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Hardwicke's bloodsucker

(Redirected from Brachysaura minor)

Hardwicke's bloodsucker (Calotes minor) is an agamid lizard and found in South Asia.

Hardwicke's bloodsucker
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Iguania
Family: Agamidae
Genus: Calotes
Species:
C. minor
Binomial name
Calotes minor
(Hardwicke & Gray, 1827)
Synonyms

Agama minor Hardwicke & Gray 1827: 218
Brachysaura ornata Blyth 1856
Charasia ornata Boulenger 1885
Acanthosaura minor Boulenger 1890
Agama minor Smith 1935
Laudakia minor Das 1996
Agama minor Wermuth 1967
Brachysaura minor Manthey & Schuster 1999

Morphology

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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

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Found in Bangladesh (southeast part of the country), India (Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Odissa) and Pakistan (Sindh).

Vernacular names

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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This lizard is non-venomous and completely harmless to humans.[6]

Etymology

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The species-name minor, a Latin word, meaning 'less' or 'smaller', also referring to the smaller size of this agamid.[7]

Extra notes

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This lizard has a reputation for being particularly harmful, which is totally baseless and has contributed much to its depletion.[1]

References

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  1. ^ 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)
  2. ^ a b c [1] [dead link‍]
  3. ^ a b c d "Madhya Pradesh State Biodiversity Board". 24 October 2017. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  4. ^ [2] [dead link‍]
  5. ^ B. K. Tikader; R. C. Sharma. "Handbook Indian Lizards" (PDF). Faunaofindia.nic.in. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Fauna of West Bengal" (PDF). Faunaofindia.nic.in. 1992. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  7. ^ "Etymology of minor". Google.com.

Sources

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  • 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.
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