Garden lizard or Calotes versicolor

Spotted a Garden lizard or Calotes versicolor on a tree in India.

Calotes is a lizard genus in the draconine clade of the family Agamidae, containing 24 species. Some species are known as forest lizards, others as "bloodsuckers" due to their red heads, and yet others (namely C. versicolor) as garden lizards. They are native to South Asia, southern China, mainland Southeast Asia and Ambon. Additionally, C. versicolor has been introduced to Florida (USA), Borneo, Sulawesi, the Seychelles, Mauritius and Oman. The greatest species richness of the genus is from the Western Ghats, northeast India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Calotes is distinguished from related genera in having uniform size dorsal scales, and lacking a fold of skin extending between the cheek and shoulder, and in having proportionately stronger limbs than Pseudocalotes. Compared to Bronchocela, Calotes have a proportionately shorter tail and limbs. Calotes as we know it today was classified by Moody (1980) prior to which all of the above mentioned genera were included in this genus.

The genus is still a heterogeneous group that may be divided into the C. versicolor and C. liolepis groups. The former occurs through most of South Asia and further east. All species in this group have their dorsal and lateral scales directed upward. The latter is restricted to the southern Western Ghats and Sri Lanka. All species in this group have their scales directed back, or up and down, or down only. Whether further splitting is necessary or whether the groups constitute subgenera of a monophyletic Calotes remains to be studied.

Spurce : Wikipedia

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