Pogona Henrylawsoni: The Fight Behind Naming a Dragon

The Pogona henrylawsoni is native to Queensland and the Northern Territory regions of Australia. It is a close cousin of the more popular bearded dragon (P. Vitticeps) and shares many of the same characteristics with the exception of size. Although this species is much smaller than its cousin P. vitticeps, its discovery has been part of a great controversy in the scientific community over the renaming and classification of Reptilia across the country for decades.

The Pogona henrylawsoni is known by a multitude of different nicknames.

• P. henrylawsoni
• P. brevis
• Rankin’s Dragon
• Lawson’s Dragon
• Black Soil Bearded Dragon
• Dwarf bearded dragon
• Chubby dragon
• Black Soil Plains Bearded Dragon
• Prairie dragon
• Lesser Bearded Dragon
• Black soil dragon

The original discovery and a later attempt to formally describe and identify this species is what sparked massive confusion and heated debates about what the official name of this lizard should be. Lawson’s dragon had been known throughout the herpetological community for years, but until 1985 it had never been officially named as a species. It was not until Richard W. Wells and Cliff Ross Wellington, two well-known herpetologists in Australia, published their book “A Classification of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Australia” that an official name was introduced.

In 1983, Hal Cogger, a highly esteemed Australian herpetologist, published an updated version of Eric Worrell’s 1963 book “Reptiles of Australia”, entitled “Zoological Catalog of Amphibians and Reptiles of Australia”. Due to their notoriety, Cogger’s revisions were almost immediately accepted as proper names for use in herpetological taxa in Australia. Even with revision, there were huge discrepancies within Cogger’s work that left out many known species and had significant misclassification. Then came Wells and Wellington.

Wells and Wellington published a series of articles from 1983 to 1985 that reclassified the entire herpetofauna of New Zealand and Australia from what was previously known. The sheer size of its reclassification – nearly 400 species in Australia alone – surprised many in the scientific community. This led to many of Australia’s top herpetologists refusing to apply the new information in their own studies. There have been numerous reasons why the names Wells and Wellington are not openly accepted today. The reasoning for this inattention varies from the name of each species, the lack of description of each species, not consulting with “experts” in each specific field, which prevents other herpetologists from naming a species themselves, to attacks against Wells and Wellington staff views.

Regardless of these allegations, Wells and Wellington did nothing wrong, therefore their findings are legal and correct. They claim to have consulted widely and did not want the new classifications so desperately needed to be delayed for years, so they completed their studies with their best judgment. However, to this day, there are still those who refuse to recognize the correct names and classifications. Going so far as to claim a species is unknown, or using an old name despite knowing that the information is false and incorrect.

This is where the confusion with Pogona henrylawsoni begins. Richard Wells first stated that he would name this species P. rankini in 1978. The new name took hold and spread rapidly, although it was never official, and was eventually changed to honor the famous Australian poet Henry Lawson. By then, the lizard had already been illegally smuggled and sold under the name P. rakini within the United States. Hence the common name Rankin’s dragon.

In 1998, herpetologists Rob Valentic and Grant Turner published a taxonomy article in which they deliberately and incorrectly labeled Lawson’s Dragon as Pogona brevis. This, along with multiple (unsuccessful) petitions from rival herpetologists to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, in an attempt to formally suppress any of the names given by the W&W team, has prevented the correct name from taking hold.

To this day, the Wells and Wellington findings remain the official names and classifications of Australia’s herpetofauna, regardless of their colleagues’ denial. Unfortunately, for this species of bearded dragon, the damage has already been done. By the time Pogona henrylawsoni’s proper name had taken hold, numerous publications with the incorrect names were already circulating. This is what has led to this lizard being misnamed in many books, websites, and other scientific documents over the years.