السحلية ذات الأغشية

السحلية ذات الأغشية
Conservation status
	Secure
التصنيف الفهمي
مملكة:	الحيوان
Phylum:	الحبليات
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Iguania
Family:	Agamidae
Subfamily:	Agaminae
Genus:	''Chlamydosaurus''
Binomial name
	Chlamydosaurus kingii; Gray, 1827

السحلية ذات الأغشية أو تعهد أيضا بالتنين المزركش , (Chlamydosaurus kingii) هى وسميت هكذابسبب ضخامة قبة الجلد والتي عادة ما تقع مطوية خلف الرأس والعنق. كشكش الرقبة ويدعم بأشواك غضروفية طويلة, وعندما تشعر السحلية بالخوف, فإنها تفغر فاها وتظهر بطانة مشرقة وردية أوصفراء, وتزدهر الأغشية بالألوان, مظهرة قشورا ذات ألوان برتنطقية مشرقة وحمراء . وتسهم تلك الزعانف أيضا في تنظيم درجة حرارة الجسم ^{[بحاجة لمصدر]}. السِحلية ذات الأغشية نوع من السحالي يعيش في المناطق المدارية شمالي أستراليا، وهي تنموليصل طولها إلى حوالي متر واحد، وتتميز بوجود غشاء ملون حول عنقها. وعند الانزعاج تُصدر فحيحًا مرتفعًا يُظهر الخطوط الصفراء اللامعة لفمها، وتَمُد غشاء عُنُقها. وإذا لم يجد هذا نفعاً ضدَّ الحيوان المعادي جرت مبتعدة بسرعة على رجليها الخلفيتين، رافعةً رجليها الأماميتين وذيلها في الهواء.

Characteristics

A frill-necked lizard seen on a small tree branch

Chlamydosaurus kingii from Narrative of a Survey Volume 2, by Phillip Parker King, 1827.

Adult frill-necked lizards may grow up to one metre in total length. They often walk quadrupedally when on the ground. When frightened they begin to run on all-fours and then accelerate onto the hind-legs. Males are significantly larger than females both as juveniles and when mature. The frill of the Australian frilled dragon is used to scare off potential predators — as well as hissing and lunging. If this fails to ward off the threat, the lizard flees bipedally to a nearby tree where it climbs to the top and relies on camouflage to keep it hidden.

Range and Ecology

The lizard is found in southern New Guinea, as well as in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and across northern Australia. It primarily inhabits savanna woodlands, but may also be found in tropical to warm temperate forests, and where there is an open scrub or tussock grass understorey. It is semi-arboreal, and hunts in the trees for small arthropods (including caterpillars and cicadas), and on the ground for ants and termites, spiders, or small vertebrates (e.g. other lizards). The lizards are less active during the dry season (April-August) The only reported predators are Morelia.

Breeding

Frill-necked lizards breed in the early wet season from September to October. Adult males fight for mates, displaying their frills and biting each other. One to two clutches of 8-23 eggs are laid from early to mid-wet season from November to February. The eggs are laid in a nest 5-20 cm below ground, and usually in sunny areas. Incubation takes two to three months. Sex is partly temperature determined, with extreme temperatures producing exclusively females, and intermediate temperatures (29-35C) producing equal numbers of males and females. Their eggs are soft-shelled.

Olympics and Paralympics

A frill-necked lizard was featured on the reverse of the Australian 2 cent coin, until 1991. This coin was withdrawn from circulation in 1992 — following which the 2 cent coins and 1 cent coins were melted down to make bronze medals for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

The same frill neck lizard,"Lizzie" was the mascot for the 2000 Paralympic Games.

Fauna emblems

The frill-necked lizard is the fauna symbol used for the Australian wildlife television program called Totally Wild.

The emblem of the Australian Army's Regional Force Surveillance Unit, Norforce (North West Mobile Force) is the frill-necked lizard. The lizard was selected as the unit's emblem because of its speed, aggression, and ability to blend in with its surroundings.

In the media

Because of their unique appearance and behavior, the frill-necked lizard is commonly depicted in children's cartoons. A frill-necked lizard named Frank appears in the Disney film The Rescuers Down Under and one named Osgood appears in the anime Noozles. In Adventures of the Little Koala, the character "Macky Macky" is a frill-necked lizard whose neck frill raises up when he gets excited.

The most popular depiction, however, was in the film Jurassic Park, the dinosaur Dilophosaurus was portrayed with a fictional neck frill, which was raised during attack, similar to that of a frill-necked lizard.

الهامش

Bedford, G. S. 1995. Anti-predator tactics from the Frilled Neck Lizard Chlamydosaurus kingii. Journal of the Victorian Herpetelogical Society 6(3): 120-130.
Harlow, P. S. and R. Shine. 1998. Temperature dependent sex-determination in the frillneck lizard Chlamydosaurus kingii (Agamidae). Herpetologica 55(2): 205-212.
Shine, R. and R. Lambeck. 1989. Ecology of frillneck lizards, Chlamydosaurus kingii (Agamidae) in tropical Australia. Australian Wildlife Research 16: 491-500.
From The Centre: Kakadu. Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2002.