Dispatches from the field: tough times for desert lizards in parts of Xinjiang Province, China

by | Jul 9, 2013 | China field work, Conservation, Dispatches from the field, Habitat use, Lizard Lab adventures, Phrynocephalus, Toad-headed agamas

We have just recently finished working on a particularly interesting lizard: the toad-headed agama Phrynocephalus axillaris. We found a population on the gravel plains just west of Ruoqiang, in central Xinjiang Province, while searching for another species, P....

Dispatches from the field: touring China’s deserts in search of toad-headed agamas

by | Jun 29, 2013 | China field work, Dispatches from the field, Lab news, Lizard Lab adventures, Phrynocephalus, Social behaviour, Toad-headed agamas

I am currently in Xinjiang Province, northern China, with Dr. Qi Yin, our collaborator from the Chengdu Institute of Biology (CIB), which is part of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS). We have funding from CAS to study the evolution of complex visual signals in...

Dispatches from the field: in search of the mystical Secret Toad-headed Agama and other tail waving lizards in China

by | Jul 6, 2012 | Behaviour, China field work, Lab news, Lizard Lab adventures, Toad-headed agamas, Uncategorized

This dispatch comes to you from the Tukai Desert in north-west China, a short drive (about 15 km) from the Kazakhstan border. We are three weeks into a six-week field trip. The lab is currently working on the evolution of complex tail waves and colour signals in Asian...

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the Macquarie University land, the Wattamattagal clan of the Darug nation, whose cultures and customs have nurtured, and continue to nurture, this land, since the Dreamtime.  We pay our respects to Elders past, present and future.