Скачать или смотреть Common Garden/ Forest lizard of India | Calotes

Garden lizard or Sitana...?

This one belongs to Calotes versicolor complex

Indian garden Lizard,Calotes cf. versicolor

Calotes versicolor (Indian Garden Lizard):

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Agamidae
Genus: Calotes
Species: Calotes versicolor

Why They Change Color:
The Indian Garden Lizard, *Calotes versicolor*, changes color due to hormonal and environmental factors, especially during mating or in response to threats. Though they cannot change color as dramatically as chameleons, they exhibit color changes to signal mood, territorial behavior, or social dominance.

It is an insectivore.
This group has several species listed,but taxonomy is not so stable.central indian population was once reffered to Calotes vultosus.and I don't know if that is valid now.
The Oriental Garden Lizard (Calotes versicolor) is a widely distributed agamid that ranges from Oman across southern and southeastern Asia to Indo‐China, the Maldives, Réunion, Mauritius, and the Seychelles (Wei et al. 2018). These liz-ards are very adaptable and often occur in human-altered environments and areas of human habitation (Sudasinghe and Somaweera 2015). Calotes versicolor is found throughout India and is absent only from the trans-Himalayas

herpetology
Length snout-to-vent 11 cm total length 38 cm male broader than female.
Two small groups of spines perfectly separated from each other, above each tympanum. Dorsal crest
moderately elevated on the neck and anterior part of the trunk, extending on to the root of the tail in large
individuals, and gradually disappearing on the middle of the trunk in younger ones. The scales behind the
lower jaw are much smaller than the others. The hind foot not much longer than the head in the adult, whilst it
considerably longer in the young. The upper coloration uniform brownish to yellowish; ground-colour
generally a light brownish olive, but the lizard can change it to bright red, to black, and to a mixture of both.

The breeding-season in the months of May and June, males became highly territorial during and get a bright
red throat. They discourage intruding males by brightening their red heads and doing "push-ups". Each tries to
attract a female by inflating his throat and drawing attention to his handsomely coloured head. Oviparous
female laid about 10 to 20 eggs, buried in moist soil. The eggs are long, spindle-shaped and covered with a
leathery skin. They hatch in about 6 to7 weeks; able to breed at about 1 year old.

Calotes versicolor, the Indian Garden Lizard, is neither an iguana nor a chameleon. It belongs to the Agamidae family, which is different from both iguanas and chameleons:

Iguanas belong to the family Iguanidae, which are mostly found in the Americas and have different physical and behavioral traits.
Chameleons belong to the family Chamaeleonidae and are famous for their advanced color-changing abilities and specialized eyes.

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