A Systematic Review of Cannibalism in Austro‐Papuan Dragons (Lacertilia: Amphibolurinae), With a New Record of Cannibalism in the Peninsula Dragon ( Ctenophorus fionni )
- 1School of Natural Sciences Macquarie University Sydney New South Wales Australia
- 2Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology The Ohio State University Columbus Ohio USA
Abstract
In 2012, one of us observed an adult male peninsula dragon ( Ctenophorus fionni ) predate a juvenile conspecific. This was noteworthy as we understood peninsula dragons to be primarily insectivorous and it prompted us to investigate cannibalism more generally using a systematic, comprehensive review of the literature. Cannibalism has never been reported in any wild, natural‐living Australo‐Papuan (i.e., Amphibolurine) agamid, except in the peninsula dragon. There are now three records of cannibalism in the peninsula dragon, all from populations of the central form. This raises the possibility that peninsula dragons, or certain populations thereof, may be unusually predisposed to cannibalism. However, the current data available are too sparse to draw firm conclusions and we encourage anyone with observations of cannibalism to publish them.
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BibTeX
@article{hoops2026systematic,
title = {{A Systematic Review of Cannibalism in Austro‐Papuan Dragons (Lacertilia: Amphibolurinae), With a New Record of Cannibalism in the Peninsula Dragon ( Ctenophorus fionni )}},
author = {Daniel Hoops and Peri E. Bolton},
journal = {Ecology and Evolution},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1002/ece3.74590},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.74590},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A Systematic Review of Cannibalism in Austro‐Papuan Dragons (Lacertilia: Amphibolurinae), With a New Record of Cannibalism in the Peninsula Dragon ( Ctenophorus fionni )
AU - Daniel Hoops
AU - Peri E. Bolton
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/06
JO - Ecology and Evolution
DO - 10.1002/ece3.74590
UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.74590
AB - In 2012, one of us observed an adult male peninsula dragon ( Ctenophorus fionni ) predate a juvenile conspecific. This was noteworthy as we understood peninsula dragons to be primarily insectivorous and it prompted us to investigate cannibalism more generally using a systematic, comprehensive review of the literature. Cannibalism has never been reported in any wild, natural‐living Australo‐Papuan (i.e., Amphibolurine) agamid, except in the peninsula dragon. There are now three records of cannibalism in the peninsula dragon, all from populations of the central form. This raises the possibility that peninsula dragons, or certain populations thereof, may be unusually predisposed to cannibalism. However, the current data available are too sparse to draw firm conclusions and we encourage anyone with observations of cannibalism to publish them.
SN - 2045-7758
SN - 2045-7758
ER -