Calotes nemoricola Jerdon, 1853

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 : 425-426

Calotes nemoricola Jerdon, 1853

Calotes nemoricola— Jerdon, 1853. J. Asiat. Soc. Beng. xxii, 1853: 471.

Original description. Jerdon, 1853. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, xxii, 1853: 471.

Taxonomic comments. Calotes nemoricola was described based on specimens collected from ‘Foot of “Coonoor Ghat, Nilgherries’ (“Coonoor”, Nilgiri hills, Tamil Nadu, India). The type collected by Jerdon is a much mutilated male specimen ( Smith 1935) and is housed in the collection of ZSIK (Das et al. 1998). Another male topotype is housed in the collection of BNHS (BNHS 373) ( Smith 1935).

Holotype: ZSI 6560. The specimen is in poor condition; the posterior part of the body along with the hindlimbs and tail is broken.

Material examined. CESL 0 38 adult male collected from Bonaccord, Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary , Kerala ; CESL 406 adult male collected from Kanyakumari Wildlife Sanctuary , Tamil Nadu ; CESL 545 adult male collected from Makuta, Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary , Karnataka ; CESL 555 adult male collected from Bidahalli, Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary , Karnataka ; BNHS 1778 adult male collected from Kudremukh National Park , Karnataka ; BNHS 373 adult male collected from “ Coonoor ” Ghat, Nilgiri hills, Tamil Nadu ; BMNH 74.4 .29.224 male, 74.4.29.225 female both collected from Malabar and ZSI 6560 male collected from the foothills of “ Coonoor Ghat. Details of collection locality, specimen voucher and GenBank accession number in Appendix 1.

Diagnosis and comparison. A large sized Calotes (SVL up to 134.8 mm) characterized by the posterodorsal orientation of lateral scales; antehumeral fold absent; 36–43 midbody scale rows; nuchal crest well developed composed of long spines, dorsal crest reduced, almost indistinct behind the midbody; row of 3–4 compressed supratympanic spines; postorbital spine absent; a crescent-shaped patch of granular scales in front of the shoulder present; dorsal and lateral scales large, mostly smooth, weakly keeled towards the flanks, ventral scales strongly keeled, mucronate; paired postmentals, first pair separated by 1–2 median scales; 21–23 subdigital lamellae under fourth finger, 25–31 subdigital lamellae under fourth toe; 10–12 supralabials and 10–11 infralabials; green to brownish above, uniform, often with a dark streak from eye to above tympanum, ventral white to pale grey.

C. nemoricola can be distinguished from members of Smith’s C. versicolor group by a combination of the following characters: larger body size: mean adult SVL 125.8 mm, n=7 (vs. C. versicolor , adult SVL 73.8–99.4 mm, n=9 and C. calotes , adult SVL 73.6–96.8 mm, n=3); 36–43 midbody scale rows (30–35 in C. calotes , n=3, 38– 44 in C. versicolor ; 58–63 in C. maria ; 45–57 in C. jerdoni ; 49–65 in C. emma ; 48–58 in C. mystaceus and 48–60 in C. minor ); nuchal crest well developed with longer spines, dorsal crest reduced (vs. nuchal and dorsal crest well developed, composed of almost equal spines in C. versicolor and C. mystaceus ); row of 3–4 compressed supratympanic spines (vs. two well separated supratympanic spines in C. versicolor , 8–9 compressed spines in C. calotes , two parallel rows of compressed supratympanic scales in C. maria and C. jerdoni ; single well developed postorbital spine in C. emma ); presence of a crescent-shaped patch of granular scales in front of the shoulder (vs. absent in C. versicolor , C. calotes and C. maria ) and lateral scales much larger than ventrals (vs. almost equal to the ventrals in C. calotes ).

Morphologically, it is mostly similar to the closely related C. grandisquamis but can be distinguished based on higher number of midbody scale rows (36–43 vs. 27–35); smaller scales between eye and tympanum, much smaller than tympanum (vs. much larger scales, almost equal to the tympanum); scales on the cheek smaller, weakly keeled (vs. larger, smooth); gular scales keeled, smaller than mental (vs. gular scales smooth, equal to or slightly larger than the mental) and dorsal crest reduced, not extending beyond mid body (dorsal crest well developed, till above the base of tail). Even though these two large bodied species show the above-mentioned morphological differences, there has been some confusion in their correct identification in the recent past. To clarify this, a detailed comparison to distinguish these two species was provided by Ganesh & Chandramouli (2013).

Description. Based on specimen CESL 555. A large sized adult male (SVL- 120.4 mm), morphometric and meristic data are summarised in Appendix 2 & 3. General habitus compressed. Head moderate (HL/SVL ratio 0.25), elongate (HW/HL ratio 0.75), maximum height slightly less than maximum width; snout pointed; rostral broader than high; nostrils in single nasal shield which is separated from rostral by two scales; mental shield narrower than rostral; two postmentals, first pair separated from each other by two small scales; genials keeled; gular sac small, composed of keeled scales, strongly keeled towards the medial row, slightly smaller than genials; scales on top of snout smooth except median row, which is keeled; scales on top of head heterogenous in shape and size, keeled towards the edges; supraorbital scales keeled; canthus-rostralis and supraciliary edge sharp; 4 supratympanic spines in a row, compressed; orbit diameter 69% of distance between anterior border of orbit and snout tip; tympanum exposed, its greatest diameter 46% of horizontal diameter of orbit; partially keeled, scales between tympanum and orbit smooth, not enlarged; posterior region of jaws distinctly swollen; supralabials 11/11; infralabials 11/11.

Nuchal crest well developed, continuous with the much reduced dorsal crest; dorsal crest reaching slightly behind midbody; nuchal crest composed of 16 long, conical spines, the first being the smallest and fourth the longest; longest nuchal spine 65% of the orbit; dorsal spines less than half the nuchal spines in length; 41 longitudinal scale rows around midbody; dorsal and lateral scales sub-triangular, smooth, oriented posterodorsally; a crescent-shaped patch of small, granular scales present in front of the shoulder.

Limbs moderate and covered with weakly keeled scales, stronger towards the end forming parallel longitudinal rows; scales under thighs weakly keeled; length of hindlimb ca. 71 % SVL; relative length of fingers 4>3>2>5>1, third and fourth finger almost equal; relative lengths of toes 4>3>5>2>1; fourth toe much longer than fifth finger; 21 subdigital lamellae under fourth finger; 27 subdigital lamellae under fourth toe; subdigital lamellae keeled, bicarinate; slender, swollen at the base; scales on dorsal and ventral surface of tail keeled, ventral tail scales mucronate; tail length 268 mm.

Colouration. In life: dorsum and head uniform, light green above with slightly brownish lateral scales; a thick milky white band from behind the head till end of nuchal crest extending across the neck; head laterally brighter green, whitish below the cheeks; pupil black surrounded by a brick red iris; lip scales green; legs uniform darker shade of green; tympanum pale bluish green; ventral uniformly white; tail greenish at the start turning dull brownish towards the end. This individual changed colour at the slightest disturbance and turned dark brown overall with a dark olive head and a prominent white band behind the head. Representative image showing live colouration ( Fig. 5b ). In preservative: colouration mostly similar to that in life, except overall paler.

Variation and secondary sexual characteristics. Meristic and morphometric data of the examined specimens are given in Appendix 2 & 3. The examined specimens agree with each other in general morphology and scalation. The only female specimen we examined (BMNH 74.4.29.255) had no cheek pouches or a swollen tail base.

Distribution. Calotes nemoricola is endemic to the Western Ghats and is distributed in the low to mid elevation evergreen forests of the southern part of central Western Ghats (Agumbe and south) and the southern Western Ghats ( Inger et al. 1984; Naniwadekar & Deepak 2008). During the present study, this species was recorded from various sites in the hills of central and southern Western Ghats (See Appendix 1 for details).

Ecology and natural history. Calotes nemoricola is a diurnal lizard, mostly arboreal in habit, and so far, has been recorded mostly from primary evergreen forests. Individuals were mostly seen perched on high branches and actively moving on tree trunks inside forests. In a few instances, it was also found sleeping on lower branches at night. This species has mostly been recorded from low elevations (up to 600 m msl) in the southern Western Ghats but has sometimes been recorded from high elevation evergreen forests in the central Western Ghats (around 1000 m msl). It might overlap in distribution with the other large green agamid C. grandisquamis at its higher elevation range extremes given their preference of similar microhabitat. During this study, they were not recorded to be syntopic at any site.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Lateral photograph showing live coloration of A. adult male C. grandisquamis and B. adult male C. nemoricola.