Bearded Dragon Species: The 6 Pogona Species, Compared

Ask how many kinds of bearded dragon there are and you’ll get three answers: six, seven or eight. All three are defensible. The genus is Pogona, every member of it is Australian, and taxonomists still argue over where one species ends and the next begins.

For an owner it’s simpler. The dragon in your tank is almost certainly a central bearded dragon, Pogona vitticeps. One other species, the much smaller Rankin’s dragon, turns up in the hobby. You’ll only ever meet the rest in the Australian bush. Here’s how they compare, and how to tell which one you have.

• How Many Species of Bearded Dragon Are There?
• The Species at a Glance
• Central Bearded Dragon: The Pet Species
• Rankin’s Dragon: The Small One
• Eastern Bearded Dragon
• Western Bearded Dragon and Its Dwarf Forms
• Nullarbor and Kimberley Bearded Dragons
• Why Nearly Every Pet Is a Central
• Can Bearded Dragon Species Interbreed?
• Which Species Do You Have?
• Species, Morphs and “Types”
• FAQ

How Many Species of Bearded Dragon Are There?

Six, by the count most references use. The Reptile Database, the standard catalogue of the world’s reptile species, lists six in the genus Pogona:

• Pogona barbata (Cuvier, 1829), the eastern bearded dragon. It was the first described and is the type species of the genus.
• Pogona henrylawsoni (Wells & Wellington, 1985), Rankin’s dragon
• Pogona microlepidota (Glauert, 1952), the Kimberley or Drysdale River bearded dragon
• Pogona minor (Sternfeld, 1919), the western bearded dragon
• Pogona nullarbor (Badham, 1976), the Nullarbor bearded dragon
• Pogona vitticeps (Ahl, 1926), the central or inland bearded dragon

The argument is over the western bearded dragon. It comes in three forms: the western proper (minor), a dwarf island form (minima) and Mitchell’s bearded dragon (mitchelli). The Reptile Database files all three under P. minor but notes that some authors have raised minima and mitchelli to full species. Count them separately and you get eight. Count only Mitchell’s and you get seven.

None of this changes how you care for a pet. It just explains why two guides can disagree on the number and both be right.

The Species at a Glance

Sizes for the Nullarbor and Kimberley dragons are thin on the ground in accessible sources, so we’ve left them blank rather than guess.

Central Bearded Dragon: The Pet Species

When anyone outside Australia says “bearded dragon,” this is the animal they mean. The central bearded dragon grows to about 24 inches from nose to tail tip and can weigh around 550 grams, with males usually larger than females. In the wild it lives in the dry inland of eastern and central Australia: semi-arid woodland, arid woodland and rocky desert.

It’s also the most popular pet reptile in the US, Canada, Australia and much of Western Europe. A 2021 study of Google search data by Jose Valdez found bearded dragons were the top pet reptile, taking about 40% of searches among popular reptiles in the US, 33% in Canada, 44 to 46% across much of Western Europe and 78% in Australia (Reptiles Magazine summary).

Every care guide on this site is written for this species. Every morph you can buy, from hypo to leatherback to German giant, is a central bearded dragon bred for a particular look. Our morph guide covers them all.

Rankin’s Dragon: The Small One

Rankin’s dragon (Pogona henrylawsoni) is the only other species you’re likely to see for sale. It goes by a pile of names: Lawson’s dragon, black-soil bearded dragon, dumpy dragon, and in pet shops, pygmy or dwarf bearded dragon. It comes from central Queensland and usually stays under 12 inches long, tail included, with a shorter, blunter snout than a central.

Two things set it apart for keepers. It’s generally described as more social than the central bearded dragon, though adult males still won’t tolerate each other. And the captive population is small: most Rankin’s dragons outside Australia descend from animals exported illegally in the 1980s, so the gene pool is narrow.

Care follows the same pattern as for a central: a UVB tube, a hot basking spot, mostly insects while young and mostly greens as an adult. The enclosure and portion sizes scale down. If a seller calls a dragon “dwarf” or “pygmy,” ask for the species name on the paperwork.

Eastern Bearded Dragon

The eastern bearded dragon (Pogona barbata) is the bearded dragon of Australia’s east coast, common in wooded country from Victoria up through New South Wales and Queensland, south of Cape York. Males reach about 24 inches and females about 20, so it’s as big as a central but slimmer.

Three things tell it apart from a central:

• Body shape. Less heavy-set, with a row of spines along each side of the body.
• Mouth color. The lining of an eastern’s mouth is bright yellow. A central’s is pinkish-red. When an eastern gapes in a threat display, the yellow is hard to miss.
• Temperament. Easterns are described as more aggressive than centrals, more likely to climb and perch, and quicker to flare the beard.

Outside Australia they’re rare, for the reasons in the export section below.

Western Bearded Dragon and Its Dwarf Forms

The western bearded dragon (Pogona minor) is the small, slim species of Western Australia. The main form reaches about 6 inches from snout to vent and about 15 inches including the tail, and lives in woodland, heath, desert and coastal dunes from the Pilbara down to the south coast.

Its two other forms are where the species count gets messy:

• A dwarf island form (minima) lives only on a few islands of the Houtman Abrolhos, off the Western Australian coast. It is slightly smaller again.
• Mitchell’s bearded dragon (mitchelli) lives in the tropical woodlands of the Kimberley and is slightly larger. Where its range meets the main western form, the two interbreed.

Nullarbor and Kimberley Bearded Dragons

These two are the least known. The Nullarbor bearded dragon (P. nullarbor) lives only on the Nullarbor Plain, the treeless limestone country along the Great Australian Bight. The Kimberley bearded dragon (P. microlepidota), also called the Drysdale River bearded dragon, lives in the far north of Western Australia. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern.

You’re unlikely to see either for sale, and neither has much written about it outside the scientific literature.

Why Nearly Every Pet Is a Central

Australia doesn’t sell its wildlife. The Australian Government is blunt about it: export of live native birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians “is not permitted for commercial purposes” (DCCEEW wildlife trade FAQ). That ban dates back to the 1960s.

So every pet bearded dragon outside Australia descends from a small number of animals that left the country decades ago, most of them exported illegally between the 1970s and 1990. Breeders had a self-sustaining captive population by the early 1990s, and the central became the species everyone bred. Rankin’s dragons followed in much smaller numbers from the same era.

If you’re choosing a morph, our morph guide’s section on breeding ethics covers the health questions some line-bred traits raise.

Can Bearded Dragon Species Interbreed?

Yes. The Reptile Database records Rankin’s dragons hybridizing with both central and Nullarbor bearded dragons, and the western and Mitchell’s forms interbreeding where their ranges meet in the wild.

Central × Rankin’s crosses exist in captivity. We’d steer clear unless the breeder labels the animal as a hybrid. Its adult size is hard to predict, and a hybrid sold as a pure Rankin’s muddies a captive population that is already small.

Which Species Do You Have?

Work through it in this order:

1. Where did it come from? If you bought a “bearded dragon” in the US, Canada, the UK or Europe, it’s a central (P. vitticeps). That covers almost every pet.
2. How big is the adult? A full-grown dragon that tops out under about 12 inches, with a short, blunt face, points to Rankin’s. An adult central reaches 16 to 24 inches. Our size-by-age chart has the normal central range month by month, so a young central isn’t mistaken for a small species.
3. What’s inside the mouth? Bright yellow lining suggests an eastern. Pinkish-red is a central. You’ll see it when your dragon gapes on its own. Never pry the mouth open.
4. Still not sure? Ask the breeder for the species name on the sale paperwork, or have an exotic vet take a look.

Species, Morphs and “Types”

“Types of bearded dragons” usually means morphs, not species. Here’s the difference:

• Species are separate kinds of animal in the wild, like the central and the eastern bearded dragon.
• Morphs are genetic traits bred into one species, like hypo, translucent or leatherback. All of them are central bearded dragons.
• Colors like red, citrus, orange or yellow describe how a dragon looks. They aren’t morphs, and they aren’t species.

If you came here wondering what kind of central you have, the morph guide is the page you want.

FAQ

The Bottom Line

There are six bearded dragon species, or eight if you split the western forms, and all of them are Australian. The one in your house is almost certainly a central, Pogona vitticeps, whatever its color or morph, and every care guide on this site is written for it. If yours is a Rankin’s, the same basics apply on a smaller scale. Start with the complete care guide.

Sources & Further Reading

• The Reptile Database: genus Pogona (species list, authorities, distribution and hybridization notes)
• The Reptile Database: Pogona minor (subspecies minor, minima, mitchelli)
• The Reptile Database: Pogona henrylawsoni
• Australian Government DCCEEW: Wildlife trade frequently asked questions
• Reptiles Magazine (2021): summary of Valdez J. Using Google Trends to Determine Current, Past, and Future Trends in the Reptile Pet Trade. Animals 11: 676
• Central bearded dragon (size, range, captive history)
• Eastern bearded dragon (size, mouth color, behavior)
• Rankin’s dragon (size, captive population)
• Western bearded dragon (size and subspecies ranges)