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Psammophilus dorsalis (GRAY, 1831)

IUCN Red List - Psammophilus dorsalis - Least Concern, LC

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Higher TaxaAgamidae (Draconinae), Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: South Indian Rock Agama, Peninsular Rock Agama 
SynonymAgama dorsalis GRAY in GRIFFITH & PIDGEON 1831: 56
Agama dorsalis — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1837: 486
Charasia dorsalis — GRAY 1845
Charasia dorsalis — ANDERSON 1871: 151
Charasia dorsalis — BOULENGER 1885: 332
Charasia dorsalis — BOETTGER 1892: 71
Charasia dorsalis — HORA & CHOPRA 1923
Psammophilus dorsalis — SMITH 1935: 309
Psammophilus dorsalis — WERMUTH 1967: 95
Psammophilus dorsalis — DAS 1996: 45
Psammophilus dorsalis — MURTHY 2010
Psammophilus cf. dorsalis — KARTHIK et al. 2018 
DistributionS India (Malabar, Mysore, Nilgiris, S Arcot, Nallamali Hills, Bihar, Orissa = Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu)

Type locality: India.  
Reproductionoviparous 
Types 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus). The genus Psammophilus can be distinguished from the genera Cophotis, Ceratophora, Lyriocephalus, Ptyctolaemus, Phoxophrys, Japalura otai Mahony 2009, J. planidorsata Jerdon, 1870, J. sagittifera Smith, 1940 and Otocryptis by the presence of an external tympanum (Boulenger, 1885; Smith, 1935; Inger, 1960; Pethiyagoda & Manamendra-Arachchi 1998; Schulte II et al. 2004; Bahir & Silva 2005; Manamendra-Arachchi et al. 2006; Samarawickrama et al. 2006); from other members of genus Japalura by the absence of heterogenous dorsal scales and short and thick nuchal scales.
The genus Psammophilus can be diagnosed from all other species of draconinae lizards from the Indian subcontinent except Calotes minor, in having a dorso-ventrally compressed body. Psammophilus differs from Calotes minor in having small body scales and higher number of around the body scales 80–150 (vs 48–60). Psammophilus are characterized by a medium to large adult body size (SVL mm to mm); body dorso-ventrally compressed; presence of an antehumeral fold; supratympanic spines present, reduced in size; dorsal and lateral scales rows slightly irregular; nuchal and dorsal crest small, reduced; dorsal and lateral scales small, keeled, scale rows directed postero-dorsally. Psammophilus can be distinguished from its sister genus Monilesaurus gen. nov. and Calotes in having a dorso-ventrally compressed body (vs dorso-laterally compressed) and higher number of scales on the mid-body scales (more than 80 vs less than 65) and reduced nuchal crest (vs. well developed); and from Microauris gen. nov. by having a relatively large tympanum (Fig. 9d vs 9b). Scales on head large uniform shield like (vs small, sub-triangular) (Fig. 10c vs 10d). Supratympanic spines are present, in the form of two separated spines vs clusters in Calotes. Psammophilus are sexually dimorphic, adult males are larger than females and have enlarged cheeks. Psammophilus are also sexually dichromatic; during breeding season males acquire bright yellow and orange colors on the dorsum while females remain dull to dark brown with or without orange/ yellow spots (Pal et al. 2018: 437).


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CommentType species: Agama dorsalis GRAY in GRIFFITH & PIDGEON 1831 is the type species of the genus Psammophilus FITZINGER 1843: 17. Agama dorsalis GRAY is also the type species of the genus Charasia GRAY 1845: 246. Boulenger (1885), considered Oriocalotes and Charasia to be synonyms of Acanthosaura Gray 1831. 
EtymologyFrom the Latin dorsalis (of the back), relating to the characteristic dorsal pattern.

Gray did not provide an explanation for the genus name, but probably from Latin “Psammo” meaning sand and “Philus” meaning loving. 
References
  • Anderson, J. 1871. On some Indian reptiles. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1871: 149-211 - get paper here
  • Anderson, J. 1872. On some Persian, Himalayan, and other Reptiles. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1872: 371-404 - get paper here
  • Balakrishna, S., Amdekar, M. S., & Thaker, M. 2021. Morphological divergence, tail loss, and predation risk in urban lizards. Urban Ecosystems, 1-8 - get paper here
  • Balakrishna, S., Batabyal, A. and Thaker, M. 2016. Dining in the city: dietary shifts in Indian rock agamas across an urban–rural landscape. Journal of Herpetology 50 (3): 423-428 - get paper here
  • Balakrishna, Shashank and Nitin Achari. 2014. Preliminary observations on the ovipositional behavior of the Peninsular Rock Agama Psammophilus dorsalis (Gray, 1831) from Savandurga forest area of Southwestern Karnataka, India. Herpetology Notes 7: 319-322 - get paper here
  • Batabyal, A., Zambre, A., Mclaren, T., Rankin, K. J., Somaweera, R., Stuart‐Fox, D., & Thaker, M. 2023. The extent of rapid colour change in male agamid lizards is unrelated to overall sexual dichromatism. Ecology and Evolution, 13(7), e10293 - get paper here
  • Boettger, O. 1892. Listen von Kriechtieren und Lurchen aus dem tropischen Asien und aus Papuasien. Ber. Tät. Offenb. Ver. Nat., Offenbach, 29 - 32: 65 - 164 - 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.
  • Duméril, A. M. C. and G. Bibron. 1837. Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete des Reptiles. Vol. 4. Libr. Encyclopédique Roret, Paris, 570 pp. - get paper here
  • Ganesh, S. R.; M. Arumugam 2016. Species Richness of Montane Herpetofauna of Southern Eastern Ghats, India: A Historical Resume and a Descriptive Checklist. Russ. J. Herpetol. 23 (1): 7-24 - get paper here
  • Ganesh, S.R.; A. Kalaimani, P. Karthik, N. Baskaran, R. Nagarajan & S.R.Chandramouli 2018. Herpetofauna of Southern Eastern Ghats, India – II From Western Ghats to Coromandel Coast. Asian Journal of Conservation Biology, July 2018. Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 28-45 - 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
  • GOLUSU BABU RAO1, BUDDI LAXMI NARAYANA & KUMMARI SWAMY 2014. A note on behaviour of the peninsular rock agama (Psammophilus dorsalis) at Yellampet, in Telangana, India. Herpetological Bulletin (130) - get paper here
  • Gray, J. E. 1831. A synopsis of the species of Class Reptilia. In: Griffith, E & E. Pidgeon: The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organisation by the Baron Cuvier with additional descriptions of all the species hither named, and of many before noticed [V Whittaker, Treacher and Co., London: 481 + 110 pp. [1830] - get paper here
  • Hora, S.L.; Chopra, B. 1923. Reptilia and Batrachia of the Salt Range, Punjab. Records of the Indian Museum 4 (25): 369-376
  • Karthik, Pandi; Ayuthavel Kalaimani, Rathinalingam Nagarajan 2018. An inventory on herpetofauna with emphasis on conservation from Gingee Hills, Eastern-Ghats, Southern India. Asian Journal of Conservation Biology 7 (1): 2-16 - get paper here
  • Khanduri, S., Thirumurugan, V., CS, V., Chinnasamy, R., Das, A., & Talukdar, G. 2022. A note on opportunistic records of reptiles from the Moyar River Valley Landscape, Tamil Nadu, southern India. Journal of Animal Diversity 4 (4) - get paper here
  • Manthey U 2010. Agamid Lizards of Southern Asia. Draconinae 2 -Leiolepidinae. Edition Chimaira, Terralog 7b, Frankfurt, 168 pp.
  • Murthy, T.S.N. 1986. Lizards of the Kurnool District, Andhra, India. Bull. Maryland Herp. Soc. 22 (3): 134-143 - 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
  • Murthy, T.S.N. 2010. The reptile fauna of India. B.R. Publishing, New Delhi, 332 pp.
  • 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
  • RANADE, DEVICA & KAVITA ISVARAN. 2022. Inferring Social Interactions Over a Lifespan from Space-Use Patterns in a Tropical Agamid. Journal of Herpetology 56(2): 164–171. - get paper here
  • Sailu, G; B Laxmi Narayana, Deepak Ramaiyan, B Naresh, V Vasudeva Rao, Harikrishna Adepu, Rajeev Khandelwal, Pariksheet Devulapalli and Phani Krishna 2017. Faunal diversity of Ameenpur Lake, Telangana state, India: A biodiversity heritage site. Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 5(1): 512-526 - 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.
  • Veeranagoudar, Dheeraj K.; Bhagyashri A. Shanbhag, Srinivas K. Saidapur. 2010. A novel thermoregulatory behavior in a gravid rock lizard, Psammophilus dorsalis. Herpetology Notes 3: 101-103.
  • 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
  • Vishnu, C.S.; Anbazhagan Abinesh 2023. Love Bite : A courtship trait in the South Indian Rock Agama (Psammophilus dorsalis). Reptiles & Amphibians 30 (1): e18621 - get paper here
 
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