Sitana fusca SCHLEICH & KÄSTLE, 1998

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Higher Taxa	Agamidae (Draconinae), Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Dark Sitana
Synonym	Sitana fusca SCHLEICH & KÄSTLE 1998 Sitana fusca — KÄSTLE et al. 2013: 431
Distribution	E Nepal Type locality: "East Nepal, Ghauri Dhara Road Camp 0.8 km north of the road Janatir-Bardibas. Geographic coordinates: 26º59'25.0" N, 85º53'45.6" E.
Reproduction	oviparous
Types	Holotype: ZSM 853/2012 (originally SHHS 1996/83, Fuhlrott-Museum Wuppertal): Paratypes: VW/D-96/21 and VW/D-96/22 (four paratypes), not in ZSM, whereabout unknown
Diagnosis	Diagnosis (n=12+): A small Sitana species which is closely related with Sitana sivalensis (fig. 2). In the field it differs by its much darker colour in life. Preserved females are difficult to distinguish from S. sivalensis, but males have a very pointed and depressed snout. jutting over the mental region (fig. 3). In Sitana sivalensis the mental plate is surrounded by four or five scutes (two infralabials and two or three postmentals), in S. fusca apparently always by five. In this species the first infralabials are rather long, and the connection lines of their posterior borders (dotted in fig. 4) divides the lateral postmentals approximately into halves, while in S. sivalensis this line transsects their anterior part. In sivalensis males the outline of the head is more oval (fig. 5) while the snout appears triangular in fusca. The last fan scales are - in contrast to S. sivalensis - very similar to the ventrals (fig. 6). In the reproductive phase S. fusca males lack the blue colour on the eyelids and the nuchal crest. Their venter never becomes pure white. The scales of the dorsal field are partially irregular in shape and size (fig. 7) and, in contrast to S. sivalensis, the longitudinal keel rows are frequently disturbed. The behaviour of S. fusca is characterised by the tolerance between males and a reduced challenge behaviour.” (Schleich & Kästle 1998)
Comment	Abundance: only known from its original description (Meiri et al. 2017).
References	Bhattarai S, Pokheral CP, Lamichhane BR, Regmi UR, Ram AK, Subedi N. 2018. Amphibians and reptiles of Parsa National Park, Nepal. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 12(1): 35–48 (e155) Bhattarai S., Gurung A., Lamichhane BR., Regmi R., Dhungana M., Kumpakha B. and Subedi N. 2020. Amphibians and Reptiles of Chure Range, Nepal. President Chure Terai-Madhesh Conservation Development Board and National Trust for Nature Conservation, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal Kästle , W., Rai, K. & Schleich, H.H. 2013. FIELD GUIDE to Amphibians and Reptiles of Nepal. ARCO-Nepal e.V., 625 pp. - get paper here Manthey U 2010. Agamid Lizards of Southern Asia. Draconinae 2 -Leiolepidinae. Edition Chimaira, Terralog 7b, Frankfurt, 168 pp. Meiri, Shai; Aaron M. Bauer, Allen Allison, Fernando Castro-Herrera, Laurent Chirio, Guarino Colli, Indraneil Das, Tiffany M. Doan, Frank Glaw, Lee L. Grismer, Marinus Hoogmoed, Fred Kraus, Matthew LeBreton, Danny Meirte, Zoltán T. Nagy, Cristiano d 2017. Extinct, obscure or imaginary: the lizard species with the smallest ranges. Diversity and Distributions 24 (2): 262-273 - get paper here Schleich, H. H. & W. KÄSTLE. 1998. Sitana fusca spec. nov., a further species from the Sitana sivalensis- complex. In: Contributions to the herpetology of south-Asia (Nepal, India). pp: 207-226. H. H. Schleich & W. Kästle (Eds). Fuhlrott-Museum, Wuppertal. - get paper here
External links	IUCN Red List Google images

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