Reptilia · Squamata
Phrynocephalus erythrurusZugmayer, 1909
Keria Toadhead Agama
No photograph of this species exists under a license anyone may reuse. It gets the same page regardless.
A ground-dwelling, day-active lizard from the Palearctic region, reaching 56 mm snout to vent.
Also called Northwest Tibetan Toad-headed Agama.
Reptilia › Squamata › Agamidae › Phrynocephalus
- Grows to
- 56.3mm
- greatest recorded
- Active
- Diurnal
- Lives
- Terrestrial
- Weighs up to
- 5.62g
- greatest
Longer than only 9% of all agamids anyone has measured.
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
- Least Concern
- Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
- 2018
- Population trend
- Stable
The animal itself
- Limbs
- Four legs
- Venomous
- No
- Fangs
- None
- Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradientmeasured
- 31.7°C
Size
- Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
- 56.3mm2.25 in
- Length snout to vent · adult female mean
- 54.5mm2.25 in
- Largest female · snout to vent
- 54.5mm2.25 in
- Body mass · greatestcomputed
- 5.62g0.2 oz
max 56.31 mm SVL (Feldman et al. 2016)
snout-vent length; the source column mixes this with straight carapace length
computed from length by a family-level allometric equation, not weighed
How it lives
- Active
- Diurnal
- Where it lives
- Terrestrial
- Habitat
- Desert
- Biome
- Montane Grasslands & Savannas
- Region
- Palearctic
- Mainland or island
- Mainland
- Elevation · above sea level
- 4350–5300m
- Range size
- 371,123km²
4353-5300 (Wang et al. 2018, see also Cerdena et al. 2021), 4433-4565 in their sample (Yang et al. 2023)
Breeding
- Reproduction
- Viviparous
- Average clutch
- 2.21eggs
- Eggs or young per clutch
- 1–4eggs
- Mean clutch
- 2.02–2.4eggs
Jin et al. 2013, Jin and Liao 2015
1-4, mean: 2.02-2.4 (Jin et al. 2013, see also Liang et al. 2021)
Naming and history
- Suborder
- Sauria
- Infraorder
- Acrodontia
- Subspecies
- No
- Described by
- Zugmayer
- Moved to another genus · since it was first described
- No
- Described in
- 1909
- Type locality
- China
Keeping one
8.75 in × 8.75 in × 5.5 in(23 × 23 × 14 cm)
Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.
The standard sizes ground-dwelling species at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times snout-vent length.
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 (56.3 mm), at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.
In a laboratory thermal gradient this species settled at 89 °F (31.7 °C).
Preferred body temperature, recorded in a laboratory gradient where the animal could choose freely. A measurement of the animal, not a setting for a thermostat.
Feeding
1kJ per day
Worked out for an animal of 6 g, the heaviest recorded for Keria Toadhead 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.
Morphs
1 with peer-reviewed genetics behind them, 0 resting on breeder consensus. Most references present both with the same confidence.
- Skin colourpeer reviewed
Tong et al. (2023) "identified the MC1R gene and its association with intraspecific color variation in the lizard Phrynocephalus erythrurus. Analysis of the MC1R sequence in 143 individuals from dark South Qiangtang Plateau (SQP) and light North Qiangtang plateau (NQP) population
- Association of a single amino acid replacement with dorsal pigmentation in a lizard from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. — Int J Biol Macromol 2023
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 · snout to vent
- — Hatchling length · nose to tail
- — Largest juvenile · snout to vent
- — 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
- — 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
- — 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). Phrynocephalus erythrurus. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/phrynocephalus-erythrurus
@misc{phrynocephalus_erythrurus_2026,
title = {Phrynocephalus erythrurus},
author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/phrynocephalus-erythrurus}
}Sources
- Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
- Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
- Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.