What lizards made the bearded dragon?

[momo4]

My daughter is doing her grade 6 speech on Beardies and would like to know where they originated from, as in, what two animals made them... is there an answer to that?
I googled it & didn't get much other than they came from Australia. Can anyone direct me to an article or something that would give my daughter the information she is looking for? It's not in our books either

Thanks so much!

Jill & Sara

 

[Gail]

I don't think they came from two distinct species, its more likely they evolved from a ancient reptile. Maybe email a zoo in Australia and see if they have any more info.

 

[spyder79]

they are a member of the agamidae family. But as far as their ancient origins i could not tell you.

 

[Sqooky]

When I "googled" Bearded Dragon Evolution I came across this:

http://www.smuggled.com/pogona1.htm

It doesn't say much about their ancestry but it is a lot of info about the varieties of dragons and locations as well as the differences and some info about related species. it also explains why little is known about the ancestry and relationship to other species.

 

[momo4]

Thanks for the info guys! I thought she was doing her speech from the perspective of a Beardie owner, but she was regurgitating information/stats about them So I helped and got her to put it in her own words about their looks, etc.... of course she couldn't figure out what shape their bodies were - mango shaped? lol...

Thanks again for your help! I'm checking out that link for my own info now!

 

[Sqooky]

Have her talk to the teacher and see if you could bring a beardie in for the kids to see.

 

[Emeraldcoast]

She can join our free online bearded dragon group.


http://www.yahoogroups.com

type: pogona

Name of the group is: [email protected]

I am sure the members would be glad to add input for her project.

Emerald

 

[DragonMomSandy]

Jill
I PM'd you some info on wild bearded dragons in Australia and the regions they are from. The most common bearded dragons we see here in the US are the Pagona Vitticeps(inland bearded dragon). These dragons first came to the states in the early 80's, some legally, some smuggled. As far as what 2 species of lizards they may have originated from, I don't think anyone really has a valid guess as they seem almost unchanged for thousands of years and I am not aware of any articles that make any suggestions about it either. There are however the dwarf dragons-the Lawsons/Rankins dragons(a cousin to the bearded dragon), which are thought, by some, to have originated from some of the smaller species of bearded dragons. Sorry, I can't be more help on which lizards they may have originated from, but maybe the info I sent you will be helpful for your daughter in explaining where they are from.