Hardwicke's bloodsucker
| Hardwicke's bloodsucker | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Iguania |
| Family: | Agamidae |
| Genus: | Calotes |
| Species: | C. minor
|
| Binomial name | |
| Calotes minor | |
| |
| Synonyms | |
|
Agama minor Hardwicke & Gray 1827: 218 | |
Hardwicke's bloodsucker (Calotes minor) is an agamid lizard and found in South Asia.
Morphology
[edit]Physical structure: This is a small stocky and pot-belly lizard with a short tail. Its head large and elongated, flat above, sloping towards snout.[2] Its dorsal scales larger, strongly imbricate and keeled, pointing backward and upward, ventral scales smaller than dorsal; upper head scales larger, unequal, strongly keeled or tubercular.[3] Females are larger than the males.[1]
Color pattern: Dorsal color is olive-brown with three rows of dark-brown light edged spots on the back and base of the tail; spots of middle row are most prominent and rhomboidal; a white streak on each side of the neck is bifurcating behind and an oblique one from the eye to the angle of mouth; limbs are with dark-brown cross bars; throat is profusely spotted with dark-brown and orange; belly is yellowish-white with numerous orange dots.[3] Color inside the mouth is ink-blue.[4] Females are more brilliantly colored during breeding season.[1]
Length: Maximum:18 cm,[2] Common:10 cm. (Snout to vent 6 cm.)[2]
Distribution
[edit]Found in Bangladesh (southeast part of the country), India (Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Odissa) and Pakistan (Sindh).
Vernacular names
[edit]Bengali: আগামা গিরিগিটি, পাতি রক্তচোষা, পাতিয়াল গিরিগিটি (Patial girigiti), হার্ডউইকের গিরিগিটি।
English: Hardwicke's bloodsucker, Hardwicke's short-tail agama, dwarf rock agama, and lesser agama.
Hindi & other Indian languages: ?
Urdu & Sindhi: ?
Habitat
[edit]This lizard is terrestrial and sometimes arboreal; inhabits frequently fragmented dry forest, arid environments, barren desert and desolate areas across the Indo-Gangetic plains.[1]
Habit
[edit]This lizard is diurnal and crepuscular. It shelters in burrows close to the roots of thorny bushes.[1] Generally it is found sitting on stones, but it can climb up shrubby vegetation. It is sluggish in movements, often not attempting to escape when approached.[3] It is a docile species.[5]
Diet
[edit]This lizard is mainly insectivorous; feeding on grasshoppers and their nymphs, earwigs, beetles, bugs, arthropods and spiders.[3] Sometimes it also eats flowers.[1]
Reproduction
[edit]This lizard is oviparous; the breeding season extends from April to June; it lays four to six hard shelled white eggs in burrows under the roots of vegetation.[1]
Importance and uses
[edit]There are no known practical uses of this species, but it plays a role in the eco-system by eating various types of insects and otherwise.
Threat to humans
[edit]This lizard is non-venomous and completely harmless to humans.[6]
Etymology
[edit]The species-name minor, a Latin word, meaning 'less' or 'smaller', also referring to the smaller size of this agamid.[7]
Extra notes
[edit]This lizard has a reputation for being particularly harmful, which is totally baseless and has contributed much to its depletion.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h Mohapatra, P., Srinivasulu, C., Thakur, S. & Vyas, R. (2021). "Calotes minor". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T170377A127896966. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c [1] [dead link]
- ^ a b c d "Madhya Pradesh State Biodiversity Board". 24 October 2017. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
- ^ [2] [dead link]
- ^ B. K. Tikader; R. C. Sharma. "Handbook Indian Lizards" (PDF). Faunaofindia.nic.in. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
- ^ "Fauna of West Bengal" (PDF). Faunaofindia.nic.in. 1992. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
- ^ "Etymology of minor". Google.com.
Sources
[edit]- Blyth, E., 1856, Proceedings of the Society. Report of the Curator. J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 25:448-449
- Boulenger, G.A., 1885, Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. Geckonidae, Eublepharidae, Uroplatidae, Pygopodidae, Agamidae. London: 450 pp.
- Boulenger, George A., 1890, The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii, 541 pp.
- Günther, A., 1864, The Reptiles of British India. London (Taylor & Francis), xxvii + 452 pp.
- Hardwicke, F.R. & Gray, J.E., 1827, A synopsis of the species of saurian reptiles, collected in India by Major-General Hardwicke. Zool. J. London 3: 214-229
- Manthey, U. & Schuster, N., 1999, Agamen, 2. Aufl. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 120 pp.
- Smith, M.A., 1935, Reptiles and Amphibia, Vol. II. in: The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Taylor and Francis, London, 440 pp.
External links
[edit]- Calotes minor at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database
- "The Reptile Database". 6 May 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-05-06. Retrieved 24 January 2022.