NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Black-necked (Ridgeback) agama
Acanthocercus atricollis (Smith, 1849)
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.
Skukuza Campsite, Kruger NP, Mpumalanga, SOUTH AFRICA
Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Acanthocercus atricollis, the black-necked agama or southern tree agama, is a species of tree agama that is native to East, Central and southern Africa. Its largest continuous range is in southeastern Africa, and it occurs at high densities in the Kruger National Park.
Wikipedia contributors, Acanthocercus atricollis; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:12:33.064713+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Acanthocercus atricollis (Smith, 1849)
- Name authority
- (Smith, 1849)
- Common name
- Black-necked (Ridgeback) 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderIguania
- familyAgamidae
- subfamilyAgaminae
- genusAcanthocercus
- speciesAcanthocercus atricollis (Smith, 1849)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Acanthocercus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Black-necked tree agamaAcanthocercus cyanogaster (Rüppell, 1835) | AgamidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Philipps’ Ridgeback AgamaAcanthocercus phillipsii (Boulenger, 1895) | AgamidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Peter’s Ridgeback AgamaAcanthocercus guentherpetersi Largen & Spawls, 2006 | AgamidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Acanthocercus yemensis (Klausewitz, 1954) | AgamidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eritrean Ridgeback AgamaAcanthocercus annectans (Blanford, 1870) | AgamidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Kivu Blue-headed tree agamaAcanthocercus kiwuensis (Klausewitz, 1957) | AgamidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Uganda Blue-headed tree agamaAcanthocercus ugandaensis (Klausewitz, 1957) | AgamidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Acanthocercus margaritae Wagner, Butler, Ceríaco & Bauer, 2021 | AgamidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Acanthocercus branchi Wagner, Greenbaum & Bauer, 2012 | AgamidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anderson's Rock AgamaAcanthocercus adramitanus (Anderson, 1896) | AgamidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Stellio capensis Duméril ex Duméril et al., 1851 Duméril ex Duméril et al., 1851 | synonym |
| Stellio nigricollis Bocage, 1866 Bocage, 1866 | ambiguous synonym |
| Agama atricollis Smith, 1849 Smith, 1849 | 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=Acanthocercus&species=atricollis 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:64CL4. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.