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Squamata · AgamidaeEntry 8,974 of 21,572

Reptilia · Squamata

Harpesaurus borneensisMertens, 1924

Bornean Horned Agama

No photograph of this species exists under a license anyone may reuse. It gets the same page regardless.

A tree-dwelling, day-active lizard from the Oriental region, reaching 59 mm snout to vent.

Once published as Harpesaurus thescelorhinos, Hylagama borneensis — those names reach this page.

ReptiliaSquamataAgamidaeHarpesaurus

Grows to
59mm
greatest recorded
Active
Diurnal
Lives
Arboreal
Weighs up to
6.49g
greatest
Body length across Agamidae

Longer than only 13% of all agamids anyone has measured.

13% of 583 species are smaller87% larger
32 mmthe whole family, smallest to largest418 mm

The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body length here runs from 32 to 418 mm. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.

What is known

31 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.

Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.

Standing in the world

Still living
Extant
Conservation status
Data Deficient
Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
2017

The animal itself

Limbs
Four legs
Venomous
No
Fangs
None

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
59mm2.25 in

max 59 mm SVL (Feldman et al. 2016)

Length snout to vent · adult female mean
58mm2.25 in
Largest female · snout to vent
58mm2.25 in

snout-vent length; the source column mixes this with straight carapace length

Hatchling length · snout to vent
26mm1 in
Largest juvenile · snout to vent
26mm1 in
Body mass · greatestcomputed
6.49g0.23 oz

computed from length by a family-level allometric equation, not weighed

How it lives

Active
Diurnal
Where it lives
Arboreal
Habitat
Forest
Biome
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Region
Oriental
Mainland or island
Found only on islands
Elevation · above sea level
30m
Range size
55,588km²

Breeding

Reproduction
Mixed

Oviparous (e.g., Das 2010)/ one population viviparous (Manthey 2010), viviparous (Jenssen and Sy 2022)

Average clutch
2eggs
Eggs or young per clutch
2eggs

Lardner et al. 2010, Jenssen and Sy 2022

Mean clutch
2eggs

Naming and history

Suborder
Sauria
Infraorder
Acrodontia
Subspecies
No
Described by
Mertens
Moved to another genus · since it was first described
Yes
Described in
1924
Type locality
Indonesia

Keeping one

9.25 in × 5.75 in × 9.25 in(24 × 15 × 24 cm)

Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.

The standard sizes climbing species at 4 × 2.5 × 4 times snout-vent length.

Lives in vegetation, so height and climbing structure matter more than floor space.

Mindestanforderungen an die Haltung von Reptilien (Sachverständigengutachten), German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, Animal Welfare Division, 10 January 1997. The standard states these floor areas are recommendations rather than binding limits.

From this animal’s own snout-vent length of 2.25 in (59 mm), at 4 × 2.5 × 4 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.

No preferred body temperature has been recorded for Bornean Horned Agama. Rather than repeat a number from a care sheet, this page leaves it out.

Feeding

1kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 6 g, the heaviest recorded for Bornean Horned Agama — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.

An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.

What nobody knows

These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.

  • Length snout to vent · adult male mean
  • Length snout to vent · adult mean
  • Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
  • Female length · mean, nose to tail
  • Length nose to tail · adult male mean
  • Length nose to tail · adult mean
  • Largest male · snout to vent
  • Largest female · shell length
  • Largest male · shell length
  • Hatchling length · nose to tail
  • Largest juvenile · shell length
  • Egg length
  • Egg width
  • Body mass · a typical adult
  • Body mass · adult female, mean
  • Body mass at hatching
  • Longest recorded life
  • Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
  • Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
  • Diet
  • Eats arthropods
  • Eats vertebrates
  • Eats plant matter
  • How it hunts
  • How the young develop
  • Gestation or incubation
  • Clutches in a year
  • Clutches a year · fewest
  • Clutches a year · most
  • First breeds from · youngest recorded
  • First breeds by · oldest recorded
  • Hatchling length · smallest recorded
  • Hatchling length · largest recorded
  • Age at first breeding · female
  • Mature from · youngest recorded
  • Mature by · oldest recorded
  • Size at maturity · smallest recorded
  • Size at maturity · largest recorded
  • Body temp in the wild · lowest mean recorded
  • Body temp in the wild · highest mean recorded
  • Colour on the back
  • Pattern on the back
  • Pupil
  • Sex decided by
  • Population trend
  • Red List criteria
  • Active season · shortest recorded
  • Active season · longest recorded
  • Density · lowest recorded
  • Density · highest recorded
  • Home range · largest recorded
  • Active in

Others in Agamidae

Take this data

Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.

This species as JSON · the whole dataset

Cite this page

The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Harpesaurus borneensis. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/harpesaurus-borneensis

@misc{harpesaurus_borneensis_2026,
  title  = {Harpesaurus borneensis},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/harpesaurus-borneensis}
}

Sources

  1. Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
  2. Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
  3. Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.