Thai National Parks

Spotted flying dragon

In Thai: กิ้งก่าบินปีกส้ม

Binomial name: Draco maculatus, John Edward Gray, 1845

Draco maculatus, commonly known as the spotted flying dragon, is a species of agamid flying lizard endemic to Southeast Asia. It is capable of gliding from tree to tree.

Description

Head small; snout a little longer than the diameter of the orbit; nostril lateral, directed outwards; tympanum scaly. Upper head-scales unequal, strongly keeled; a compressed prominent scale on the posterior part of the superciliary region; 7 to 11 upper labials. The male's gular appendage very large, always much longer than the head, and frequently twice as long; female also with a well-developed but smaller gular sac. Male with a very small nuchal crest. Dorsal scales but little larger than the ventrals, irregular, smooth or very feebly keeled; on each side of the back a series of large trihedral keeled distant scales. The fore limb stretched forwards reaches beyond the tip of the snout; the adpressed hind limb reaches a little beyond the elbow of the adpressed fore limb, or to the axilla. Greyish above, with more or less distinct darker markings; a more or less distinct darker interorbital spot; wing-membranes above with numerous small round black spots, which are seldom confluent, beneath immaculate or with a few black spots; a blue spot on each side of the base of the gular appendage.

From snout to vent length, 82 mm; tail, 115 mm.

Subspecies

The following four subspecies (or races) are recognized, including the nominotypical subspecies:

• Draco maculatus divergens Taylor, 1934: NW Thailand; type locality = "Chiang Mai, N Siam"; restricted to "Doi Suthep Mountain" by Taylor, 1963.
• Draco maculatus haasei Boettger, 1893: E Thailand, Cambodia, S Vietnam; type locality = "Chantaboon, Siam".
• Draco maculatus maculatus (Gray, 1845)
• Draco maculatus whiteheadi Boulenger, 1900: N Vietnam, Hainan; type locality = "Five-finger Mountains, interior of Hainan".

Geographic range

From Assam and Yunnan to Singapore.

Southern China (Hainan, Guangxi, Yunnan, Tibet), India (E. Himalayas to Assam), Bangladesh (Satchari National Park, Sylhet), Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and W. Malaysia.

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Site notes

Few known location for subspecies;

Huai Kha Khaeng: D. m. maculatus

Khao Yai: D. m. haasei, one subspecies of D. m. whiteheadi has been seen by Parinya Pawangkhanant