103.126.43.106 at 10:13, 8 July 2025

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{{Short description|Genus of lizards}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Calotes versicolor (Oriental Garden Lizard).jpg
| image_caption = ''[[Calotes versicolor|C. versicolor]]'', male
| taxon = Calotes
| authority = [[Georges Cuvier|Cuvier]], 1817<ref>{{ITIS|id=209043|taxon=''Calotes''|access-date=27 September 2023}}</ref>
| subdivision_ranks = [[Species]]
| subdivision = 29 species, see [[#Species|here]]
}}

'''''Calotes''''' is a [[genus]] of [[lizard]]s in the [[Draconinae|draconine]] [[clade]] of the [[Family (biology)|family]] [[Agamidae]]. The genus contains 29 [[species]]. Some species are known as '''forest lizards''', others as '''"bloodsuckers"''' due to their red heads, and yet others (namely ''[[Calotes versicolor|C. versicolor]]'') as '''garden lizards'''. The genus name ''Calotes'' has been derived from the Greek word ''Καλότης (Kalótës)'', meaning ‘beauty’, referring to the beautiful pattern of this genus.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.summagallicana.it/Agassiz_nomenclator_zoologicus/Reptilia.htm | title=''Agassiz nomenclator zoologicus nomenclatore zoologico'' |language=it}}</ref>

==Geographic range==
Species in the genus ''Calotes'' are native to [[South Asia]], southern China, [[mainland Southeast Asia]] and [[Ambon Island|Ambon]]. Additionally, ''C. versicolor'' has been [[Introduced species|introduced]] to [[Florida]] (USA), [[Borneo]], [[Sulawesi]], the [[Seychelles]], [[Mauritius]] and [[Oman]].<ref name="RDB">''[http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Calotes&species=versicolor Calotes versicolor].'' The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org. Retrieved 17 January 2013</ref> The greatest [[species richness]] of the genus is from the [[Western Ghats]], northeast India, [[Myanmar]], [[Bangladesh]] and [[Sri Lanka]].

==Description==
''Calotes'' is distinguished from related genera in having uniform-sized dorsal scales, and lacking a fold of skin extending between the cheek and shoulder, and in having proportionately stronger limbs than ''[[Pseudocalotes]]''. Compared to ''[[Bronchocela]]'', ''Calotes'' have a proportionately shorter tail and limbs. ''Calotes'' as we know it today was classified by Moody (1980) prior to which all of the above-mentioned genera were included in this genus.

==Taxonomy==
[[File:Green garden lizard (Calotes calotes) male breeding (cropped).jpg|thumb|''[[Calotes calotes|C. calotes]]'' male.]]The genus ''Calotes'' is still a heterogeneous group that may be divided into the ''C. versicolor'' and ''C. liocephalus'' groups.<ref>[[Malcolm Arthur Smith|Smith MA]] (1935). ''The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol II.—Sauria''. London: Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 440 pp. + Plate I + 2 maps. (''Calotes'' groups, pp. 182-183)</ref> The former occurs through most of South Asia and further east. All species in this group have their dorsal and lateral scales directed upward. The latter is restricted to the southern Western Ghats and Sri Lanka. All species in this group have their scales directed back, or up and down, or down only. Whether further splitting is necessary or whether the groups constitute [[subgenera]] of a [[monophyletic]] ''Calotes'' remains to be studied.

==Species==
Listed alphabetically by [[Specific name (zoology)|specific name]].<ref>''[http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/advanced_search?genus=Calotes&submit=Search ''Calotes'']. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.</ref>

* [[File:Calotes ceylonensis at Kandalama.jpg|thumb|''[[Calotes ceylonensis|C. ceylonensis]]'']]''[[Calotes bachae]]'' {{small|[[species:Timo Hartmann|Hartmann]] et al., 2013}}<ref>[[species:Timo Hartmann|Hartmann T]], [[species:Peter Geissler|Geissler P]], [[species:Nikolay Andreevich Poyarkov Jr.|Poyarkov NA Jr]], [[species:Flora Ihlow|Ihlow F]], [[species:Eduard Artashesovich Galoyan|Galoyan EA]], [[species:Dennis Rödder|Rödder D]], [[species:Wolfgang Böhme|Böhme W]] (2013). "A new species of the genus ''Calotes'' Cuvier, 1817 (Squamata: Agamidae) from southern Vietnam". ''Zootaxa'' '''3599''' (3): 246–260.</ref>
* ''[[Calotes bhutanensis]]'' {{small|[[species:Sayantan Biswas|Biswas]], 1975}}
* ''[[Calotes calotes]]'' {{small|([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758)}} – common green forest lizard
* ''[[Calotes ceylonensis]]'' {{small|([[Fritz Müller (doctor)|F. Müller]], 1887)}} – painted-lip lizard, Ceylon bloodsucker
* ''[[Calotes chincollium]]'' {{small|[[species:Jens V. Vindum|Vindum]], 2003}}
* ''[[Calotes desilvai]]'' {{small|[[species:Mohomed M. Bahir|Bahir]] & [[species:Kalana Maduwage|Maduwage]], 2005}} - Morningside lizard, Ceylon black-band whistling lizard
* ''[[Calotes emma]]'' {{small|[[John Edward Gray|Gray]], 1845}} – Emma Gray's forest lizard, forest crested lizard
** ''[[Calotes emma alticristatus]]'' {{small|[[Karl Patterson Schmidt|K.P. Schmidt]], 1925}}
** ''Calotes emma emma'' {{small|Gray, 1845}}
* ''[[Calotes farooqi]]'' {{small|[[Walter Auffenberg|Auffenberg]] & [[species:Hafizur Rehman|Rehman]], 1995}} – Farooq's garden lizard[[File:Calotes mystaceus 275810202 (cropped).jpg|thumb|''[[Calotes mystaceus|C. mystaceus]]'']]
* ''[[Calotes geissleri]]'' {{small|[[species:Philipp Wagner|Wagner]], [[species:Flora Ihlow|Ihlow]], Hartmann, [[species:Morris Flecks|Flecks]], [[species:Andreas Schmitz|Schmitz]] & [[species:Wolfgang Böhme|Böhme]], 2021}}
* ''[[Calotes goetzi]]'' {{small|Wagner, Ihlow, Hartmann, Flecks, Schmitz & Böhme, 2021}}
* ''[[Calotes grandisquamis]]'' {{small|[[Albert Günther|Günther]], 1864}} – large-scaled forest lizard
* ''[[Calotes htunwini]]'' {{small|[[species:George Robert Zug|Zug]] & Vindum, 2006}}
* ''[[Calotes irawadi]]'' {{small|Zug, [[species:Herrick H.K. Brown|Brown]], [[species:James A. Schulte II|Schulte]] & Vindum, 2006}}
* [[File:Calotes nemoricola Wayanad.jpg|thumb|''[[Calotes nemoricola|C. nemoricola]]'']]''[[Calotes jerdoni]]'' {{small|Günther, 1870}} – Jerdon's forest lizard
* ''[[Calotes liocephalus]]'' {{small|Günther, 1872}} – spineless forest lizard, crestless lizard, lionhead agama
* ''[[Calotes liolepis]]'' {{small|([[George Albert Boulenger|Boulenger]], 1885)}} – whistling lizard, Sri Lanka agama
* ''[[Calotes manamendrai]]'' {{small|([[species:A.A. Thasun Amarasinghe|Amarasinghe]] & [[species:D.M.S. Suranjan Karunarathna|Karunarathna]], 2014)}} – Manamendra-Arachchi's whistling lizard
* ''[[Calotes maria]]'' {{small|Gray, 1845}} – Khasi Hills forest lizard
* ''[[Calotes medogensis]]'' {{small|([[Zhao Ermi|Zhao]] & [[species:Sheng-Quan Li|S.-Q. Li]], 1984)}} – Medog bloodsucker
* ''[[Calotes minor]]'' {{small|([[Thomas Hardwicke|Hardwicke]] & Gray, 1827)}} – Hardwicke's bloodsucker
* ''[[Calotes mystaceus]]'' {{small|([[André Marie Constant Duméril|A.M.C. Duméril]] & [[Gabriel Bibron|Bibron]], 1837)}} – Indo-Chinese forest lizard, blue-crested lizard
* ''[[Calotes nemoricola]]'' {{small|[[Thomas C. Jerdon|Jerdon]], 1853}} – Nilgiri forest lizard[[File:Male Calotes versicolor.jpg|thumb|''[[Oriental garden lizard|C. versicolor]]'' male.]]
* ''[[Calotes nigrilabris]]'' {{small|([[Wilhelm Peters|W. Peters]], 1860)}} – black-cheek lizard
* ''[[Calotes nigriplicatus]]'' {{small|[[species:Jakob Hallermann|Hallermann]], 2000}}
* ''[[Calotes paulus]]'' {{small|([[Malcolm Arthur Smith|M.A. Smith]], 1935)}} – small forest lizard
* ''[[Calotes pethiyagodai]]'' {{small|(Amarasinghe, Karunarathna & Hallermann, 2014)}}
* ''[[Calotes sinyik]]'' {{small|Patel et al. 2024}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Patel |first=Harshil |last2=Thackeray |first2=Tejas |last3=Sheth |first3=Chintan |last4=Khandekar |first4=Akshay |last5=Agarwal |first5=Ishan |date=2024-10-15 |title=A new small-sized Calotes Cuvier (Squamata: Agamidae: Draconinae) from the Subansiri river basin, Arunachal Pradesh, India |url=https://mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.5523.2.1 |journal=Zootaxa |language=en |volume=5523 |issue=2 |pages=151–170 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.5523.2.1 |issn=1175-5334|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* ''[[Calotes versicolor]]'' {{small|([[François Marie Daudin|Daudin]], 1802)}} – Oriental garden lizard, changeable lizard, eastern garden lizard
* ''[[Calotes vindumbarbatus]]'' {{small|Wagner, Ihlow, Hartmann, Flecks, Schmitz & Böhme, 2021}}
* ''[[Calotes wangi]]'' {{small|[[species:Yong Huang|Huang]], [[species:Hong-Yu Li|H.-Y. Li]], [[species:Yi-Lin Wang|Wang]], [[species:Mao-Jin Li|M.-J. Li]], [[species:Mian Hou|Hou]] & [[species:Bo Cai|Cai]], 2024}}
* ''[[Calotes zolaiking]]'' {{small|[[species:Varad B. Giri|Giri]], [[species:R. Chaitanya|Chaitanya]], [[species:Stephen Mahony|Mahony]], [[species:Samuel Lalrounga|Lalrounga]], [[species:C. Lalrinchhana|Lalrinchhana]], [[species:Abhijit Das|A. Das]], [[species:Vivek Sarkar|Sarkar]], [[species:K. Praveen Karanth|Karanth]] & [[species:Veerappan Deepak|Deepak]], 2019}} – Mizoram montane forest lizard

Two species formerly treated as members of the genus ''Calotes'' were separated into a new genus, ''[[Monilesaurus]]'', in 2018.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.4482.3.1|pmid=30313808|title=A systematic revision of ''Calotes'' Cuvier, 1817 (Squamata: Agamidae) from the Western Ghats adds two genera and reveals two new species|journal=Zootaxa|volume=4482|issue=3|pages=401–450|year=2018|last1=Pal|first1=Saunak|author1-link=species:Saunak Pal|last2=Vijayakumar|first2=S.P.|author2-link=species:Seenapuram Palaniswamy Vijayakumar|last3=Shanker|first3=Kartik|author3-link=species:Kartik Shanker|last4=Jayarajan|first4=Aditi|author4-link=species:Aditi Jayarajan|last5=Deepak|first5=V.|author5-link=species:Veerappan Deepak}}</ref>
* ''[[Monilesaurus ellioti]]'' {{small|Günther, 1864}} – Elliot's forest lizard
* ''[[Monilesaurus rouxii]]'' {{small|A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1837}} – Roux's forest lizard, Roux's forest Calotes

''[[Nota bene]]'': A [[Binomial nomenclature|binomial authority]] in parentheses or a [[Trinomen|trinomial authority]] in parentheses indicates that the species or the [[subspecies]] was originally described in a genus other than ''Calotes''.

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="130">
File:Calotes bachae 183517348 (cropped 2).jpg|''[[Calotes bachae|C. bachae]]''
File:Calotes emma 3420729.jpg|''[[Calotes emma|C. emma]]''
File:Large-scaled forest lizard IMG 1023.jpg|''[[Calotes grandisquamis|C. grandisquamis]]''
File:Calotes jerdoni P1130608 02.jpg|[[Calotes jerdoni|''C. jerdoni'']]
File:Calotes nigrilabris 60068657 (cropped).jpg|''[[Calotes nigrilabris|C. nigrilabris]]''
File:Oriocalotes paulus.jpg|''[[Small forest lizard|C. paulus]]''
File:Calotes female.jpg|A female ''Calotes'' at Pune, India.
File:Garden Lizard India vs.jpg|A garden lizard, South India.
</gallery>

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin|2}}
*[[species:Jakob Hallermann|HALLERMANN J]], [[species:Wolfgang Böhme|BÖHME W]] (2000). "A review of the genus ''Pseudocalotes'' (Squamata: Agamidae), with description of a new species from West Malaysia". ''Amphibia-Reptilia'' '''21''': 193–210.
*HALLERMANN J (2005). "A taxonomic review of the genus ''Bronchocela'' (Squamata: Agamidae), with description of a new species from Vietnam". ''Russian Journal of Herpetology'' '''12''' (3): 167–182.
*[[species:Scott Michael Moody|MOODY SM]] (1980). ''Phylogenetic relationships and historical biogeographical relationships of the genera in the family Agamidae (Reptilia: Lacertilia)''. PhD dissertation. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 373 pp.
*[[species:George Robert Zug|ZUG GR]], [[species:Herrick H.K. Brown|BROWN HHK]], [[species:James A. Schulte II|SCHULTE JA II]], [[species:Jens V. Vindum|VINDUM JV]] (2006). "Systematics of the Garden Lizards, ''Calotes versicolor'' Group (Reptilia, Squamata, Agamidae), in Myanmar: Central Dry Zone Populations". ''Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Fourth Series'' '''57''' (2): 35–68.
{{Refend}}

==References==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikispecies}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q1875940}}
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[[Category:Calotes| ]]
[[Category:Lizard genera]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Georges Cuvier]]

Calotes - Revision history

103.126.43.106 at 10:13, 8 July 2025