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Calotes grandisquamis GÜNTHER, 1875

IUCN Red List - Calotes grandisquamis - Least Concern, LC

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Higher TaxaAgamidae (Draconinae), Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Large Scaled Forest Lizard 
SynonymCalotes grandisquamis GÜNTHER 1875: 226
Calotes grandisquamis — BOULENGER 1885: 325
Calotes grandisquamis — SMITH 1935: 200
Calotes grandisquamis — WERMUTH 1967: 37
Calotes grandisquamis — MANTHEY & SCHUSTER 1999: 37 
DistributionIndia (Anaimalai, Bramagherry Hills, Travancore; S Western Ghats, Kerala, Tamil Nadu)

Type locality: at the foot of the Canoot Ghat, near Manantoddy, Bramagherry Hills (fide SMITH 1935).  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesTypes: BMNH 1946.8.11.44-47 (and possibly additional specimens). 
DiagnosisDiagnosis and comparison. A large sized Calotes (SVL up to 136.5 mm) characterized by the posterodorsal orientation of lateral scales; antehumeral fold absent; 27–35 midbody scale rows; nuchal and dorsal crest well developed, continuous, nuchal crest composed of long, curved spines, dorsal spines smaller, gradually reducing in length and reaches till above the tail base; row of 3–4 compressed supratympanic spines; postorbital spine absent; a crescent-shaped patch of granular scales in front of the shoulder present; dorsal and lateral scales large, smooth, subtriangular, ventral scales keeled, mucronate; paired postmentals, first pair separated by a single median scale; 22–25 subdigital lamellae under fourth finger, 27–30 subdigital lamellae under fourth toe; 10 supralabials and 9–10 infralabials; green above, often with 2–3 broad black transverse bars on the lateral side, lateral side of head darker, blackish, ventral pale green.
Calotes grandisquamis can be distinguished from members of Smith’s C. versicolor group by a combination of the following characters: larger body size: adult SVL 110.0–136.5 mm, n=5 (vs. C. versicolor, adult SVL 73.8–99.4 mm, n=9 and C. calotes, adult SVL 73.6–96.8 mm, n=3); 27–35 midbody scale rows (30–35 in C. calotes, n=3; 38–44 in C. versicolor; 58–63 in C. maria; 45–57 in C. jerdoni; 49–65 in C. emma; 48–58 in C. mystaceus and 48– 60 in C. minor); nuchal crest well developed with much longer spines than dorsal spines (vs. nuchal and dorsal crest well developed, composed of almost equal spines in C. versicolor and C. mystaceus; nuchal spines long, dorsal crest reduced in C. maria ); row of 3–4 compressed supratympanic spines (vs. two well separated supratympanic spines in C. versicolor and 8–9 compressed spines in C. calotes, two parallel rows of compressed supratympanic scales in C. maria and C. jerdoni; single well developed postorbital spine in C. emma); presence of a crescent-shaped patch of granular scales in front of the shoulder (vs. absent in C. versicolor, C. calotes and C. maria) and lateral scales much larger than ventrals (vs. almost equal to the ventrals in C. calotes). For distinguishing from C. nemoricola, see comparison section of C. nemoricola. (from Pal et al. 2018: 424) 
Comment 
References
  • Bhupathy, Subramanian & N. Sathishkumar 2013. Status of reptiles in Meghamalai and its environs, Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 5 (15): 4953-4961 - 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. An aberrant specimen of Calotes grandisquamis Günther, 1875 (Reptilia: Agamidae) with comments on its altitudinal distribution. Taprobanica 1 (2): 111-114 - get paper here
  • Ganesh, S. R.; S. R. Chandramouli 2013. Identification of Two Similar Indian Agamid Lizards Calotes nemoricola Jerdon, 1853 and C. grandisquamis Günther, 1875. Russ. J. Herpetol. 20 (1): 33-35 - get paper here
  • Ganesh, S.R. and S.R. Chandramouli 2020. Miscellaneous natural history observations of Large-scaled Forest Lizards, Calotes grandisquamis Günther 1875 (Squamata: Agamidae). IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians 27 (1): 73–76 - get paper here
  • Ganesh, S.R.; S. Bhupathy, P. Karthik, G. Babu Rao & S. Babu 2020. Catalogue of herpetological specimens from peninsular India at the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History (SACON), India. JoTT 12 (9): 16123–16135 - get paper here
  • Günther,A. 1875. Second report on collections of Indian Reptiles obtained bv the British Museum. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1875: 224-234 - 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
  • 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
  • Murthy, T.S.N. 1990. A field book of the lizards of India. Records Zool. Survey India 115: 1-122 - get paper here
  • PAL, SAUNAK; S.P. VIJAYAKUMAR, KARTIK SHANKER, ADITI JAYARAJAN & V. DEEPAK 2018. A systematic revision of Calotes Cuvier, 1817 (Squamata: Agamidae) from the Western Ghats adds two genera and reveals two new species. Zootaxa 4482 (3): 401–450 - 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.
  • 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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