpetological Information Service 57:1-31

Kästle, Werner. 1972. Keine angst vor Flugdrachen. Aquarien Magazin 9:376-78.

Lazell, James. 1992. New flying lizards and predictive biogeography of two Asian archipelagos. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 152(9):475-505.

McGuire, Jimmy and Angel Alcala. 2000. A taxonomic revision of the flying lizards (Iguania: Agamidae: Draco) of the Philippine Islands with a description of a new species. Herpetological Monographs 14:81-138.

Musters, C. 1983. Taxonomy of the genus Draco L. (Agamidae: Lacertilia: Reptilia). Zoologische Verhandelingen 199:1-126.