Ctenophorus
Ctenophorus is a genus of lizards, commonly known as comb-bearing dragons, found in Australia. They are in the dragon lizard family, known as Agamidae.

Description
The genus contains the most diverse group of dragon lizards in Australia. It is the largest group of Australian lizards and it has an extensive radiation in the arid zones. Many of the species of Ctenophorus have been grouped by a similar morphology. The informal names and groupings within this genus — rock dragon, sand dragon, crevice-dragon, ground dragon, and bicycle-dragon — are named after the mythological creature, the dragon.

Lizards in the genus Ctenophorus may be confused with lizards in the genera Tympanocryptis and Diporiphora.

Species
There were 34 recognised species in the genus until a new study published in June 2023 discovered four more in South Australia. The new species are included in the list below. 
Ctenophorus adelaidensis (Gray, 1841) – western heath dragon
Ctenophorus butlerorum (Storr, 1977) – Butler's dragon, Shark Bay heath dragon, Edel heath dragon
Ctenophorus caudicinctus (Günther, 1875) – ring-tailed bicycle-dragon, ring-tailed dragon
Ctenophorus chapmani (Storr, 1977) – Chapman's dragon, southern heath dragon, Bight heath dragon
Ctenophorus clayi (Storr, 1967) – black-shouldered ground-dragon, black-collared dragon
Ctenophorus cristatus (Gray 1841) –  crested bicycle-dragon, crested dragon, bicycle dragon
Ctenophorus decresii (A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1837) – tawny crevice-dragon, tawny dragon
Ctenophorus femoralis (Storr, 1965) – long-tailed sand dragon
Ctenophorus fionni (Procter, 1923) – Peninsula crevice-dragon, Peninsula dragon
Ctenophorus fordi (Storr, 1965) – Mallee dragon, Mallee sand dragon, Mallee military dragon
Ctenophorus gibba (Houston, 1974) –  Bulldust ground-dragon, gibber dragon
Ctenophorus graafi (Storr, 1967) – Graaf's dragon
Ctenophorus ibiri (Edwards & Hutchinson, 2023)
Ctenophorus infans (Storr, 1967) – Laverton ring-tailed dragon
Ctenophorus isolepis (Fischer, 1881) – central military dragon
Ctenophorus kartiwarrui (Edwards & Hutchinson, 2023)
Ctenophorus maculatus (Gray, 1831) – spotted military dragon, spotted dragon, spotted sand dragon
Ctenophorus maculosus (F.J. Mitchell, 1948) – Lake Eyre dragon, salt-lake ground-dragon
Ctenophorus mckenziei (Storr, 1981) – dwarf bicycle-dragon, McKenzie's dragon
Ctenophorus mirrityana (McLean et al., 2013) – Barrier Range dragon
Ctenophorus modestus (Ahl, 1926)
Ctenophorus nguyarna Doughty, Maryan, Melville & J. Austin, 2007 – Lake Disappointment dragon
Ctenophorus nuchalis (De Vis, 1884) – central netted dragon, central netted ground-dragon
Ctenophorus ornatus (Gray, 1845) – ornate dragon, ornate crevice-dragon
Ctenophorus parviceps (Storr, 1964) – Gnaraloo heath dragon, northwestern heath dragon
Ctenophorus pictus (W. Peters, 1866) – painted dragon
Ctenophorus reticulatus (Gray, 1845) – western netted dragon, western netted ground-dragon
Ctenophorus rubens  – reddening sand-dragon, rufus sand dragon
Ctenophorus rufescens (Stirling & Zietz, 1893) – rusty crevice-dragon, rusty dragon
Ctenophorus salinarum (Storr, 1966) – saltpan ground-dragon, claypan dragon
Ctenophorus scutulatus (Stirling & Zietz, 1893) – lozenge-marked dragon, lozenge-marked bicycle-dragon
Ctenophorus slateri (Storr, 1967) – Slater's dragon
Ctenophorus spinodomus Sadlier, Colgan, Beatson & Cogger, 2019 – Eastern Mallee dragon
Ctenophorus tjakalpa (Edwards & Hutchinson, 2023)
Ctenophorus tjantjalka Johnston, 1992 – ochre dragon
Ctenophorus tuniluki (Edwards & Hutchinson, 2023)
Ctenophorus vadnappa (Houston, 1974) – red-barred crevice-dragon, red-barred dragon
Ctenophorus yinnietharra (Storr, 1981) – Yinnietharra crevice-dragon, Yinnietharra rock dragon

2023 identification of new species
Danielle Edwards, curator of terrestrial vertebrates at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, and Mark Hutchinson, of the South Australian Museum, both started studying sand dragons in 2008, when only three species (C. fordi, C. femoralis, and C. maculatus) had been identified. Their June 2023 study published in the Journal of Herpetology provided additional morphological data from all of candidate species, which led to the recognition of 11 species. Of these, four taxa were found to be species rather than subspecies, with another four species newly described.

The four new species, all endemic to the state of South Australia, have been assigned names relating to their respective Aboriginal language of their habitat:
 C. ibiri – meaning "small lizard" in the Barngarla language; found in parts of the Eyre Peninsula
 C. kartiwarrui – a derivation of the Dieri language term "kartiwarru", meaning "red-backed lizard'; found in the Strzelecki Desert
 C. tjakalpa – named after the traditional name for the Great Victoria Desert, where it lives
 C. tuniluki – meaning "sand lizard" in the Ngarrindjeri language, which is found in the Mallee region along the River Murray

Polymorphism
Lizards of the genus Ctenophorus are known to display colour polymorphism, more than one colour type being found within a population. It is believed that color polymorphism in this group has evolved as a result of a combination of sexual selection and natural selection.

References

Further reading
Fitzinger L (1843). Systema Reptilium, Fasciculus Primus, Amblyglossae. Vienna: Braumüller & Seidel. 106 pp. + indices. (Ctenophorus, new genus, p. 83). (in Latin).
Wilson S, Swan G (2003). A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia. Second edition. Sydney: New Holland Publishing.

External links
List of links to a page about each species, some with images
Google search for images
https://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/Upload/Files-Biological-Sciences/R-and-A-text/Key-to-the-Dragons-of-South-Australia_1.pdf

 
Agamid lizards of Australia
Lizard genera
Taxa named by Leopold Fitzinger