agamidae

Family Agamidae, includes the Garden lizards or Chisel-teeth lizards, commonly known as ‘Katusso’ in Sinhala. Sri Lanka is home to 18 known species, out of which 15 ( 82.3 %) are endemic to the country, including three endemic genera and even an relict sub-family, Lyriocephalinae. Agamas are diurnal and mostly insectivorous. They lay their eggs in shallow nests on the ground.

Genus Calotes Cuvier, 1817

Calotes is the largest agamid lizard genus in the country and is represented by seven species. The most common are the Common Garden Lizard (Calotes versicolor) and the Green Garden Lizard (Calotes calotes), occuring in a wide variety of habitats throughout the island up to ca. 1500m, including most anthropogenic vegetation around human habitations. Both are largely arboreal and Caotes calotes is considered to be one of the largest agamids in the country (the other large species is Calotes nigrilabris). The rarest Calotine lizard in the island, Calotes liocephalus (Crestless Lizard) closely resembles Calotes calotes except for the absence of supratympanic spines (present in C. calotes). It is confined to the Knuckles region. Calotes ceylonensis inhabits a wide range of climatic conditions from the wet zone to the dry zone. It’s an arboreal species and inhabits trees with close proximity to water. Calotes liolepis is mainly distributed in the wet zone and in some parts of the intermediate zone. It’s an endangered species and is one of the very few agamids who can produce a hissing-like sound (C. nigrilabris has also record to has the ability), thus is called the Whistling lizard. Calotes nigrilabris is found only in montane forests above ca. 1000 m elevation. It’s a sub-arboreal species but spends much of the time on the ground foraging. Calotes desilvai is known only from the type locality, Morningside Forest Reserve (1,080 m alt.) and adjacent forest, over a range of ~10 km² at the eastern border of Sinharaja World Heritage Site.

Calotes calotes (Linnaeus, 1758); Green Garden Lizard (E); Pala Katussa (S)
Calotes ceylonensis (Müller, 1887); Painted-lip Lizard (E); Thola-visithuru Katussa (S) Endemic
Calotes desilvai Bahir & Maduwage, 2005; Desilva's Lizard (E); Desilvage Katussa(S) Endemic
Calotes liocephalus Günther, 1872; Crestless Lizard (E); Kondu Datirahita Katussa (S) Endemic
Calotes lioleps Boulenger, 1885; Whistling Lizard (E); Sivuruhandalana Katussa (S) Endemic
Calotes nigrilabris Peters, 1860; Black-cheek Lizard (E); Kalu Kopul Katussa (S) Endemic
Calotes versicolor versicolor (Daudin, 1802); Common Garden Lizard (E); Gara Katussa (S)

Genus Otocryptis Wagler, 1830

The endemic Otocryptis wiegmanni occurs throughout the wet zone while O. nigristigma is restricted to the dry and certain parts of the intermediate zone. They occupy a wide range of habitats ranging from undisturbed rain forests to highly disturbed agricultural lands and home gardens. These species are terrestrial and runs bipedally, thus are commonly known as the Kangaroo Lizards. Males have a large gular sac which is thought to play a major role in attracting females during the mating season. Otocryptis nigristigma is distinguished from O. wiegmanni by having a black patch on the male dewlap in life; medial side of inner lobe and lateral side of outer lobe of hemipenis each with 12 flounces, the distal 7 flounces enlarged; and a shorter fifth toe (14.3–16.0% of head length in males, 14.6–18.5 in females), vs. a maroon patch on male dewlap in life; medial side of inner lobe and lateral side of outer lobe of hemipenis each with 10 flounces, the distal 3 flounces enlarged; and fifth toe longer (19.2–22.2% of head length in males, 20.1–24.5 in females) in O. wiegmanni.

Otocryptis wiegmanni Wagler, 1830; Sri Lanka Kangaroo Lizard (E); Pinum Katussa (S) Endemic
Otocryptis nigristigma Bahir & Silva, 2005; Lowland Kangaroo Lizard (E); Pahatharata Pinum Katussa (S) Endemic

Genus Cophotis Peters, 1861

The Pigmy Lizards are comparatively rare agamids inhabiting the moss covered tree trunks in mountain and cloud forests above 1 300m. They are among the slowest moving reptiles in the country and can be easily identified by the irregular shaped body scales and curled prehensile tail. Pigmy Lizards are relict species. C. ceylanica is recorded from large area in the central hills of Sri Lanka including Nuwara Eliya, Hakgala, Horton Plains, Peak Wilderness range and Piduruthalagala whereas the recently described Cophotis dumbara is restricted to cardamom cultivations in the Knuckles forest range.

Cophotis ceylanica Peters, 1861; Pygmy Lizard (E); Kandukara Kurukatussa (S) Endemic
Cophotis dumbara Samarawickrama et al, 2006; Knuckles Pygmy Lizard (E); Dumbara Kurukatussa (S) Endemic

Genus Sitana Cuvier, 1829

The fan-throat Lizard (Sitana ponticeriana) in Sri Lanka is restricted to warm lowland scrublands, particularly the drier coastal areas. It is similar to Otocryptis in appearance but differs in the throat colour of the males which in Sitana is blue and white (vs. red and yellow in Otocryptis) and the number of fingers in the hind foot; as Sitana has four (vs. five in Otocryptis).

Sitana ponticeriana Cuvier, 1829; Fan-throat Lizard (E); Pulina Talikatussa, Vali Katussa (S)

Genus Ceratophora Gray, 1834

Males of this relict genus carry elongated rostral appendages, due to which they are called ‘Horned-lizards’, and the shape of the ‘horn’ differs with the species. The genus comprises five species out of which the Rhino-horned Lizard (Ceratophora stoddartii) is found in the cloud forests of the Central massif, as in Horton plains, Peak Wilderness, Haputale etc. According to the name the Rhino-horned lizard has a sharp ‘horn’ comprising of a single scale, whereas the horn of Ceratophora tennentii or the Leaf-horned Lizard is a flat leaf-like one. C. tennentii is arboreal and restricted to the Knuckles range, where it is also found in forests under planted with cardamom. The purely ground dwelling Ceratophora aspera (Rough-horned Lizard) is found in the Dipterocarp and secondary forests in the South wet zone belt. Ceratophora erdeleni and Ceratophora karu, are restricted to the Morningside forest reserve at Rakwana and some locations in Deniyaya at the eastern side of Sinharaja. Ceratophora karu is considered to be one of the rarest agamids of the country.

Ceratophora aspera Günther, 1864; Rough-horn Lizard (E); Raluang Katussa (S) Endemic
Ceratophora stoddartii Gray, 1834; Rhino-horn Lizard (E); Kagamuva Angkatussa (S) Endemic
Ceratophora tennentii Günther,1861; Leaf-nose Lizard (E); Peti Angkatussa (S) Endemic
Ceratophora erdeleni Pethiyagoda & Manamedra Arachchi 1998; Erdelen’s horn Lizard (E); Erdelenge Angkatussa (S) Endemic
Ceratophora karu Pethiyagoda & Manamedra Arachchi 1998; Karunaratne’s horn Lizard (E); Karunaratnege Angkatussa (S) Endemic

Genus Lyriocephalus Merrem, 1820

Lyriocephalus scutatus is restricted to elevations below approx. 1600m, where it inhabits the forests and the heavily planted home gardens, mainly in the wet zone and in few places of the intermediate zone. It’s a slow moving species and has both arboreal and terrestrial habits. A unique defensive posture of this species is the display of the deep red colour of the mouth.

Lyriocephalus scutatus (Linnaeus, 1758); Hump-nosed Lizard (E); Gatahombu Katussa, Karamal Bodiliya (S) Endemic