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Miscellaneous Natural History Observations of Large-scaled Forest Lizards,

Calotes grandisquamis Günther 1875 (Squamata: Agamidae)

Article · March 2020

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WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNAL
TABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS
IRCF REPTILES
• VOL15, &
NOAMPHIBIANS •
4 • DEC 2008 189 27(1):73–76 • APR 2020

REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS

IRCF
C O N S E R V AT I O N A N D N AT U R A L H I S T O R Y

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

Miscellaneous Natural History Observations

FEATURE ARTICLES
 Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin:

of Large-scaled Forest Lizards,

On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...................... Joshua M. Kapfer 190
 The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada:
A Hypothetical Excursion ............................................................................................................................Robert W. Henderson 198

Calotes grandisquamis Günther 1875

RESEARCH ARTICLES

(Squamata: Agamidae)
 The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ....................... Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204
 The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida
............................................. Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212

CONSERVATION ALERT S.R. Ganesh1 and S.R. Chandramouli2

 World’s Mammals in Crisis ............................................................................................................................................................. 220
1
 MoreChennai Snake......................................................................................................................................................................
Than Mammals Park, Rajbhavan Post, Chennai 600022, Tamil Nadu, India (snakeranglerr@gmail.com) 223
2Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University,
 The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................... 225
Puducherry 605014, India (findthesnakeman@gmail.com)
HUSBANDRY
 Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon .......................................................................................................
Photographs by the authors. Shannon Plummer 226

PROFILE
 Kraig Adler: A Lifetime Promoting Herpetology ................................................................................................ Michael L. Treglia 234

T he Large-scaled
COM
Günther 1875) is
Forest
 The
M E N TLizard
a rare
ARY
Turtles and
Have Been
(Calotes grandisquamis
little-known
endemic to the Western Ghats of India (Smith 1935; Das
agamid lizard
row/nest. When approached, it fled into nearby vegetation.
The nest contained 8 eggs, four
Watching Me ........................................................................................................................
others were buried partly under soil (Fig. 2). The mouth of
of them
Eric Gangloff 238 were visible and four

BOOK REVIEW
2002; Ganesh and Chandramouli 2013; Venugopal 2013).
 Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox,
the burrow measured 7 cm in diameter. The eggs were white
Little is known of its natural history.
R. Berridge, P. Ramani, This and B.E.species has been and oval and appeared hard
Young .............................................................................................................. with
Robert Powellcalcareous
243 shells, which is
reported to be stenotopic, restricted to rather undisturbed forest typical of the genus. Eggs were not measured to avoid han-
 CONSERVATION RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Conservation Research Reports ................................. 245
tracts with structurally complex vegetation (Kumar et al. 2002; dling but were estimated at about 2.5 cm in length. We also
 NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ................................. 247
Ishwar et al. 2003;Venugopal
NEWBRIEFS 2010). Vijaya (1984) reported examined a preserved female (SVL 12248
...................................................................................................................................................................................... cm) at the Sacred Heart
 EDITORIAL INFORMATION ..................................................................................................................................................... 251
an instance of nesting in the wild. Herein we present informa- College in Kodaikanal
 FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ............................................................................................... 252
that contained at least six near-term
tion on intraspecific interactions, clutch size, oviposition, juve- ova (Fig. 2). Vijaya (1984) reported 11 eggs inside a nest mea-
niles, color change, and roadkills based on field observations in suring 6 x 4 x 4 cm and ovipositioning in October on the
the southern Western Ghats during 2007 to 2015. windward slopes of the Ghats, whereas Chandramouli and
At 1803 h on 23 May 2008 Front in Munnar Cover. Shannon (10.176°N,
Plummer. Ganesh (2011)
Back Cover. Michael reported
Kern the latter during February on the
77.107°E; 1,300 m asl), we noticed Totat anet adult
vellesequemale audantperchedmo leeward slopes. audant
Totat et velleseque Those moobservations and the records herein of
conspicuously on top of cardamomestibus leaves, inveliquo
bending velique rerchil
erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus
the stem erspienimus, estibus inveliquo
nesting and the velique
quos accullabo. Ilibus
rerchil
presence of a juvenile in mid-April suggest
over to gain a vantage point (Fig. aut 1).dolor This apicto male
invere was pe dolum head- that
aut dolor this apictospecies
invere peprobablydolum has an extended breeding seasons
bobbing and repeatedly expandingfugiatis its gular maionsequat sac.eumque Although thatfugiatismight maionsequat
vary across eumquedisparate parts of its range.
moditia erere nonsedis ma sectiatur moditia erere nonsedis ma sectia-
in ecdysis, this male was even more brightly
ma derrovitae colored
voluptam, as quos than tur At 1350 hvoluptam,
ma derrovitae on 9 April as 2015 in Sivagiri, we observed a juve-
another nearby male observed interacting accullabo. with a female. We nile (SVL 7 cm) on a branch about 1.2 m above the ground.
suggest that the lone male was displaying its nuptial color- When first sighted, it was bright green with white transverse
ation in anticipation of attracting a mate. At 1815 h, we cross bars (Fig. 3). Slowly and apparently in response to our
observed a pair perched on a cardamom plant. The male was proximity (about 1 m), it changed to a drab sandy brown
about 0.5 m above the ground, whereas the female was 1.2 with feeble white bars (Fig. 3) and it tried to hide behind the
m above the ground on the same stem and facing the male branch. Similarly, at 1335 h on 5 June 2007 in Nelliampathy
(Fig. 1). The male was visibly brighter green compared to the (10.533°N, 76.687°E; 1,000 m asl), we observed an adult
darker female. The male was gaping and expanding its gular male that was verdant green when first encountered, but pre-
sac. The female retreated and, although pausing frequently, sumably in response to our presence, it turned drab olive,
continued moving upward away from the advancing male. with black temples, snout with deep red lips, and indistinct
The pair climbed a nearby liana onto a tree and were lost black crossbars on its trunk (Fig. 4). After we retreated to a
from sight about 1825 h. distance of about 5 m, it reverted to its bright green dorsal
On 6 April 2015 in Sivagiri (9.260°N, 77.304°E; 1,200 color. Chandramouli (2009) described an apparently aberrant
m asl), we observed an adult female on the ground at a bur- female with white crossbars in the Ponmudi Hills (8.681˚N

Copyright © 2020. S.R. Ganesh. All rights reserved. 73 IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 1098-6324
GANESH AND CHANDRAMOULI IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 27(1):73–76 • APR 2020

On 8 March 2008 in the High Wavy Mountains

(9.602°N, 77.313°E; 1,600 m asl), we found a road-killed
individual (Fig. 5) on a blacktop road traversing cardamom
plantations and patches of wet montane rainforest. Although
flattened, it was fresh and limp, which allowed an accurate
identification to species. However, the sex of the lizard could
not be determined and its motivation for crossing the road

Fig. 1. An adult male Large-scaled Forest Lizard (Calotes grandisquamis)

in ecdysis perched on top of cardamom leaves (top). A female (above) and
male (below) Large-scaled Forest Lizard (bottom).

77.102˚E, 100 m asl). Physiological color change has been

documented previously in the genus Calotes (Jayasekara and
Dharmarathne 2018) and Karthikeyan et al. (1993) reported
stress-mediated color change in C. nemoricola when an indi- Fig. 2. Clutch of eight Large-scaled Forest Lizard (Calotes grandisquamis)
eggs in a burrow (top). A preserved female Large-scaled Forest Lizard (SVL
vidual that was drab brown when encountered in leaf-litter 12 cm) at the Sacred Heart College in Kodaikanal with at least six near-
subsequently turned green inside a collecting bag. term ova (bottom).
74
GANESH AND CHANDRAMOULI
Fig. 3. A juvenile Large-scaled Forest Lizard (Calotes grandisquamis) in a
green-color phase when initially encountered (top) and in a brown-color
phase apparently in response to our presence (bottom).
Fig. 4. An adult male Large-scaled Forest Lizard (Calotes grandisquamis)
that was verdant green when first encountered turned drab olive with black
temples, deep red lips, and indistinct black dorsal crossbars.
remains unclear. At 1945 h on 3 January 2011 in Anaimalai
(10.469°N, 76.842°E; 800 m asl), we encountered an adult
sleeping 1.4 m above the ground on a roadside plant during
active night-time traffic (Fig. 5). Over a period of 10 min,
neither our headlamps nor the occasional horns of passing
vehicles (including some larger carriers) disturbed the sleep-
ing lizard. Lizards of this species have been observed crossing
roads although they were not represented in road-killed sam-
ples in a study done during May–June in the Anaimalai Hills
(Vijayakumar et al. 2001). Bhupathy et al. (2011) reported
on roadkills of herpetofauna in the High Wavys, but this spe-
cies was not recorded. However, Chandramouli and Ganesh
(2011) did mention a road-killed individual on a path border-
75
IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 27(1):73–76 • APR 2020
Fig. 5. A road-killed Large-scaled Forest Lizard (Calotes grandisquamis)
(top) and an adult sleeping on roadside vegetation (bottom).
ing tea plantations. That and our observations suggest that
this could be a cause of mortality not generally associated with
this species.
Although in situ behavioral studies and ethograms ideally
following the same and determinable individual are necessary
to fully address the behavioral ecology of a species (e.g., Riley
et al. 2007; Vitt and Pianka 2014), our anecdotal observations
add to a piece-meal assemblage of different bits of data gener-
ated by observations of different individuals from throughout
the species’ range.
Acknowledgements
We thank our respective institutions and departments for
support. SRG thanks the Board of Trustees of the Chennai
Snake Park Trust for support and encouragement.
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