Spineless forest lizard


The spineless forest lizard, crestless lizard or lionhead agama is a species of lizard in the family Agamidae. It is endemic to Sri Lanka.

Description

Calotes liocephalus grows to in snout–vent length and in total length.
Spineless forest lizard is one of four Calotes species endemic to Sri Lanka, which all share a common set of characteristics. These include a relatively short head, with swollen cheeks, backwards, or backwards and downwards pointing scales on the side of the body, a tail that is strongly swollen at the base in fully grown adult males. This lizard is patterned with a mixture of pale moss-green, dark green and brown indistinct stripes on its body, extending from the back down the sides to the belly, and pale moss-green and dark brown to black rings around its limbs and tail. This cryptic colouration helps camouflage the small lizard from potential predators in the treetops of its habitat. The spineless forest lizard closely resembles the green garden lizard but can be distinguished by the absence of spines above the ear found in other Calotes species, a feature that has earned the lizard its common name.

Ecology

Highly arboreal, very rarely comes to the ground, this species is known to be diurnal. Oviparous, and known to lay 5-6 eggs per time.

Diet

Feed on insects and other small animals, although a few also feed on plant matter as adults.