Herpetology Notes, volume 2: 73-77 (published online on 3 June 2009)

Studies on African Agama IV:

First record of Agama agama (Sauria: Agamidae) from Madagascar
and identity of the alien population on Grande Comore Island

Philipp Wagner1, Frank Glaw2, Kathrin Glaw3, Wolfgang Bhme1

Abstract. Invasions of allochthonous species are encouraged through international traffic and trade. Here we present first
distribution records of the highly invasive species Agama agama for Madagascar and discuss its identity and introduction on the
island Grande Comore.

Key words. Agama agama, new distribution record, Madagascar, Comoro Islands.

The Agamidae is a widespread Old World lizard family.
Apart from the New World, it is naturally lacking only
in the Malagasy subregion of the Afrotropical region
(Wermuth 1967; Moody, 1980). So far, there are only
two species of agamids recorded that have established
populations outside their natural distribution ranges.
Calotes versicolor sensu lato, a widespread Oriental tree-
dwelling species complex has successfully conquered
the western Indian Ocean islands Mauritius, La Runion
and Rodriguez (Vinson and Vinson 1969, Henkel and
Schmidt 1995) and Florida in the south-eastern United
States (Enge and Krysko 2004). A similar successful
invader is Agama agama sensu strictu, a western
Afrotropical species complex distributed from the
southwestern margin of the Sahara desert in the north
down to Angola in the south and Uganda in the east. It
has colonised parts of Florida in the United States and
has succeeded in establishing even some reproducing
populations (e.g. Wilson and Porras, 1983, Bartlett and
Bartlett 1999, Enge et al. 2004) which are generally
believed to be escapers from the pet trade. Bartlett and
Bartlett (1999) observed Agama agama in Miami Dade
County close to pet shops. Enge et al. (2004) reported
about 40 escaped specimens from a reptile store in
Zoologisches
1
Forschungsmuseum Alexander
Adenauerallee 160, D-53113 Bonn, Germany. Email: philipp.
wagner.zfmk@uni-bonn.de, w.boehme.zfmk@uni-bonn.de
Zoologische Staatssammlung Mnchen, Mnchhausenstr. 21,
2
Sanford. According to the description given by Harris
(1964), they were assigned to the subspecies A. agama
africana from West Africa. From the Mediterranean
island of Malta two introduced individuals from Agama
agama were recorded (Schembri and Schembri 1984),
which, however, did not establish a population. One
of the specimens was found and captured on crates of
imported beer. Also from Palermo in Sicily, another
Mediterranean island, Agama agama is known as
introduced by a transport from Africa, but also in
this case a population was not established (Lo Valvo
and Longo 2001, Sindaco et al. 2006). In the western
Indian Ocean region, A. agama has been recorded from
the Mascarene island La Runion (Guillermet et al.
1998, Probst 1999). Very recently, the species was also
recognized as a single voucher from Santo Anto, Cape
Verde Islands (Vasconcelos et al. 2009).
In the present note, we record Agama agama for the first
time from Madagascar and discuss its identity on the
Comoro Islands.
The first two specimens suggesting occurrence of
Agama agama in Madagascar were found in the
herpetological collection of the Zoologisches Museum
der Universitt Hamburg (ZMH). According to the jar
label, one female and one juvenile (ZMH R07734-35),
catalogued in 1953, were collected by Fritz Engelmann
Koenig,
from the Aquarium Hamburg, but were labelled only
with Madagaskar, without more precise locality data.
However, it can not be excluded that this record is due to

erronneous label data, especially since the provided data

81247 Mnchen, Germany. Email: Frank.Glaw@zsm.mwn.de
is very general and the putative collector is not known
LMU Biozentrum, Department Biologie II, Tierhaltung,
3

as a collector of any other amphibians or reptile species

Grosshaderner Strasse 2, 82152 Planegg-Martinsried, Germany.
in Madagascar.
Email: KathrinGlaw@zi.biologie.uni-muenchen.de
74 Philipp Wagner et al.

Table 1. Measurements of the collected vouchers of Agama agama (all measurements in mm).

Coll. No. Locality SVL TL HL HW HH SR SL IL OS SD IN TS

ZMH R07734 Madagascar 92.0 145.3 23.3 16.6 10.7 -- 11 11 11 23 6 8
ZMH R07735 Madagascar 67.8 -- 19.0 15.6 8.4 76 10 10 10 21 5 9
ZSM 704/2000 Grande Comore 92.2 -- 23.0 16.7 10.5 74 11 11 12 25 7 10
ZSM 705/2000 Grande Comore 60.8 112.7 16.5 12.9 7.5 66 9 9 9 20 7 8
ZSM 322/2002 Grande Comore 75.8 123.1 19.3 14.8 9.4 70 10 11 8 23 6 8
ZSM 323/2002 Grande Comore 96.1 136.4 24.7 17.1 10.8 -- 10 10 10 21 6 8
SVL= snout-vent length; TL= tail length; HL= head length; HW= head width; HH= head height; SR= scale rows around midbody; SL=
Supralabialia; IL= Infralabialia; OS= occipital scales; SD= lamellae under the right 4th toe; IN= internasal scales; TS= temporal scales.

In January 2004, the British ornithologist and Kenyan have established so far. According to the colouration
resident Brian Finch took photographs of a large Agama of the specimen (Figs. 1-2) it is tentatively attributed to
basking on a building wall of Antananarivo Airport Agama agama sensu stricto.
(pers. comm. to WB). This lizard, an adult male (Fig.
The first record of Agama agama from the Comoro
1), shows the typical colouration characters of Central
Islands was published by Meirte (2004) who stated 1998
and West African A. agama sensu stricto particularly
as the year of introduction of A. agama to the island
a tricoloured tail, and therefore has certainly not been
Grande Comore. Two of us (FG and KG) found many
introduced from the opposite East African coast. [East
individuals of this species in February 2000 at several
African populations of the A. agama complex, which
localities in Moroni, the capital of Grande Comore.
were previously believed to represent various subspecies
Voucher specimens were deposited in the Zoologische
(e. g. A. agama dodomae, A. a. elgonis, A. a. lionotus,
Staatssammlung Mnchen (ZSM 704-705/2000 and
A. a. usambarae), have proved to be specifically distinct
ZSM 322-323/2002). All individuals were recorded in
from typical A. agama (Bhme et al. 2005) or synonyms
the northern areas of Moroni including the coastal road
(Wagner 2007)]. Although there is no doubt about the
and the hotel La Grillade. The staff of this hotel told
reliability of this record, attempts in 2006 and 2008 by
us that the lizards were living at the hotel compound
FG to confirm the presence of A. agama around the
already since several years. This information, as
airport and the nearby crocodile farm failed, suggesting
well as the relatively large range and high abundance
that no population of this eye-catching species might

Figure 1. Agama agama from Antananarivo Airport (Madagascar). Photo by B. Finch.

Agama in Madagascar and Grande Comore 75

within Moroni strongly suggest that A. agama has
been introduced at least a few years before 1998.
The observed populations contained many juveniles
indicating successful reproduction, but additional
observations in 2002 did not reveal any significant
range extension. Inquiries concerning the origin of A.
agama resulted in the information that the first alien
specimens have reached Grande Comore in a parcel
obtained by the Coca Cola repository at Moroni which
was also populated by A. agama. This information
seems consistent with the apparent absence of A. agama
at the waterfront of Moroni in 2000, which makes a
passive introduction by boat traffic unlikely. Another
invasion scenario was reported by Yahaya Ibrahim
(pers. comm. in Hawlitschek 2008). According to him, a
South African diplomat of the African Union in Moroni
kept some Agama agama as a pets at his home close to
the Coca Cola repository, but released them when he
left the island. The origin of these specimens is unclear,
but due to the nuptial colouration of the observed males
(including one collected voucher), these agamas again
can not have originated from the African opposite
coast of the Mozambique Channel, because they can
be identified as typical Agama agama s. str. from West/
Central Africa. This makes their introduction by a South
African less likely, where one would expect Agama atra
or A. planiceps rather than A. agama as pet from this
region.
Invasive species can become a serious threat to local
herpetofaunas, and island faunas with a high degree
of endemism are particularly endangered (see e.g.
Rodda and Fritts 1992, Fritts and Rodda 1998). It is
therefore possible that the invasion of this expansive
and anthropophilic agamid on Grande Comore could
threat the rare iguanid Oplurus cuvieri comorensis
which is restricted to very small areas on this island
(Meirte 1992, 2004). Although genetically deeply
nested within O. cuvieri populations from Madagascar,
chromatic and ecological pecularities suggest that this
species colonized Grande Comore by natural oversea
dispersal (Mnchenberg et al. 2008) and therefore
merits conservation. Thus the range expansion of
Agama agama on Grande Comore and the area around
the Antananarivo Airport should be carefully monitored
in order to prevent damage from the endemic potential
competitors.

Although we can attribute both the Malagasy specimen

and the Comoroan population to Agama agama sensu
stricto their exact geographic origin within Central or
West Africa of cannot be identified at present. First,
scale counts from Madagascar are only available from
one single juvenile (ZMH R07735), the accompanying
female being too damaged for taking scale counts.
Second, the African populations of the entire Agama
agama complex are extremely understudied on a
continental scale, and the few scalation data published
so far (e.g. Thys van den Audenaerde 1963, Grandison
1968) do not allow for a geographic assignment of the
Madagascan and Comoran specimens (see Tab. 1 for
scale counts). However, the Comoran specimens are
possibly peculiar in terms of their small size. A sexually
mature, i. e. fully coloured male (ZSM 323/2002)
measures only 96.1 mm snout-vent length and 136.42
mm tail length. This is relatively small as compared with
typical A. agama. However, it is not clear whether such
a small size is actually characteristic of the Comoran
population. Figure 1. Agama agama from Antananarivo Airport (Mada-
gascar). Photo by B. Finch.
76
Figure 3. Agama agama male from Moroni. Photo by K. Glaw.
Acknowledgements. We are grateful to the Ministre de la pro-
duction et de lenvironnement, Direction Gnrale de lenviron-
nement, Iles des Comores, in particular to the General Director
Monsieur Mohamed Youssouf Oumour, Madame Foudzia, et
Monsieur Dossar for the necessary permissions. We also thank
Dr. Jakob Hallermann, Hamburg, who loaned us specimens under
his care, and Dr. Birgit Blosat, Jnkerath, who helped to obtain
some literature. The research of FG was granted by the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG: GL 314/1).
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