Editing Agama (lizard) (section)

==Etymology and taxonomy==
In the ''[[10th edition of Systema Naturae]]'' of 1758,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727126|title=Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis|last=Linné|first=Carl von|author-link=Carl Linnaeus|year=1758|edition=10th|volume=1|location=Stockholm|publisher=L. Salvius|pages=215|via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}</ref> Linnaeus used the name Agama (pg. 288) as the species ''Lacerta Agama'' (with Agama originally capitalized to indicate a name in apposition rather than a Latin adjective, which he would have made lowercase). His own earlier description from 1749 <ref>Linnaeus, C. (1749). ''Amoenitates academicæ seu dissertationes variæ physicæ, medicæ botanicæ antehac seorsim editæ nunc collectæ et auctæ cum tabulis æneis''. Vol. 1. Stockholm, Leipzig. 563 pp., tables I–XVI.</ref> was derived from Seba,<ref>[[Albertus Seba|Seba, A.]] (1734). ''Locupletissimi rerum naturalium thesauri accurata descriptio''. Vol. 1. (pg. 169). Amsterdam: J. Wetstenium, & Guil. Smith, & Janssonio-Waesbergios.</ref> who described and illustrated a number of lizards as ''Salamandra amphibia'' and ''Salamandra Americana'', said to resemble in some ways a chameleon lizard and that supposedly came (in error) from "America." Seba did not use the term "agama", however. Linnaeus repeated Seba's error in stating that the lizards lived in the Americas ["habitat in America"], and he included other types of lizards shown and mentioned by Seba under his species name ''Agama''.

Daudin <ref>[[François Marie Daudin|Daudin, F.M.]] (1802). ''Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière des Reptiles; Ouvrage faisant suite à l'Histoire Naturelle générale et particulière, composée par Leclerc de Buffon; et rédigée par C.S. Sonnini, membre de plusieurs sociétés savantes.'' Tome troisième [Volume 3]. Paris: F. Dufart. 452 pp. (''Agama'', new genus, p. 333). (in French)</ref> later created the new genus, ''Agama'', to incorporate various African and Asian lizards, as well as species from Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. He noted that the name ''agama'' was used by inhabitants of Guiana for a species that he included in the genus ''Agama''.

The word "agama" <ref>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|agama}}</ref> has been traced to West African [[Gbe languages]] as a name for the [[chameleon]]. The word was brought to Dutch Guiana (modern [[Suriname]]) by imported West African slaves and was then used in local [[creole language|creole]] languages for types of local lizards.<ref>Arends, Jacques (2017). ''Language and Slavery: A social and linguistic history of the Suriname creoles''. John Benjamins Publishing Company.</ref> Linnaeus may have taken the name "agama" from some unidentified source in the mistaken belief that the reptiles came from the Americas as indicated by Seba.

The name "agama" has no connection to either Greek ''agamos'' "unmarried" (as a supposed Latin feminine ''agama'') or to Greek ''agamai'' "wonder" as sometimes suggested.

Because of the confusion over the actual taxon that was the basis for the name ''Agama agama'', Wagner, et al. (2009) <ref name=Wagner>{{Cite journal|author=Wagner, Philipp|author-link=species:Philipp Wagner|author2=Wilms, Thomas M.|author2-link=species:Thomas M. Wilms|author3=Bauer, Aaron|author3-link=species:Aaron Matthew Bauer|author4=Böhme, Wolfgang |author4-link=species:Wolfgang Böhme|year=2009|title=Studies on African ''Agama''. V. On the origin of ''Lacerta agama'' Linnaeus, 1758 (Squamata: Agamidae)|journal=Bonner zoologische Beiträge|volume=56|pages=215–223|url=http://zoologicalbulletin.de/BzB_Volumes/Volume_56_4/215_223_BZB56_4_Wagner_Philipp_et_al.PDF |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://zoologicalbulletin.de/BzB_Volumes/Volume_56_4/215_223_BZB56_4_Wagner_Philipp_et_al.PDF |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live }}</ref> designated a neotype (ZFMK 15222), using a previously described specimen from Cameroon in the collection of the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig in Bonn.