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NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Black-necked tree agama

Acanthocercus cyanogaster (Rüppell, 1835)

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.

Blue-bellied Ridgeback Agama - Acanthocercus cyanogaster - taken during an overlanding trip to Ethiopia in 2019 - taken by Thomas Fuhrmann, SnowmanStudios - see more pictures on www.snowmanstudios.de ID verified through https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151921888

Blue-bellied Ridgeback Agama - Acanthocercus cyanogaster - taken during an overlanding trip to Ethiopia in 2019 - taken by Thomas Fuhrmann, SnowmanStudios - see more pictures on www.snowmanstudios.de ID verified through https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151921888

Thomas Fuhrmann · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image source

Provider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.

Open encyclopedia reference

Acanthocercus cyanogaster, the blue-bellied ridgeback agama or black-necked tree agama, is a species of lizard in the family Agamidae. It is a small lizard found in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia.

Wikipedia contributors, Acanthocercus cyanogaster; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:26:15.073614+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Acanthocercus cyanogaster (Rüppell, 1835)
Name authority
(Rüppell, 1835)
Common name
Black-necked tree agama
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Reptilia
Order
Squamata
Family
Agamidae
Genus
Acanthocercus
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.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. megaclassTetrapoda
  8. classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
  9. orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
  10. suborderIguania
  11. familyAgamidae
  12. subfamilyAgaminae
  13. genusAcanthocercus
  14. speciesAcanthocercus cyanogaster (Rüppell, 1835)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Acanthocercus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Philipps’ Ridgeback AgamaAcanthocercus phillipsii (Boulenger, 1895)AgamidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Peter’s Ridgeback AgamaAcanthocercus guentherpetersi Largen & Spawls, 2006AgamidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Acanthocercus yemensis (Klausewitz, 1954)AgamidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Eritrean Ridgeback AgamaAcanthocercus annectans (Blanford, 1870)AgamidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Kivu Blue-headed tree agamaAcanthocercus kiwuensis (Klausewitz, 1957)AgamidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Uganda Blue-headed tree agamaAcanthocercus ugandaensis (Klausewitz, 1957)AgamidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Acanthocercus margaritae Wagner, Butler, Ceríaco & Bauer, 2021AgamidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Acanthocercus branchi Wagner, Greenbaum & Bauer, 2012AgamidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Anderson's Rock AgamaAcanthocercus adramitanus (Anderson, 1896)AgamidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Black-necked (Ridgeback) agamaAcanthocercus atricollis (Smith, 1849)AgamidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 456 records assigned to Agamidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded nameSource status
Stellio cyanogaster Rüppell, 1835 Rüppell, 1835synonym

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Ethiopia, Eritrea

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.

  1. https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Acanthocercus&species=cyanogaster 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:64CL3. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.