Monilesaurus ellioti (GÜNTHER, 1864)
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Monilesaurus ellioti
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| Higher Taxa | Agamidae (Draconinae), Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Elliot's Forest Lizard |
| Synonym | Calotes ellioti GÜNTHER 1864: 142 Bronchocela indica THEOBALD 1876: 105 (fide SMITH 1935) Calotes ellioti — BOULENGER 1885: 330 Calotes elliotti — SMITH 1935: 207 Calotes ellioti — WERMUTH 1967: 36 Calotes ellioti amarambalamensis MURTHY 1978 Calotes ellioti — MOODY 1980 Calotes ellioti — DAS 1996: 43 Calotes ellioti amarambalamensis — DAS 1998: 134 Monilesaurus ellioti — PAL et al. 2018: 429 |
| Distribution | India (Western Ghats, Kerala, Tamil Nadu) Type locality: Southern India. Neotype locality: Chembra reserve forest, Kerala. amarambalamensis: SW India; Type locality: Meenmutty (123 m elevation), New Amarambalam Reserve Forest, Kerala. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Neotype. CES (given as CESL) 045, adult male collected by SPP, MVP and SPV on 10t June 2010. Holotype: ZSI Madras 159 [amarambalamensis] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis and comparison. A small sized Monilesaurus (SVL up to 73.8 mm) characterized by the posteroventral orientation of lateral scales; antehumeral fold well developed, extending across the throat; 52–58 midbody scale rows; nuchal crest composed of 3–4 long, well developed spines; two separated supratympanic spines; a long, distinct isolated postorbital spine; dorsal and lateral scales keeled, ventral scales strongly keeled; paired postmentals, first pair separated by a single scale; 24–28 subdigital lamellae under fourth finger, 26–34 subdigital lamellae under fourth toe; 9–10 supralabials and 8–9 infralabials; olive brown above with angular darker cross bars on dorsum, a white spot below the eye. Morphologically M. ellioti is superficially similar to M. montanus gen. et sp. nov., M. rouxii comb. nov.; and M. acanthocephalus gen. et sp. nov., but can be distinguished by a combination of the following characters: 52–58 midbody scale rows (vs. 46–52 in M. montanus gen. et sp. nov., 62–64 in M. acanthocephalus gen. et sp. nov., and 52–56 in M. rouxii) presence of a long, distinct isolated spine in the posterior corner of orbit (vs. absent in M. rouxii; very small, indistinct tubercle like in M. montanus gen. et sp. nov., and much longer in M. acanthocephalus gen. et sp. nov.); 3–4 long nuchal spines (vs. 3–6 small nuchal spines in M. montanus gen. et sp. nov., 6 much longer nuchal spines in M. acanthocephalus gen. et sp. nov., 7–8 smaller nuchal spines in C. rouxii); longer, prominent isolated spine on the back of head and above tympanum (vs. much smaller in M. montanus gen. et sp. nov., and M. rouxii) and presence of a white spot below the eye (vs. absent in M. rouxii; in the form of a band in M. montanus gen. et sp. nov.) and smaller body size: adult SVL 59.4–73.8 mm, n=9 (vs. C. montanus gen. et sp. nov., adult SVL 61–83.4 mm, n=8; and M. acanthocephalus gen. et sp. nov. adult SVL 68.9–72.6 mm, n=3). (Pal et al. 2018: 430) |
| Comment | The original description is available online (see link below). Synonymy: Calotes ellioti amarambalamensis MURTHY 1978 was described based on a single female specimen on grounds of a differing colouration. This subspecies has not been mentioned again by this author (e.g. MURTHY 1985) and few other authors. Therefore, Manthey 2008 considered it as synonymous with Calotes elliotti GUNTHER, 1864. Pal et al. 2018 concurred with that. |
| Etymology | Named after Sir WaIter Elliot (1803-1887), a career civil servant in the East India Company, Madras (1821-1860), among other admistrative positions. He was also a distinguished Orientalist, with interests in botany, zoology, Indian languages, and archeology. |
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