Hardwicke's bloodsucker

Hardwicke's bloodsucker
Scientific classification
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

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

Morphology

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.[1] 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.[2] Females are larger than the males.[3]

Color Pattern: Dorsal color is olive-brown with 3 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.[4] Color inside the mouth is ink-blue.[5] Females are more brilliantly colored during breeding season.[6]

Length: Maximum:18 cm,[7] Common:10 cm. (Snout to vent 6 cm.).[8]

Maximum published weight: ? g.

Distribution

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

Vernacular names

Bengali: আগামা গিরিগিটি, পাতি রক্তচোষা, পাতিয়াল গিরিগিটি (Patial girigiti), হার্ডউইকের গিরিগিটি।

English: Dwarf rock agama, Hardwicke's bloodsucker, Hardwicke's short-tail agama and Lesser agama.

Hindi & Indian other Languages: ?

Urdu & Sindhi: ?

Habitat

This lizard is Terrestrial & sometimes arboreal; inhabits in frequently fragmented dry forest, arid environments, barren desert and desolate areas across the Indo-Gangetic plains.[9]

Habit

This lizard is diurnal & crepuscular. It takes shelters in burrows close to the roots of thorny bushes.[10] Generally it is found sitting on stones, but it can climb up to shrubby vegetation. It is sluggish in movements, often not attempting to escape when approached.[11] It is a docile species.[12]

Diet

This lizard is mainly insectivorous; feeds on grasshoppers and their nymphs, earwigs, beetles, bugs, arthropods and spiders.[13] Sometimes it also eats flowers.[14]

Reproduction

This lizard is oviparous; breeding season extends from April to June; lays 4-6 hard shelled white eggs in burrows under the roots of vegetation.[15]

Importance & Uses

There is no known practical uses of this species but play rolls in Eco-system by eating various types of insects and otherwise.

Threat to humans

This lizard is non-venomous and completely harmless to humans.[16]

IUCN threat status

Data deficient (DD).[17]

Etymology

The species-name minor, a Latin word, meaning ‘less’ or ‘smaller’, also referring to the smaller size of this agamid.[18]

Extra Notes

This lizard has a bad reputation for being particularly harmful, which is totally baseless and unfortunately contributed much to its depletion.[19]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.pakwildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/Artical-6.pdf
  2. ↑ http://snakes.mpsbb.info/33.html
  3. ↑ http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/170377/
  4. ↑ http://snakes.mpsbb.info/33.html
  5. ↑ http://www.landofthewild.com/showPic.php?&albumId=276&albumTitle=Reptiles&picId=1173&picTitle=Lesser%20Agama
  6. ↑ http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/170377/
  7. ↑ http://www.pakwildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/Artical-6.pdf
  8. ↑ http://www.pakwildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/Artical-6.pdf
  9. ↑ http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/170377/
  10. ↑ http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/170377/
  11. ↑ http://snakes.mpsbb.info/33.html
  12. ↑ http://faunaofindia.nic.in/PDFVolumes/hpg/007/index.pdf
  13. ↑ http://snakes.mpsbb.info/33.html
  14. ↑ http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/170377/
  15. ↑ http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/170377/
  16. ↑ http://faunaofindia.nic.in/PDFVolumes/sfs/007/index.pdf
  17. ↑ http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/170377/
  18. ↑ https://www.google.com/search?q=Etymology+of+minor+&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
  19. ↑ http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/170377/
  • 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.
  • http://jcvi.org/reptiles/species.php?genus=Brachysaura&species=minor Downloaded Feb. 17, 2010.
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