I have been emailing with the man who identified and named P. henrylawsoni's and he shared some information on dragons in their native environment I thought you all might find interesting.
For starters he has identified and has a specimen of a ninth species of pogona now and is about to name it. Similar to P. henrylawsoni but brick red in color with a white belly.
Another thing is that there are actually two different natural lines of P. vitticeps in Australia. The smaller ones from the north-western Queensland area and the larger ones from further west. This could very well explain some of the smaller vitticeps we are seeing in the US that appear genetically healthy.
This is what I find really interesting, according to him also, there are areas that several species do overlap and they do hybridize in those area, he has seen them. In mid-western New South Wales there is a zone of contact between vitticeps and barbata. But states that all three morphs are sympatric, and he has never found a gravid hybrid, indicating that they are probably incapable of producing.
Also he has found what looks like vitticeps X mitchelli in the region where both of these species come into contact.
And finally, we have been trying to determine if the P. henrylawsoni's in the US are in fact the real henrylawsoni's or this possible ninth species.
Special thanks to Dana @ Sundial for contributing some detailed pictures of her line of them and helping answer this question that have seen unanswered for many years, Yes, the ones in the US (at least the ones that Dana) are in fact the original P. henrylawsoni's that he named them for.
Just something I found interesting and thought I would pass along.
