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Coryphophylax subcristatus (BLYTH, 1860)

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Higher TaxaAgamidae (Draconinae), Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Short-crested Bay Island forest lizard 
SynonymTiaris subcristata BLYTH 1860: 109
Tiaris subcristata — ANDERSON 1871: 167
Gonyocephalus subcristatus — BOULENGER 1885: 292
Gonyocephalus subcristatus — ANNANDALE 1905: 18
Gonyocephalus subcristatus — HORA 1926
Goniocephalus subcristatus SMITH 1935: 163
Gonocephalus subcristatus — WERMUTH 1967: 62
Coryphophylax subcristatus — DAS 1996
Coryphophylax subcristatus — MANTHEY & SCHUSTER 1999: 45
Coryphophylax subcristatus — MIRZA et al. 2025
Coryphophylax subcristatus — CHANDRAMOULI 2026: 200 
DistributionIndia (Andaman Island)

Type locality: Port Blair, Andaman Islands  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: ZSI 5191, 92; ZSI 5369-70; ZSI 5199-5202 (fide Das et al. 1998, Chandramouli et al. 2026)
Type: Lost, according to Smith (1935), reportedly "common at Port Blair" (11º 36'N; 92º 45'E, in South Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal, India), where the holotype may have originated.
Other specimens: DoSMB, CSPT 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions are available for collaborators and contributors. We will relaease that material sometime next year. Please contact us if you need any of this data earlier than that. 
CommentSynonymy: C. maximiliani used to be considered a synonym of C. subcristatus but was revalidated by Mirza et al. 2025. The two nomina, ‘maximiliani’ and ‘humei’ were synonymised with C. subcristatus by Annandale (1904).

Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species.

Distribution: see map in Chandramouli 2026: Fig. 4. 
References
  • Anderson, J. 1871. On some Indian reptiles. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1871: 149-211 - get paper here
  • Annandale, N. 1905. Contributions to Oriental herpetology l. The lizards of the Andamans, with the description of a new gecko and a note on the reproduced tail in Ptychozoon homalocephalum. J. Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 73 (suppl.): 12-22 - get paper here
  • Blyth, E. 1860. Of reptiles ... [In: Report of the curator, Zoological department, pp. 87-115]. J. Asiatic Soc. Bengal 29: 107-111 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. Geckonidae, Eublepharidae, Uroplatidae, Pygopodidae, Agamidae. London: 450 pp. - get paper here
  • Boulenger, George A. 1890. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii, 541 pp. - get paper here
  • Chandramouli, S. 2026. Systematic review of the insular endemic lizard genus Coryphophylax Fitzinger in Steindachner, 1867 (Reptilia: Agamidae) from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with the description of a new species from Car Nicobar, India. Zootaxa, 5768 (2), 193–215 - get paper here
  • Das, Indraneil & Abhijit Das 2017. A Naturalist’s Guide to the Reptiles of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. John Beaufoy Publishing Ltd., Oxford, 176 pp.
  • Fitzinger, L. J. 1861. Die Ausbeute der österreichischen Naturforscher an Säugethieren und Reptilien während der Weltumsegelung Sr. Majestät Fregatte Novara. Sitzungsberichte der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Klasse der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien 42: 383—416 - get paper here
  • Gemel, R.; G. Gassner & S. Schweiger 2019. Katalog der Typen der Herpetologischen Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien – 2018. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 121: 33–248 - get paper here
  • Harikrishnan, S.; KARTHIKEYAN VASUDEVAN, S. R. CHANDRAMOULI, B. C. CHOUDHURY, SUSHIL KUMAR DUTTA & INDRANEIL DAS 2012. A new species of Coryphophylax Fitzinger in: Steindachner, 1867 (Sauria: Iguania: Agamidae) from the Andaman Islands, India. Zootaxa 3451: 31–45 - get paper here
  • Hora, S.L. 1926. Notes on the Lizard in the Indian Museum. II. On the unnamed Collection of Lizards of the Genus Agamidae. Records of the Indian Museum 28 (4): 215-220
  • Manthey,U. & SCHUSTER,N. 1999. Agamen, 2. Aufl. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 120 pp. - get paper here
  • Mirza ZA, Pal S, Thackeray T, Patel H, Bauer AM. 2025. Taxonomic status of Coryphophylax maximiliani Fitzinger in: Steindachner, 1867 with notes on Coryphophylax subcristatus (Blyth, “1860” 1861). PeerJ 13:e19841 - get paper here
  • Rangasamy, V.; C. Sivaperuman, G. Gokulakrishnan, and P. Parthipan 2018. Herpetofauna of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. in: C. Sivaperuman, K. Venkataraman (eds.), Indian Hotspots, Springer, pp: 37-56 - get paper here
  • Smith, M.A. 1935. The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptiles and Amphibia, Vol. II. Sauria. Taylor and Francis, London, 440 pp.
  • Stoliczka, F. 1870. Observations on some Indian and Malayan Amphibia and Reptilia. J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 39: 134-228. - get paper here
  • Stoliczka, F. 1873. Notes on some Andamese and Nicobarese Reptiles, with the descriptions of three new species of lizards. J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 42: 162-169 - get paper here
  • Uetz, P.H.; Patel, M.; Gbadamosi, Z.; Nguyen, A.; Shoope, S. 2024. A Reference Database of Reptile Images. Taxonomy 4: 723–732 - get paper here
  • Venugopal, P.D. 2010. An updated and annotated list of Indian lizards (Reptilia: Sauria) based on a review of distribution records and checklists of Indian reptiles. Journal of Threatened Taxa 2 (3): 725-738. - get paper here
  • Vogel, Gernot 2014. Die Andamanen – Ein wenig bekanntes Tierparadies. Terraria-Elaphe 2014 (6): 44-55 - get paper here
 
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