Calotes vultuosus (HARLAN, 1825)
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Calotes vultuosus?
Calotes vultuosus
We have no photos, try to find some by Google images search: 
| Higher Taxa | Agamidae (Draconinae), Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Eastern Garden Lizard, Oriental Garden Lizard, Indian Garden Lizard, Common Garden Lizard, Bloodsucker, Changeable lizard G: Harlans Schönechse, Blutsaugeragame Chinese: 变色树蜥 |
| Synonym | Agama vultuosa HARLAN 1825: 296 Calotes versicolor — BOULENGER 1885: 321 (part.) Calotes versicolor — SMITH 1935: 189 (part.) Calotes vultuosus — GOWANDE et al. 2021 Calotes vultuosus — PADHY et al. 2024 Calotes vultuosu — PRAKOBKARN et al. 2024 (in error) Calotes vultousus — HUSSAIN et al. 2025 (in error) Calotes vultuosus — JABLONSKI et al. 2025 |
| Distribution | India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan Type locality: West Bengal, Kolkata (20.55°N, 88.36°E, 10 m a. s. l.) Probably introduced to Celebes, Maldives, Seychelles Mauritius (Reunion, Rodrigues; fide Glaw, pers. comm. and ROGNER 2006) Probably introduced to the Arabian peninsula in Oman (fide VAN DER KOOIJ 2001, Grossmann & Kowalski 2019) Probably introduced to Asia in Singapore, Borneo (DAS et al. 2009). Probably introduced to Africa in SW (coastal) Kenya (Spawls et al. 2018) Probably introduced to USA (Florida, fide SSAR checklist) |
| Reproduction | oviparous. Temperature‐dependent sex determination (TSD) fide Cornejo-Páramo et al. 2020 (and references therein). |
| Types | Holotype: ANSP 7296 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis and comparison (vultuosus). A medium to large sized species of Calotes, adult males averaging 106 mm in SVL, females averaging 78 mm in SVL; body compressed; head relatively short; dorso-lateral scales posterodorsally oriented, large, weakly to strongly keeled, homogeneous; ventral scales smaller than the dorso-lateral scales, strongly keeled; 37–45 scales around the mid-body; anti-humeral fold absent; two distinct spines in the supratympanic region, posterior spine as long as the anterior spine, at times longer, more prominent; nuchal and dorsal crest continuous, distinct, slightly recurved; scales of the nuchal crest large, those of dorsal crest reduced to mere denticulation towards the base of the tail, generally ending in the region between the mid-body and the tail, rarely continues to the base of the tail; nuchal, dorsal and supratympanic spines more pronounced in males; limbs slender, dorsal surface of the limbs strongly keeled, ventral surface weakly keeled, that of the thighs smooth. The species can be separated from the members of Smith’s C. versicolor group (as defined above), by a combination of characters: absence of crescent-shaped patch of granular scales at the insertion of the forelimbs (vs. present in C. emma, C. grandisquamis, C. jerdoni, C. mystaceus, and C. nemoricola), 37–45 Mid-body scale rows (vs. 49–65 in C. emma, 27–35 in C. grandisquamis, 45–57 in C. jerdoni, 58–63 in C. maria Gray, 48–60 in C. minor, and 45–58 in C. mystaceus); nuchal and dorsal crest scales well developed, nuchal crest scales slightly larger than the dorsal crest scales, dorsal crest scales become progressively smaller towards the base of the tail (vs. nuchal spines much longer, dorsal spines reduced in C. maria and C. nemoricola; nuchal spines much longer than dorsal spines in C. calotes, C. emma, C. grandisquamis); two well-separated supratympanic clusters of spine-like scales, one from each cluster enlarged, prominent to form a spine (vs. row of 3–4 compressed supratympanic spines in C. grandisquamis and C. nemoricola, 8–9 compressed spines above tympanum in C. calotes; two parallel rows of supratympanic scales in C. jerdoni and C. maria). The species differs from C. paulus and C. zolaiking primarily by the homogeneous scalation on the dorsolateral region (vs. heterogeneous) and a comparatively well-developed dorsal crest. From the dubious species C. bhutanensis, the species differs in possessing longer head, concave orbital region, and by the absence of a row of erect scales on the sides of the neck. From C. chincollium, C. nigriplicatus, and other members of the C. mystaceus complex (C. bachae, C. geissleri, C. goetzi, C. mystaceus, C. vindumbarbatus, sensu Wagner et al. (2021)) the species differs by the absence of an oblique fold of skin in front of forelimbs or shoulder (vs. present). From the Sri Lankan congeners (C. ceylonensis, C. desilvai, C. liocephalus, C. liolepis, C. manamendrai, C. nigrilabris, C. pethiyagodai) the species differs by its posterodorsal orientation of lateral body scales (vs. posteroventral) and absence of shoulder pit (vs. present). The species differs from C. irawadi by its much larger adult male body size (average SVL 106 mm, vs. 82.4 mm), lesser number of scales around the mid-body (average 42, vs. 47 in C. irawadi); from C. htunwini by the posterodorsal or vertical orientation of scale rows on the sides of the neck and supra-axillary area (vs. horizontal in C. htunwini). For comparison with the subspecies elevated to species rank in this communication, see the diagnosis and comparison section for that species. The species can be further differentiated by its southern congener C. versicolor by its slightly smaller adult body size (average male SVL 106 mm vs. 108 mm in C. versicolor, female SVL 77.5 vs. 92.2 mm in C. versicolor), dorsal crest composed of comparatively smaller scales, which become progressively smaller to the base of the tail in both sexes (vs. dorsal crest composed of large scales, which continues to the base of the tail in C. versicolor), supratympanic spines shorter in both sexes (vs. longer in C. versicolor). The species has shorter crus than C. versicolor (average male CrusL 22.7 vs. 26.6 in C. versicolor). The species differs in the overall shape of the trunk, which tapers to a lesser extent in C. vultuosus comb. nov. (average PectW/PelvW 0.81) vs. trunk tapers to a greater extent in C. versicolor (average PectW/PelvW 0.70 in C. versicolor). Besides, the species differs from C. versicolor in adult male coloration during the breeding season. Calotes vultuosus comb. nov. males generally attain a cream to brown body coloration, the head and the anterior twothirds of the trunk attain orange color, which at times extends to the forelimbs; the posterior parts of the trunk and the hind limbs remain dull, whereas C. versicolor males attain yellowish overall coloration, the trunk and the orbital region turns bright orange, forelimbs and hind limbs turn dark to black. Further, the black patches under the throat extend anteriorly onto the jaw musculature, at times running along the lower jaw margin on each side, before terminating posterior to the post-mental scales, whereas, in C. versicolor, the black patches under the throat do not extend anteriorly onto the jaw muscles. (Gowande et al. 2021) |
| Comment | Synonymy: most of what has been called versicolor over the past 200 years is now C. vultuosus, fide Gowande et al. 2021, hence the chresonymy must be much longer and include numerous cases of “Calotes versicolor”. See also C. versicolor. Distribution: See map in Gowande et al. 2021 (Fig. 1) for both versicolor and vultuosus. Note that Gowande did not study populations in N India, so the exact boundary of the two species remains uncertain. Introduced populations of C. versicolor are thus in many cases C. vultuosus. |
| References |
|
| External links |
|