To clear up centuries of historical confusion based on Linnaeus and other authors, Wagner et al. designated a neotype (numbered ZFMK 15222) for the species, using a previously described specimen from Cameroon in the collection of the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig in Bonn.

The agama lizard can be identified by having a white underside, brown back limbs and a tail with a light stripe down the middle.

The common agama is endemic to countries such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, India, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tanzania and Uganda.[7],.

[8] Common agamas are primarily insectivores, but they have been known to eat small mammals and reptiles and vegetation such as flowers, grasses, and fruits.

The center of a cock's territory is usually marked by the presence of a physical object, such as a tree or boulder, on which the lizards congregate.

After fertilization and when she is ready to lay, the female will dig a hole 5 cm (2 in) deep with her snout and claws in damp, sandy soil that is covered with grasses or other plants and which receives sunlight during most of the day.