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Calotes liocephalus GÜNTHER, 1872

IUCN Red List - Calotes liocephalus - Endangered, EN
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Higher TaxaAgamidae (Draconinae), Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Crestless Lizard, Lionhead Agama
Sinhala: Nosilu Katussa 
SynonymCalotes liocephalus GÜNTHER 1872: 86
Calotes liocephalus — BOULENGER 1885: 329
Calotes liocephalus — SMITH 1935: 204
Calotes liocephalus — TAYLOR 1953: 1569
Calotes liocephalus — WERMUTH 1967: 39
Calotes liocephalus — MANTHEY & SCHUSTER 1999: 37
Calotes liocephalus — SOMAWEERA & SOMAWEERA 2009 
DistributionC Sri Lanka (Ceylon)

Type locality: Peradeniya District, Ceylon.  
Reproductionoviparous. Ovipositioning at Peak Wilderness takes place during October –November (in 2010–2012). All the ovipositioning were observed during cool and shady weather conditions. This species lays 3–4 eggs at a time, and the eggs were 18.5–19 mm in length and 10.1–10.4 mm in width. The weight ranged between 1.4–1.8 g. The incubation period varies from 65–72 days (Amarasinghe et al. 2014). 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.8.11.33, adult male 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Head without spines or rarely a rudimentary spine above the tympanum; dorsinuchal crest poorly developed; lateral scales directed backwards and downwards. 
CommentIllustration in BARTS & WILMS 2003. Synonymy partly after WERMUTH 196.

Rare and endangered in Sri Lanka (BAHIR & SURASINGHE 2005).

Habitat: arboreal

Sympatry: C. liocephalus is sympatric with Ceratophora stoddartii and Calotes calotes, but allopatric with C. nigrilabris.

Conservation: threatened 
References
  • Amarasinghe, A. A. T.; U. Manthey, E. Stöckli, I. Ineich, S. 0 Kullander, F. Tiedemann, C. McCarthy & D. E. Gabadage 2009. The original descriptions and figures of Sri Lankan agamid lizards (Squamata: Agamidae) ofthe 18th and 19th centuries. Taprobanica 1 (1): 2-15 - get paper here
  • Amarasinghe, A. A. THASUN;, D. M. S. SURANJAN KARUNARATHNA, JAKOB HALLERMANN, JUNICHI FUJINUMA, HEINZ GRILLITSCH & PATRICK D. CAMPBELL 2014. A new species of the genus Calotes (Squamata: Agamidae) from high elevations of the Knuckles Massif of Sri Lanka. Zootaxa 3785 (1): 059–078 - get paper here
  • Amarasinghe, A.A. Thasun; D.M.S. Suranjan Karunarathna, and J. Fujinuma 2014. A New Calotes Species from Sri Lanka with a Redescription of Calotes liolepis Boulenger, 1885. Herpetologica 70 (3): 323-338 - get paper here
  • Amarasinghe, A.A.T., D.M.S.S. Karunarathna & D.E. Gabadage 2009. Current status of Calotes liocephalus Günther, 1872 (Reptilia: Agamidae) of Sri Lanka. Journal of Threatened Taxa 1 (11): 553-557 - get paper here
  • Amarasinghe, A.A.Thasun & Suranjan Karunarathna, D.M.S. 2008. Observations on the Ovipositional Behavior of the Crest-less Lizard Calotes liocephalus (Reptilia: Agamidae) in the Knuckles Forest Region of Sri Lanka. Asiatic Herpetological Research 11: 13-16 - get paper here
  • Bahir, M.M. & K. P. Maduwage 2005. Calotes desilvai, a new species of agamid lizard from Morningside Forest, Sri Lanka. Raffles Bull. Zool., Suppl. No. 12: 381-392 - get paper here
  • Bahir, M.M. & T. Surasinghe 2005. A conservation assessment of the Sri Lankan Agamidae (Reptilia: Sauria). Raffles Bull. Zool., Suppl. No. 12: 407-412 - get paper here
  • Barts, M. & Wilms, T. 2003. Die Agamen der Welt. Draco 4 (14): 4-23 - 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
  • De SILVA 1994. An introduction to the herpetofauna of Sri Lanka. Lyriocephalus, 1 (1-2): 3-19
  • de Silva, Anslem, Aaron Bauer, Suraj Goonewardene, John Drake, Shirani Nathanael, W. P. R. Chandraratne and S. A. U. S. Somathilaka 2005. Status of the agamids in the knuckles massif with special reference to Calotes liocephalus Günther, 1872 and Cophotis ceylanica Peters, 1861. Lyriocephalus (Special Issue) 6(1-2):43-52
  • Erdelen, W. 1984. The genus Calotes (Sauria: Agamidae) in Sri Lanka: distribution patterns. J. Biogeogr. 11: 515-525 - get paper here
  • Günther, A. 1872. Descriptions of some Ceylonese Reptiles and Batrachians. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (4) 9: 85-88 - get paper here
  • Hallermann, J. 2000. A new species of Calotes from the Moluccas (Indonesia) with notes on the biogeography of the genus (Sauria: Agamidae). Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 49 (1-2): 155-163 - get paper here
  • Macey, J. R., J. A. Schulte II, A. Larson, N. B. Ananjeva, Y. Wang, R. Pethiyagoda, N. Rastegar-Pouyani, T. J. Papenfuss 2000. Evaluating trans-Tethys migration: an example using acrodont lizard phylogenetics. Systematic Biology 49 (2): 233-256 - get paper here
  • Manthey U 2008. Agamid lizards of Southern Asia, Draconinae 1. Terralog 7, 160 pp.
  • Manthey,U. & SCHUSTER,N. 1999. Agamen, 2. Aufl. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 120 pp. - 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.
  • Somaweera, R. & Somaweera, N. 2009. Lizards of Sri Lanka: a colour guide with field keys. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 304 pp.
  • Taylor, E.H. 1953. A review of the lizards of Ceylon. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 35 (12): 1525-1585 - get paper here
 
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