An agama is any one of the various small, long-tailed, insect-eating lizards of the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Agama. The agamid genus is composed of at least 37 species across Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, where they are the most common lizard. They can be found in many sizes, from 12.5 to 30 cm (5 in. to 1 ft.) in length and a wide variety of colours. One of the best known species is the Agama agama

Agama agama

The Common Agama, Red-headed Rock Agama, or Rainbow Agama is a species of lizard from the Agamidae family, found in most of Subsaharan Africa....

, widespread in sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...

. For Eurasia

Eurasia

Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...

n agamas, see the genus Laudakia

Laudakia

Asian Rock Agamas are lizards of the genus Laudakia found in Eurasia. For African agamas see the genera Agama and Acanthocercus.-Species and subspecies:*Laudakia agrorensis – Agror Agama...

.

Agamas originally lived in forest and bush across Africa, but have since adapted to live in villages and compounds where their habitat has been cleared.