Neha Patil (Editor)

Calotes

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Kingdom
  
Suborder
  
Lacertilia

Family
  
Agamidae

Scientific name
  
Calotes

Phylum
  
Chordata

Order
  
Scaled reptiles

Subphylum
  
Vertebrata

Infraorder
  
Iguania

Subfamily
  
Higher classification
  
Agamidae

Rank
  
Genus

Calotes wwwreptariumczcontentphotord04Calotescalot

Lower classifications
  
Oriental garden lizard, Spineless forest lizard, Calotes mystaceus

Calotes versicolor or the indian garden lizard basking in the sun


Calotes is a genus of lizards in the draconine clade of the family Agamidae. The genus contains 27 species. Some species are known as forest lizards, others as "bloodsuckers" due to their red heads, and yet others (namely C. versicolor) as garden lizards.

Contents

Calotes Calotes reptile genus Britannicacom

Calotes lizard


Geographic range

Calotes Picture of lepojetr pestr Changeable Lizard Blutsaugeragame

Species in the genus Calotes are native to South Asia, southern China, mainland Southeast Asia and Ambon. Additionally, C. versicolor has been introduced to Florida (USA), Borneo, Sulawesi, the Seychelles, Mauritius and Oman. The greatest species richness of the genus is from the Western Ghats, northeast India, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Description

Calotes FileIndian Garden Lizard Calotes versicolor in AP W IMG 9913jpg

Calotes is distinguished from related genera in having uniform-sized dorsal scales, and lacking a fold of skin extending between the cheek and shoulder, and in having proportionately stronger limbs than Pseudocalotes. Compared to Bronchocela, Calotes have a proportionately shorter tail and limbs. Calotes as we know it today was classified by Moody (1980) prior to which all of the above-mentioned genera were included in this genus.

Taxonomy

Calotes Calotes versicolor ZipcodeZoo

The genus Calotes is still a heterogeneous group that may be divided into the C. versicolor and C. liocephalus groups. The former occurs through most of South Asia and further east. All species in this group have their dorsal and lateral scales directed upward. The latter is restricted to the southern Western Ghats and Sri Lanka. All species in this group have their scales directed back, or up and down, or down only. Whether further splitting is necessary or whether the groups constitute subgenera of a monophyletic Calotes remains to be studied.

Species

Listed alphabetically.

  • Calotes andamanensis Boulenger, 1891 – Andaman and Nicobar forest lizard, green crestless forest lizard
  • Calotes aurantolabium Krishnan, 2008 – orange-lipped forest lizard
  • Calotes bachae Hartmann et al., 2013
  • Calotes bhutanensis Biswas, 1975
  • Calotes calotes (Linnaeus, 1758) – common green forest lizard
  • Calotes ceylonensis (F. Müller, 1887) – painted-lip lizard, Ceylon bloodsucker
  • Calotes chincollium Vindum, 2003
  • Calotes desilvai Bahir & Maduwage, 2005 - Morningside lizard, Ceylon black-band whistling lizard
  • Calotes ellioti Günther, 1864 – Elliot's forest lizard
  • Calotes emma Gray, 1845 – Emma Gray's forest lizard, forest crested lizard
  • Calotes emma alticristatus K.P. Schmidt, 1925
  • Calotes emma emma Gray, 1845
  • Calotes grandisquamis Günther, 1864 – large-scaled forest lizard
  • Calotes htunwini Zug & Vindum, 2006
  • Calotes irawadi Zug, Brown, Schulte & Vindum, 2006
  • Calotes jerdoni Günther, 1870Jerdon's forest lizard
  • Calotes kingdonwardi (M.A. Smith, 1935) – Kingdonward's bloodsucker
  • Calotes liocephalus Günther, 1872 – spineless forest lizard, crestless lizard, lionhead agama
  • Calotes liolepis (Boulenger, 1885) – whistling lizard, Sri Lanka agama
  • Calotes manamendrai (Amarasinghe & Karunarathna, 2014)
  • Calotes maria Gray, 1845 – Khasi Hills forest lizard
  • Calotes medogensis (Zhao & Li, 1984) – Medog bloodsucker
  • Calotes mystaceus (A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1837) – Indo-Chinese forest lizard, blue-crested lizard
  • Calotes nemoricola Jerdon, 1853 – Nilgiri forest lizard
  • Calotes nigrilabris (W. Peters, 1860) – black-cheek lizard
  • Calotes nigriplicatus Hallermann, 2000
  • Calotes pethiyagodai (Amarasinghe, Karunarathna & Hallermann, 2014)
  • Calotes rouxii Duméril & Bibron, 1837 – Roux's forest lizard, Roux's forest Calotes
  • Calotes versicolor (Daudin, 1802) – Oriental garden lizard, changeable lizard, eastern garden lizard
  • Calotes versicolor farooqi Auffenberg & Rehman, 1993 – black-throated bloodsucker
  • Calotes versicolor versicolor (Daudin, 1802)
  • Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses or a trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species or the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Calotes.

    References

    Calotes Wikipedia