Beautiful lizards
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Bloodsucker agame ( Calotes versicolor ) |
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| Cuvier , 1817 |
The beautiful lizards ( Calotes ) are a genus of agamas . The genus includes 26 species . Beautiful lizards are 18-57 cm long, are arboreal and are similar to chameleons for color change capable.
distribution
The species of the genus Schönechsen are native to Iran , South Asia , South China , Southeast Asia and Ambon . The bloodsucker agame ( Calotes versicolor ) also lives as a neozoa in Florida , Sulawesi , the Maldives and the Seychelles . The greatest biodiversity is found in the Western Ghats , Northeast India , Myanmar , Bangladesh and Sri Lanka .
description
Beautiful lizards differ from related genera in the presence of evenly large, diamond-shaped dorsal scales and the absence of a skin fold between the cheek and shoulder. The body is compressed laterally, the tail is very long, the back crest is weak compared to the larger neck crest. The legs are rather thin, but proportionally more pronounced than the legs of the genus Pseudocalotes . Like all agamas, beautiful lizards lay eggs and bury their clutch in the ground. The diet consists mainly of insects and other arthropods . Beautiful lizards can change their color quickly, especially during the mating season and during territorial fights. Since the males are strongly territorial and the females also react aggressively to other conspecifics, these animals are predominantly solitary .
Taxonomy
The genus of the beautiful lizard is still a heterogeneous group that could be divided into the groups C. versicolor and C. liocephalus . The former occurs mostly in South Asia and the Far East. All species in this group have their dorsal and lateral scales directed upwards. The second group is restricted to the southern Western Ghats and Sri Lanka. All species in this group have their scales turned back, up and down, or just down. Whether a further split is necessary or whether the groups are subgenera of a monophyletic taxon beautiful lizards, i.e. clades , remains to be investigated.
species
An alphabetical overview of the individual species follows.
- Calotes bachae Hartmann , Geissler , Poyarkov , Ihlow , Galoyan , Rödder & Böhme , 2013
- Calotes bhutanensis Biswas , 1975
- Calotes calotes ( Linnaeus , 1758) - Sawback dragon
- Calotes ceylonensis F. Müller , 1887
- Calotes chincollium Vindum , 2003
- Calotes desilvai Bahir & Maduwage , 2005
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Calotes emma Gray , 1845 - Emmas Schönechse, Hinterindische Schönechse
- Calotes emma alticristatus K. P. Schmidt , 1925
- Calotes Emma Emma Gray , 1845
- Calotes grandisquamis Günther , 1864
- Calotes htunwini Zug & Vindum , 2006
- Calotes irawadi Zug , Brown , Schulte & Vindum , 2006
- Calotes jerdoni Günther , 1870
- Calotes liocephalus Günther , 1872 - Lion head agame
- Calotes liolepis Boulenger , 1885 - Sri Lankan Agame
- Calotes manamendrai Amarasinghe & Karunarathna , 2014
- Calotes maria Gray , 1845
- Calotes medogensis Zhao & Li , 1984
- Calotes minor ( Hardwicke & Gray , 1827)
- Calotes mystaceus A. MC Duméril & Bibron , 1837 - Blue beautiful lizard
- Calotes nemoricola Jerdon , 1853
- Calotes nigrilabris W. Peters , 1860
- Calotes nigriplicatus Hallermann , 2000
- Calotes paulus ( Smith , 1935)
- Calotes pethiyagodai Amarasinghe , Karunarathna & Hallermann , 2014
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Calotes versicolor ( Daudin , 1802) - Bloodsucker agame, Indian beautiful lizard
- Calotes versicolor farooqi Auffenberg & Rehman , 1993
- Calotes versicolor versicolor ( Daudin , 1802)
- Calotes zolaiking Giri , Chaitanya , Mahony , Lalrounga , Lalrichhana , Das , Sarkar , Karanth & Deepak , 2019
Moved to the genus Microauris :
- Calotes aurantolabium Krishnan , 2008
Moved to the genus Monilesaurus :
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Calotes ellioti Günther , 1864
- Calotes ellioti amarambalamensis Murthy , 1978
- Calotes ellioti ellioti Günther , 1864
- Calotes rouxii Duméril & Bibron , 1837
Moved to the genus Pseudocalotes :
- Calotes kingdonwardi M. A. Smith , 1935
gallery
A young, male bloodsucker agame ( Calotes versicolor )
A female bloodsucker agame ( Calotes versicolor )
A female beautiful lizard in Pune, India
Calotes grandisquamis
Blue fairy lizard ( Calotes mystaceus )
Web links
literature
- J. Hallermann, W. Böhme: A review of the genus Pseudocalotes (Squamata: Agamidae), with description of a new species from West Malaysia. In: Amphibia-Reptilia. Volume 21, 2000, pp. 193-210.
- J. Hallermann: A taxonomic review of the genus Bronchocela (Squamata: Agamidae), with description of a new species from Vietnam. In: Russian Journal of Herpetology. Volume 12, No. 3, 2005, pp. 167-182.
- SM Moody: Phylogenetic relationships and historical biogeographical relationships of the genera in the family Agamidae (Reptilia: Lacertilia). PhD dissertation. University of Michigan, 1980.
- GR Zug, HHK Brown, JA Schulte, JV Vindum: Systematics of the garden lizards, Calotes versicolor Group (Reptilia, Squamata, Agamidae), in Myanmar: Central Dry Zone populations. In: Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences. Series 4, Vol. 57, No. 2, 2006, pp. 35-68.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Lexicon of Biology - Schönechsen. In: Spectrum of Science . Retrieved November 2, 2016 .
- ↑ Calotes versicolor in The Reptile Database
- ↑ Beautiful lizard. In: Agamen.de. Retrieved November 2, 2016 .
- ^ MA Smith : The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Amphibia. Volume 2: Sauria. Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor and Francis, London 1935, pp. 182-183: Calotes groups)
- ↑ Calotes in The Reptile Database ; accessed on August 23, 2020.
- ↑ T. Hartmann, P. Geissler, NAJ Poyarkov, F. Ihlow, EA Galoyan, D. Rödder, W. Böhme : A new species of the genus Calotes Cuvier, 1817 (Squamata: Agamidae) from southern Vietnam. In: Zootaxa. Volume 3599, No. 3, 2013, pp. 246-260.