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Agasthyagama beddomei (BOULENGER, 1885)

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Higher TaxaAgamidae (Draconinae), Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Indian Kangaroo Lizard 
SynonymOtocryptis beddomii BOULENGER 1885: 272
Otocryptis beddomii — SMITH 1935: 147
Otocryptis beddomii — WERMUTH 1967: 74
Otocryptis beddomii — DAS 1996: 44
Otocryptis beddomei — MANTHEY 2010: 114
Agasthyagama beddomii — SRIKANTHAN et al. 2021
Agasthyagama beddomii — DAS et al. 2024 
DistributionS India (Themala in Kerala; Western Ghats; previously reported from Sivagiri Ghats, Cardamom Hills)

Type locality: Sivagiri Ghat, South India.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: NHMUK 1882. 5.22.101, adult female, designated by Das et al. 2024. Paralectotypes: ZSI 15733, adult female, NHMUK 1882.5.22.102–104, one female and two males.
Other specimens: Four males (FMNH 217757, FMNH 217760, FMNH 217767, FMNH 217768) and four females (FMNH 217764, FMNH 217765, FMNH 217773, FMNH 217775) collected by R. F. Inger and H. B. Shaffer from Trivandrum district, Kerala; two males (BNHS 3220, BNHS 3221) collected from Shendurney, Kollam district, Kerala. 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus and species). A small sized genus of draconine agamid lizard (average male SVL 38.2 mm; female SVL 40.8 mm), endemic to the Western Ghats of India, diagnosed by the following characters of lepidosis and osteology: dewlap appendage and second ceratobranchials not extending beyond forelimb insertion, dewlap diminished, males with small brightly colored gular sac; scales on gular sac equal sized; nuchal and dorsal crest not developed; small, rounded antehumeral pit present; 2 or 3 median rows of elongate and more or less regular scales present between supraoculars; temporal region with 1 or 2 enlarged, conical scales; yellow to orange coloration only in gular region; presence of large trihedral scales on the dorsolateral aspect of the body. (Srikanthan et al. 2021) 
CommentType species: Otocryptis beddomii BOULENGER 1885: 272 is the type species of the genus Agasthyagama SRIKANTHAN et al. 2022.

Distribution: For a map see Srikanthan et al. 2021: 213 (Fig. 2), Das et al. 2024: 152 (Fig. 1). 
EtymologyNamed after Richard Henry Beddome, 1830–1911, British army officer and botanist.

The gender was named after its distribution range in the Agasthyamalai, that in turns gets its name from the Vedic sage Agathya—a sage in Hindu tradition—suffixed with the nomen “agama”, commonly used to refer to agamid lizards, a term believed to have been brought to Dutch Guiana (Suriname) by West African slaves, whose term for chameleons was ‘agama’ in their native Gbe language (Arends 2017). The gender is masculine. 
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - 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. R 2009. Status and microhabitat preferences of Otocryptis beddomii Boulenger, 1885 (Reptilia: Agamidae) in Ponmudi hills, Western Ghats, Kerala, India. Taprobanica 1 (2): 107-110 - get paper here
  • Inger, Robert F.;Shaffer, H. Bradley;Koshy, Mammen;Bakde, Ramesh 1984. A report on a collection of amphibians and reptiles from the Ponmudi, Kerala, South India. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 81 (3): 551-570 - get paper here
  • Jose, Joyce, K. K. Ramachandran and P. V. Nair. 2007. A rare and little known lizard, Otocryptis beddomi, From the Myristica swamps of southern Kerela, India. Herpetological Bulletin 101: 27-31 - get paper here
  • Manthey U 2010. Agamid Lizards of Southern Asia. Draconinae 2 -Leiolepidinae. Edition Chimaira, Terralog 7b, Frankfurt, 168 pp.
  • Murthy, T.S.N. 1990. A field book of the lizards of India. Records Zool. Survey India 115: 1-122 - get paper here
  • Palot, M.J. 2015. A checklist of reptiles of Kerala, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 7(13): 8010–8022 - 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.
  • SRIKANTHAN, A. N., ADHIKARI, O. D., GANESH, S. R., DEUTI, K., DAS, K., KULKARNI, V. M., ... & SHANKER, K. 2021. A molecular and morphological study of Otocryptis Wagler, 1830 (Squamata: Agamidae) reveals a new genus from the far south of the Western Ghats, Peninsular India. Zootaxa 5016 (2): 205-228 - 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
 
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