Calotes

Calotes is a genus of lizards in the draconine clade of the family Agamidae. The genus contains 29 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. The genus name Calotes has been derived from the Greek word Καλότης (Kalótës), meaning ‘beauty’, referring to the beautiful pattern of this genus.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Geographic range

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.<ref name="RDB">Calotes versicolor. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org. Retrieved 17 January 2013</ref> The greatest species richness of the genus is from the Western Ghats, northeast India, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Description

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

File:Green garden lizard (Calotes calotes) male breeding (cropped).jpg

C. calotes male.

The genus Calotes is still a heterogeneous group that may be divided into the C. versicolor and C. liocephalus groups.<ref>Smith MA (1935). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol II.—Sauria. London: Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 440 pp. + Plate I + 2 maps. (Calotes groups, pp. 182-183)</ref> 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 by specific name.<ref>Calotes. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.</ref>

• File:Calotes ceylonensis at Kandalama.jpg

  C. ceylonensis
  Calotes bachae Template:Small<ref>Hartmann T, Geissler P, Poyarkov NA Jr, Ihlow F, Galoyan EA, Rödder D, Böhme W (2013). "A new species of the genus Calotes Cuvier, 1817 (Squamata: Agamidae) from southern Vietnam". Zootaxa 3599 (3): 246–260.</ref>
• Calotes bhutanensis Template:Small
• Calotes calotes Template:Small – common green forest lizard
• Calotes ceylonensis Template:Small – painted-lip lizard, Ceylon bloodsucker
• Calotes chincollium Template:Small
• Calotes desilvai Template:Small - Morningside lizard, Ceylon black-band whistling lizard
• Calotes emma Template:Small – Emma Gray's forest lizard, forest crested lizard
  • Calotes emma alticristatus Template:Small
  • Calotes emma emma Template:Small
• Calotes farooqi Template:Small – Farooq's garden lizard
  File:Calotes mystaceus 275810202 (cropped).jpg

  C. mystaceus
• Calotes geissleri Template:Small
• Calotes goetzi Template:Small
• Calotes grandisquamis Template:Small – large-scaled forest lizard
• Calotes htunwini Template:Small
• Calotes irawadi Template:Small
• File:Calotes nemoricola Wayanad.jpg

  C. nemoricola
  Calotes jerdoni Template:Small – Jerdon's forest lizard
• Calotes liocephalus Template:Small – spineless forest lizard, crestless lizard, lionhead agama
• Calotes liolepis Template:Small – whistling lizard, Sri Lanka agama
• Calotes manamendrai Template:Small – Manamendra-Arachchi's whistling lizard
• Calotes maria Template:Small – Khasi Hills forest lizard
• Calotes medogensis Template:Small – Medog bloodsucker
• Calotes minor Template:Small – Hardwicke's bloodsucker
• Calotes mystaceus Template:Small – Indo-Chinese forest lizard, blue-crested lizard
• Calotes nemoricola Template:Small – Nilgiri forest lizard
  File:Male Calotes versicolor.jpg

  C. versicolor male.
• Calotes nigrilabris Template:Small – black-cheek lizard
• Calotes nigriplicatus Template:Small
• Calotes paulus Template:Small – small forest lizard
• Calotes pethiyagodai Template:Small
• Calotes sinyik Template:Small<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Calotes versicolor Template:Small – Oriental garden lizard, changeable lizard, eastern garden lizard
• Calotes vindumbarbatus Template:Small
• Calotes wangi Template:Small
• Calotes zolaiking Template:Small – Mizoram montane forest lizard

Two species formerly treated as members of the genus Calotes were separated into a new genus, Monilesaurus, in 2018.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

• Monilesaurus ellioti Template:Small – Elliot's forest lizard
• Monilesaurus rouxii Template:Small – Roux's forest lizard, Roux's forest Calotes

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.

Gallery

• Calotes bachae 183517348 (cropped 2).jpg

  C. bachae

• Calotes emma 3420729.jpg

  C. emma

• Large-scaled forest lizard IMG 1023.jpg

  C. grandisquamis

• Calotes jerdoni P1130608 02.jpg

  C. jerdoni

• Calotes nigrilabris 60068657 (cropped).jpg

  C. nigrilabris

• Oriocalotes paulus.jpg

  C. paulus

• Calotes female.jpg

  A female Calotes at Pune, India.

• Garden Lizard India vs.jpg

  A garden lizard, South India.

Further reading

• HALLERMANN J, BÖHME W (2000). "A review of the genus Pseudocalotes (Squamata: Agamidae), with description of a new species from West Malaysia". Amphibia-Reptilia 21: 193–210.
• HALLERMANN J (2005). "A taxonomic review of the genus Bronchocela (Squamata: Agamidae), with description of a new species from Vietnam". Russian Journal of Herpetology 12 (3): 167–182.
• MOODY SM (1980). Phylogenetic relationships and historical biogeographical relationships of the genera in the family Agamidae (Reptilia: Lacertilia). PhD dissertation. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 373 pp.
• ZUG GR, BROWN HHK, SCHULTE JA II, VINDUM JV (2006). "Systematics of the Garden Lizards, Calotes versicolor Group (Reptilia, Squamata, Agamidae), in Myanmar: Central Dry Zone Populations". Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Fourth Series 57 (2): 35–68.

References

Template:Taxonbar Template:Authority control