Pseudocalotes andamanensis explained

Pseudocalotes andamanensis is an agamid lizard found on the Nicobar Islands and the Andaman Islands in India. It is also known as the green crestless forest lizard, Andaman and Nicobar forest lizard,^[1] Andaman lizard, or Andaman green calotes.^[2] This species is an almost exclusive canopy dweller, and is rarely seen.

The holotype of Pseudocalotes andamanensis is an adult male from the Andaman Islands collected by Frederick Adolph de Roepstorff in 1882.^[3] It was recently rediscovered in the Andaman Islands.^[4]

Taxonomy

This species formerly included Microauris aurantolabium from southern India, now reclassified as a distinct species.^[5]

Further reading

• Boulenger . G.A. . 1891 . On new or little known Indian and Malayan reptiles and batrachians . Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. . 6 . 8 . 46 . 288–292. 10.1080/00222939109460437 .
• Ishwar . N. M. . Das . I. . 1998 . Rediscovery of Calotes andamanensis Boulenger 1891, and a reassessment of the type locality. . J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. . 95 . 513–514.
• Ishwar . N. M. . 2001 . Reptilian Species Distribution in Response to Habitat Fragmentation and Microhabitats in the Rainforests of Southern Western Ghats, India . PhD . Forest Research Institute (Deemed University) . Uttaranchal, India.
• Krishnan . S. . 2008 . New Species of Calotes (Reptilia: Squamata: Agamidae) from the Southern Western Ghats, India . Journal of Herpetology . 42 . 3 . 530–535 . 0022-1511 . 10.1670/06-198.1.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Pseudocalotes andamanensis . 2014 . BioLib . 17 January 2015.
2. Web site: Wildlife news . Reef & Rainforest . 17 January 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141222114749/http://www.reefandrainforest.co.uk/wildlife-news.php . 2014-12-22 . dead .
3. Zoological Museum collection, Københavns Universitet, Copenhagen, Denmark (ZMUC) 36944
4. Harikrishnan . S. . Vasudevan . K. . 2013 . Rediscovery of Calotes andamanensis Boulenger, 1891, and assessment of its generic allocation . Herpetozoa . 26 . 1/2 . 3–13 . 1013-4425.
5. Krishnan . S. . 2008 . New species of Calotes (Reptilia: Squamata: Agamidae) from the southern Western Ghats, India . Journal of Herpetology . 42 . 3 . 530–535 . 10.1670/06-198.1. 86131722 .