Calotes pethiyagodai

Calotes pethiyagodai

Pethiyagoda's crestless lizard

Kingdom
Phylum
Subphylum
Class
Order
Suborder
Family
Genus
SPECIES
Calotes pethiyagodai

The Pethiyagoda's crestless lizard (Calotes pethiyagodai ) is an agamid lizard endemic to Sri Lanka. Locally known as පෙතියාගොඩගේ නොසිලු කටුස්සා (Pethiyagodage nosilu katussa).

Appearance

Researchers named the new lizard "Pethiyagoda's crestless lizard" to honor Rohan Pethiyagoda for his contributions to the biodiversity of Sri Lanka. This species has earlier been misidentified as Calotes liocephalus but researchers found that the males of C. pethiyagodai lack a gular pouch unlike the males of C. liocephalus ; scalation is also different.

Distribution

Geography

The lizard is restricted to the Knuckles Mountain Range, at elevations of 900–1,400 m (3,000–4,600 ft) asl. It inhabits forest edges and is found in trees and shrubs.

Diet and Nutrition

Diet consists of insects like dragonflies and moths.

References

1. Calotes pethiyagodai Wikipedia article - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calotes_pethiyagodai

More Fascinating Animals to Learn About