Agasthyagama beddomii (Boulenger, 1885)

Das, Sandeep, Pal, Saunak, Narayanan, Surya, Subin, K., Palot, Muhamed Jafer, Rajkumar, K. P. & Deepak, V., 2024, Discovery of a new species of kangaroo lizard (Squamata: Agamidae: Agasthyagama) from the southern Western Ghats of India, Vertebrate Zoology 74, pp. 151-168 : 151

Agasthyagama beddomii (Boulenger, 1885)

Figures 3B , 4 , 5

Chresonymy.

Otocryptis beddomii Boulenger, 1885: 272

Otocryptis beddomii - Smith (1935: 147), Wermuth (1967: 74), Das (1996: 44), Pal et al. (2018)

Otocryptis beddomi - Inger et al. (1984), Jose et al. (2007)

Otocryptis beddomei - Manthey (2010: 114), Deepak and Karanth (2018)

Agasthyagama beddomii - Srikanthan et al. (2021)

Lectotype (by present designation).

NHMUK 1882.5.22.101, adult female collected from "Head of Sevagherry Ghat, 4500 ft" (now "Sivagiri Hills", in the borders of Kerala and Tamil Nadu state, India) by R. H. Beddome (Figs 4 and 5 ).

Paralectotypes.

ZSI 15733 (former syntype), adult female; NHMUK 1882.5.22.102-104 (former syntypes), one female and two male specimens, collected along with the lectotype.

Other material examined.

Four males (FMNH 217757, FMNH 217760, FMNH 217767, FMNH 217768) and four females (FMNH 217764, FMNH 217765, FMNH 217773, FMNH 217775) collected by R. F. Inger and H. B. Shaffer from Trivandrum district , Kerala ; two males (BNHS 3220, BNHS 3221) collected from Shendurney, Kollam district , Kerala .

Comment.

The original description of Agasthyagama beddomii included mention of five specimens with measurement data for one specimen. Four of these specimens are now housed at NMHUK, London and one at ZSI, Kolkata, India. Among the specimens in NHMUK three are juveniles (two males, one female), one adult female (NHMUK 1882.5.22.101), and one housed at ZSI (ZSI 15733), an adult female ( Boulenger 1885). Among these, one adult female (NHMUK 1882.5.22.101) matched with the measurements provided by Boulenger (1885) and was well preserved (see Table 1). Therefore, due to the well-preserved condition of the specimen as well as the historic significance, we herein, designate NHMUK 1882.5.22.101 as a lectotype, instead of a male specimen which is usually the case in agamid descriptions.

The freshly collected specimens from Shendurney are morphologically the same as those of the type series in NHM, London and the one in ZSI, Kolkata. However, the type locality and the elevation provided for the specimens are vague. The freshly collected specimens in this study are from an elevational range of 160-1200 m a.s.l. The type materials are the only specimens reported from the high elevations (ca. 1372 m a.s.l.). Additional sampling from the mountains of Sivagiri Hills is required to clarify this issue. Morphometric and meristic data are provided in Table 1, and live photos of the species are shown in Fig. 5 .

Diagnosis.

A small-sized agamid lizard, SVL 29-44.7 mm (n = 19), characterised by laterally compressed body with heterogenous dorsolateral scales, small overlapping scales with larger often trihedral scales; 65-87 rows of scales around midbody; head with unequal keeled scales, a small antehumeral pit present, tympanum concealed; nuchal and dorsal crests absent, 60-67 dorsal scales from behind occiput to above cloacal ending; ventral scales strongly keeled, larger than lateral scales, 71-89 ventrals from mentum to cloaca; males with a small dewlap from mentum to forelimb insertion, gular scales small, keeled, 37-44 scales from mentum to last dewlap scale in males; limbs slender, covered with larger keeled scales; 4th digit on pes much longer than others, 5th digit on pes much reduced. Uniform olive to brown body, with lighter enlarged scales laterally; breeding coloration of males with pale grey to white mid dorsum; white throat with a broad dark brown stripe on dewlap with brick red circle bordered with bright yellow scales on the outside and with a bright yellow to orange blotch at the centre.

Description of the lectotype (

NHMUK 1882.5.22.101) (Fig. 4 ) Specimen is in good condition. A small sized lizard, SVL 44.7 mm, head distinct from neck, longer than width (HeadW/HeadL = 0.62), snout longer than orbital diameter (OD/SO = 0.81), supraciliary and canthal ridge sharp, tympanum subdermal, supralabials 10 and 11 on right and left side respectively, infralabials 11 on both sides. Body laterally compressed, 67 dorsal scales, 79 rows of scales around trunk at midbody, 78 ventrals, strongly keeled. Scales on dorsum smaller than most ventral scales, lateral scales intermixed with unevenly spaced large differently coloured protruding scales. Scales on hindlimbs largest among body scales. Tail rounded, TailL 72.7 mm, gradually tapering posteriorly.

Colouration in preservative.

Overall body pale grey to white with patches of light brown to amber on the snout and posterior part of head; dorsum with pale amber; tail dorsally and ventrally light brown, blotches, prominent laterally; limbs and tail dull brown speckled with light grey to white markings ventrally from gular region to abdomen pale white.

Natural History and Distribution.

Agasthyagama beddomii has a wide distribution (Fig. 1 ) in the southern Western Ghats. The species is fairly common in its distribution range between 140-1379 m elevation (Table S2). They are largely terrestrial mostly in areas with dense leaf litter cover but rarely seen climbing smaller shrubs, roots or branches less than a metre in height. They are found in different habitat types including southern secondary moist mixed deciduous forests, west coast semi-evergreen forests, west coast tropical evergreen forests, southern hilltop tropical evergreen forests as well as in and around Myristica swamp forests ( Jose et al. 2007; present study). Young ones were observed during the months of July to November unlike reported previously ( Jose et al. 2007). Even though no breeding/mating observations are reported till date, breeding colouration in males, yellow to orange coloured blotch in the throat region was predominantly observed between March and June over a period of seven years (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2023).

Figures

Figure 1. Map showing the distribution of Agasthyagama edge sp. nov. and A. beddomii in the Western Ghats of India. Locations for the samples used for molecular analyses are marked with a black circle within the respective symbols.

Figure 3. Asulcal view of hemipenis: A Agasthyagama edge sp. nov. (Holotype ZSI / WRC / R / 1165); B A. beddomii (FMNH 217760). Photographs by Saunak Pal and V. Deepak.

Figure 4. Dorsal and ventral view of the lectotype of Agasthyagama beddomii (BMNH 1882.5.22.101) at the Natural History Museum, London. Photographs by V. Deepak.

Figure 5. Agasthyagama beddomii in life, all uncollected individuals from various localities: A adult male from Kanayar, Achankovil; B female from Mararmalai, Kanyakumari District; C male from Manalar, Achankovil; D female from Rockwood, Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary; E male from Devermala, Achankovil; F female from Arippa, Trivandrum. Photographs A and C-F by Sandeep Das and B by Jude. D.