Calotes irawadi Zug, Brown, Schulte and Vindum, 2007

Gowande, Gaurang, Pal, Saunak, Jablonski, Daniel, Masroor, Rafaqat, Phansalkar, Pushkar U., Dsouza, Princia, Jayarajan, Aditi & Shanker, Kartik, 2021, Molecular phylogenetics and taxonomic reassessment of the widespread agamid lizard Calotes versicolor (Daudin, 1802) (Squamata, Agamidae) across South Asia, Vertebrate Zoology 71, pp. 669-696 : 669

Calotes irawadi Zug, Brown, Schulte and Vindum, 2007

Taxonomic comments.

The species can be diagnosed by its posteriorad or vertical orientation of the scale rows of the neck and the supra-axillary region, this separates the species from C. htunwini ; detailed comparisons with C. versicolor , the species resurrected and elevated in this communication are provided in the diagnoses and comparisons sections of those species. The species was thought to have a narrower distribution in the Central Dry Zone of Myanmar, in comparison to C. htunwini ( Zug et al. 2007). It was subsequently reported from the northeast Indian states of Assam and Tripura ( Das et al. 2009, Anonymous 2020), and has recently been reported from Western Yunnan, China ( Liu et al. 2021). Our samples from northeast Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura belonged to Clade2 (Fig. 2 ), thus confirming the occurrence of the species in northeast India.

Holotype.

MYANMAR • 1 ♂; Sagaing Division, Chatthin Wildlife Sanctuary; 23.5743°N, 95.7376°E; ca. 110 m. a. s. l.; 17 Jul. 1997; USNM 520543.

Original description.

Zug et al. (2007). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 57(2): 35-68.

Figures

Figure 2. The ML phylogenetic output representing the ML + BI phylogeny based on the 1130 bp long 16 S + COI combined dataset representing the clustering pattern of the sequences of the Calotes versicolor species complex. Values at the nodes indicate ultrafast ML bootstrap values / BI posterior probabilities. Colour code follows that of Figure 1. Calotes grandisquamis and Calotes nemoricola were used as the outgroup to root the trees.