Records of tail bifurcation in rainbow lizards Agama agama (Linnaeus, 1758) in Umudike, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper reports sightings of rainbow lizards Agama agama with bifurcated tails in a community in Umudike, Nigeria. Five individuals (two males and three females) were sighted within one month at different occasions within approximately 1 km radius in a semi-urban habitat with high human activity. We consider this to be an unusual aberration among lizard populations in the tropical forest ecosystem in Nigeria. Hence, we believe that there could be a genetic or environmental connotation to the high frequency of occurrence of this aberration within the locality.