REPTILIA: SQUAMATA: AGAMIDAE: Hydrosaurus

Hydrosaurus amboinensis (Schlosser, 1788)

Sail-fin lizard

Photo & text by Dr. Robert Sprackland.

Range: The Moluccan islands of eastern Indonesia, including Halmahera and Ternate.

Diagnosis: A large agamid that grows to a total length of 1300 mm/51.2 inches.

Description:

Natural History:  

Reproduction: Eggs may be laid any time of year. Females lay 5 to 12 eggs in a clutch and produce as many as four clutches each year. Eggs should be incubated at 28°-30° C/82°-85° F at 75-80% relative humidity. Neonates may measure 279 mm/11 inches, and require no food the first week after hatching. Once young begin to swim (at about 2-3 weeks) they will require finely chopped green leafy vegetables and fruits, and liberal quantities of gut-loaded young crickets. They reach sexual maturity at about two years, and reach full size at about four years.

Taxonomy & Relationships:

Variation:

Additional Comments:

Type Specimen:

Literature:  

Barbour, Thomas. 1911. A contribution to the zoogeography of the East Indian Islands. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 44(1).

DeRooij, Nelly. 1915. Reptiles of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. E. J. Brill, Leiden.

Henkel, F., and W. Schmidt. 1997. Agamen im Terrarium. Landbuch Verlag, Hannover.

Manthey, U., and N. Schuster. 1996. Agamid lizards. TFH Publications, Neptune, NJ.

Sprackland, Robert. 1992. Giant Lizards. TFH Publications.