NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Mountain Dragon
Rankinia diemensis (Gray, 1841)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Mountain Dragon (Rankinia diemensis). Tasmania
KeresH · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Rankinia is a genus of small agamid reptiles. As currently delineated, it is monotypic, containing only Rankinia diemensis (Gray, 1841), also known as the mountain heath dragon or mountain dragon. It is endemic to Australia.
Wikipedia contributors, Rankinia; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:49:02.738828+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Rankinia diemensis (Gray, 1841)
- Name authority
- (Gray, 1841)
- Common name
- Mountain Dragon
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Agamidae
- Genus
- Rankinia
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderIguania
- familyAgamidae
- subfamilyAmphibolurinae
- genusRankinia
- speciesRankinia diemensis (Gray, 1841)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Grammatophora angulifera Gray, 1845 Gray, 1845 | synonym |
| Rankinia boylani Wells & Wellington, 1984 Wells & Wellington, 1984 | synonym |
| Agama caelaticeps Smith, 1849 Smith, 1849 | synonym |
| Grammatophora muricata diemensis Gray, 1841 Gray, 1841 | synonym |
| Agama diemenensis Cloquet, 1816 Cloquet, 1816 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Rankinia&species=diemensis Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4RFC2. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.