Monilesaurus, Pal & Vijayakumar & Shanker & Jayarajan & Deepak, 2018

Pal, Saunak, Vijayakumar, S. P., Shanker, Kartik, Jayarajan, Aditi & Deepak, V., 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), pp. 401-450 : 426-427

Monilesaurus gen. nov.

Type species. Calotes rouxii (Duméril & Bibron, 1837)

Content. Monilesaurus ellioti comb. nov., Monilesaurus montanus gen. et sp. nov. , Monilesaurus rouxii comb. nov. and Monilesaurus acanthocephalus gen. et sp. nov.

Etymology. The genus epithet is derived by adding the word ‘Monile’ meaning necklace in Latin referring to the distinct neck fold in this genus and the Greek word sauros meaning lizard which is latinized here as saurus.

Diagnosis. Monilesaurus gen. nov. can be easily diagnosed from all members of draconinae lizards from the Indian subcontinent except Psammophilus in having an antehumeral fold, which mostly extends below the dewlap forming a fused fold on the shoulder and the neck. It differs from Psammophilus in having a dorso-laterally compressed body and lower number of scales on the mid-body. Supratympanic spines are present, in the form of two separated spines vs clusters in Calotes and Psammophilus . From Microauris gen. nov. by having a relatively large tympanum ( Fig. 9c vs. 9b). Scales on head large uniform shield like (vs small, sub-triangular) ( Fig. 10a vs 10d).

Monilesaurus gen. nov. can be easily diagnosed from the genera Otocryptis , Sarada Deepak, Karanth & Giri, 2016 and Sitana Cuvier, 1829 by the presence of a well-developed fifth toe ( Smith, 1935; Deepak et al. 2016). Monilesaurus gen. nov. differs from Mantheyus phuwuanensis by the absence of femoral pores ( Manthey & Nabhitabhata, 1991; Ananjeva & Stuart 2001); from the members of the genus Bronchocela by the presence of postorbital and supratympanic spines ( Hallermann & Böhme 2000); from Cophotis, Ceratophora , Lyriocephalus , Ptyctolaemus Peters, 1864 , Phoxophrys Hubrecht, 1881 by the presence of 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). Monilesaurus gen. nov. can be diagnosed from Japalura, Gray 1853 by the absence of heterogenous dorsal scales and short and thick nuchal scales; from Salea Gray, 1845 ( S. anamallayana and S. horsfieldii ) by the presence of small regular lateral scales and the absence of enlarged plate like scales between the eye and tympanum ( Smith, 1935); from Complictus nigrigularis ( Ota & Hikida, 1991), Hypsicalotes kinabaulensis (de Grijs, 1937) , Malayadracon robinsonii (Boulenger, 1908), Oriocalotes ( Günther, 1864) Pseudocophotis ( Manthey & Grossmann, 1997) and Pseudocalotes by the absence of enlarged row of suborbital scales ( Smith, 1935; Taylor 1963; Ota & Hikida, 1991; Manthey & Denzer 1992; Inger & Steubing 1994; Ota & Hikida, 1996; Hallermann & Böhme 2000; Manthey & Denzer, 2000; Hallermann & McGuire 2001; Leong 2001; Manamendra-Arachchi et al. 2006; Samarawickrama et al. 2006; Ananjeva et al. 2007; Hallermann & Böhme 2007; Das & Lakim 2008; Hallermann et al. 2010; Mahony 2010; Harvey et al. 2014; Denzer et al. 2015; Grismer LL et al. 2016; Harvey et al. 2017).

Taxonomic comments. Monilesaurus rouxii comb. nov. was described as Calotes rouxii (Duméril & Bibron, 1837) . The name bearing type is a male specimen housed at MNHN. The type locality of this species is named as “Indes orientales”. Günther (1864) described another similar looking species from southern India, Calotes ellioti . Based on their size similarity Smith (1935) called them dwarf species. Here, we formally transfer these two extant species to this new genus. We also describe two new species belonging to this genus based on similar morphological characters and their phylogenetic position.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Lateral close-up of head characteristics of the four sister clades A. Calotes, B. Microauris, C. Monilesaurus and D. Psammophilus. Scale bar: 10 mm.

FIGURE 10. Dorsal and ventral close-ups of head characteristics of the four sister clades A., E. Monilesaurus; B., F. Calotes; C., G. Psammophilus; and D., H. Microauris.