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Cophotis ceylanica PETERS, 1861

IUCN Red List - Cophotis ceylanica - Endangered, EN
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Higher TaxaAgamidae (Draconinae), Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Ceylon Deaf Agama
G: Ceylonesische Taubagame, Baumagame 
SynonymCophotis ceylanica PETERS 1861: 1103
Cophotis ceylanica — FERGUSON 1877: 13
Cophotis ceylanica — BOULENGER 1885: 275
Cophotis ceylanica — HORA 1926
Cophotis ceylanica — SMITH 1935: 150
Cophotis ceylanica — MANTHEY & SCHUSTER 1999: 43
Cophotis cylanica [sic] — BARTS & WILMS 2003: 14 
DistributionSri Lanka (Ceylon), elevation > 1,700 m.

Type locality: Ceylon [Sri Lanka]  
ReproductionViviparous 
TypesLectotype: ZMB 4240 (designated by MARX 1958) 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): “Tympanum hidden. Body compressed, covered with large sub-equal irregular scales. A dorsal crest. very small gular sac in both sexes; a slight transverse gular fold. Tail prohensile. No femoral or pranal pores.” (Boulenger 1885: 275)


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CommentType species: Cophotis ceylanica PETERS 1861 is the type species of the genus Cophotis PETERS 1861: 1103.

Habitat: tropical montane cloud forests at elevations above ~1,700 m, Arboreal.

Illustration in BARTS & WILMS 2003.

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

Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. 
EtymologyNamed after its distribution on Ceylon (= Sri Lanka). 
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
  • 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
  • Das, Indraneil & Abhijit Das 2017. A Naturalist’s Guide to the Reptiles of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. John Beaufoy Publishing Ltd., Oxford, 176 pp.
  • De SILVA 1994. An introduction to the herpetofauna of Sri Lanka. Lyriocephalus, 1 (1-2): 3-19
  • De Silva, Anslem 1990. Observations on some vanishing relict lizards of Sri Lanka. Hamadryad 15: 34-35 - get paper here
  • Ferguson, W. 1877. Reptile fauna of Ceylon. Letter on a collection sent to the Colombo Museum. Herbert, Ceylon
  • Hallermann, J. 2005. Mit Hörnern, Kämmen und Gleithäuten - die bizarren Baumagamen. Reptilia (Münster) 10 (51): 18-25 - get paper here
  • Hallermann, J. 2005. The bizarre arboreal agamids. Reptilia (GB) (42): 8-15 - get paper here
  • Hora, S.L. 1926. Notes on the Lizard in the Indian Museum. II. On the unnamed Collection of Lizards of the Genus Agamidae. Records of the Indian Museum 28 (4): 215-220
  • Janssen, Jordi and Anslem de Silva 2019. The presence of protected reptiles from Sri Lanka in international commercial trade. TRAFFIC Bulletin 31 (1): 9 - get paper here
  • Janzen, P.; Klaas, P. & Ziesmann, S. 2007. Die Agamen der Insel [Sri Lanka]. Draco 7 (30): 24-33 - get paper here
  • Karunarathna, D.M.S.S. & Amarasinghe, A.A.T. 2009. Beobachtung einer Dickschnabelkrähe (Aves: Corvidae) beim Erbeuten von Ceylon–Taubagamen, Cophotis ceylanica (Reptilia: Agamidae), im Horton Plains Nationalpark auf Sri Lanka. Sauria 30 (4): 59-62 [2008] - get paper here
  • Kästle, W. 1966. Beobachtungen an ceylonesischen Taubagamen (Cophotis ceylanica). Salamandra 2 (3): 78-87 - 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
  • Manamendra-Arachchi, Kelum; Anslem de Silva and Thasun Amarasinghe 2006. Description of a second species of Cophotis (Reptilia: Agamidae) from the highlands of Sri Lanka. Lyriocephalus 6 (Suppl. 1): 1-8
  • Manthey,U. & SCHUSTER,N. 1999. Agamen, 2. Aufl. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 120 pp. - get paper here
  • Marx,H. 1958. Catalogue of type specimens of reptiles and amphibians in Chicago Natural History Museum. Fieldiana Zool. 36: 407-496 - get paper here
  • Mohr, Hartmut & Jonathan Cabrera 2013. Cophotis ceylanica – Biologie, Haltung und Nachzucht der Ceylonesischen Taubagame. Terraria-Elaphe 2013 (6): 58-71 - get paper here
  • Peters, Wilhem Carl Hartwig 1861. Eine neue Gattung von Eidechsen, Cophotis ceylanica, aus Ceylon. Monatsberichte der königlich Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. 1861 (December):1103-1105. - get paper here
  • Peters, Wilhem Carl Hartwig 1861. On a new genus of lizards from Ceylon. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 1861: 419-420 - get paper here
  • Samarawickrama, V. A. M. P. K.; K. B. Ranawana, D. R. N. S. Rajapaksha, Natalia B. Ananjeva, Nikolai L. Orlov, J. M. A. S. Ranasinghe, and V. A. P.Samarawickrama 2006. A new species of the genus Cophotis (Squamata: Agamidae) from Sri Lanka. Russ. J. Herpetol. 13 (3): 207-214
  • Schulte, II , James A.; J. Robert Macey, Rohan Pethiyagoda and Allan Larson 2002. Rostral Horn Evolution among Agamid Lizards of the Genus Ceratophora Endemic to Sri Lanka. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 22: 111-117 - 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
  • Uetz, P.H.; Patel, M.; Gbadamosi, Z.; Nguyen, A.; Shoope, S. 2024. A Reference Database of Reptile Images. Taxonomy 4: 723–732 - get paper here
  • Wijerathne, I., Karunarathna, S., Sursinghe, T., Vidanapathirana, D. R., Ukuwela, K., Wickramasinghe, S., ... & Fernando, S. 2025. Identification of Priority Areas for Conservation of Threatened Agamid Lizards of Sri Lanka Using Species Distribution Modeling. Integrative Conservation - get paper here
  • Willey, A. 1906. Viviparity of Cophotis ceylanica and oviparity of Ceratophora stoddartii. Spolia Zeylanica 3: 235-237 (page numbers in print screwed up) - get paper here
 
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