Pogona barbata (Eastern Bearded Dragon)

Body colour is grey to tan-brown with a dark eye stripe and series of paired pale blotches along the body. The tail has light coloured cross bands and adults have a distinctive dark coloured spiny throat and spines along the flanks. It grows to 250 mm SVL. The similar nobbi dragon has a pinkish mouth lining and more uniform body scales. The jacky lizard has a yellow mouth lining and uneven body scales. Both of these species lack spines along the flank. It is found in dry forest, grassy box woodland and farmland where it is often seen basking on fallen timber, fence posts or tree stumps. During the cooler monthis it shelters in burrows beneath beneath logs and rocks. The eastern bearded dragon has one of the largest clutch sizes of any Australian lizard. It can lay up to 30 eggs per clutch and will often produce two clutches per year. It excavates a shallow burrow in which the eggs are laid and then back fills with dirt. The eastern bearded dragon is often erroneously called a ‘frill-neck lizard’. Like many dragon species, the eastern bearded dragon has a preferred body temperature averaging 35º C. They maintain this temperature by changing their body position and shifting between substrates depending on the ambient temperature. It is listed as 'threatened' in Victoria.

Pogona barbata is listed in the following regions: