Calotes maria Gray, 1845
|
publication ID |
https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/vz.74.e109088 |
|
publication LSID |
lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D85DA495-4568-48EC-B0AA-2A9B48F817EA |
|
persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/BF744154-BDC5-5F07-8993-E3E216081DC3 |
|
treatment provided by |
|
|
scientific name |
Calotes maria Gray, 1845 |
| status |
|
Calotes maria Gray, 1845 View in CoL
Figures 4 View Figure 4 , 5 View Figure 5 , 6; Appendix VI View Figure 6
Synonymy.
Calotes platyceps Blyth, 1852: 354
Lectotype.
NHMUK 1946.8.11.24, adult male from “Afghanistan” (see remarks on its type locality below); designated by Boulenger (1885).
Additional examined specimens.
NHMUK 1870.11.29.30a, adult male; 1870.11.29.30b, adult female; both from Khasia (Khasi Hill), India; NHMUK 1860.3.19.1020, adult female from “Afghanistan”.
Remarks on its type locality and type specimens.
On its original description, Gray (1845) described the species based on four specimens: three individuals (a juvenile, a subadult, and an adult) from "Affghanistan and a single half-grown individual from Khassia Hill". Later Boulenger (1885) designated a male from Affghanistan as the “type” (= lectotype) of C. maria (NHMUK 1946.8.11.24), and he identified two of the young male syntypes of C. maria as C. jerdoni .
Based on Blyth (1853), the initial syntypes of C. maria , along with other species of the genus Calotes , were collected by Dr. Griffith and later handled by the East India Company before donating them to the Natural History Museum. Blyth (1853) suspected that those specimens from “Affghanistan” (= Afghanistan) and "Khassia Hills" (= Khasi Hill) were mixed during the handling by the East India Company. As the tropical species C. maria certainly cannot survive in desert or cold highlands of Afghanistan, and given Afghanistan is zoogeographically distinct from northeast India, the type locality of C. maria was certainly mistaken as Afghanistan and should be replaced by "Khassia Hills", which refers to the Khasi Hill in Meghalaya State, Northeast India.
Remarks on the “synonym” C. platyceps .
First described in 1852, C. platyceps was described in a short, rather simple description without a clear statement regarding its type specimen. Later, based on specimens collected from Khasi hills, Jerdon (1870) identified his specimens as C. platyceps and added a diagnosis of C. platyceps against C. maria , including a smaller body size, larger and fewer gular and body scales, and a narrower distance between supratympanic crest and the upper edge of tympanum. While the diagnosis of " C. platyceps " described by Jerdon (1870) matches the diagnosis of C. jerdoni , they were not based on the type specimen of C. platyceps . Subsequently, Boulenger (1885) without explanation, considered C. platyceps a junior synonym of both C. maria and C. jerdoni -a taxonomic treatment followed by subsequent authors ( Boulenger 1890; Smith 1935; Che et al. 2020; Uetz et al. 2023).
Although the presence of a supratympanic crest on each side of the head aligns C. platyceps with the C. jerdoni complex, based on the limited information in the original morphological description, it is impossible to confirm whether C. platyceps represents a junior synonym of C. maria or C. jerdoni . As the type specimen of C. platyceps cannot be located, and since the original description of the species provides little useful information on its taxonomic identity, we treat the name C. platyceps as a nomen dubium. As such, the name is nomenclaturally still available, but it has no bearing on the taxonomic and nomenclatural decisions made here.
Diagnosis.
Calotes maria can be diagnosed from its congeners by a combination of following morphological characters: (1) body size large, SVL 101-117.5 mm; (2) tail slender, long, TAL 318.3-323.9% SVL; (3) posterior-most conical scales of parallel ridges of head distinctively elongated into spine shape, about same length as longest nuchal crest; (4) inferior row of conical/spinous scales 4 scales away from superior tympanum; (5) dorsal head scales posterolateral of parietal bearing longitudinal keels; (6) mental smaller than first pair of chin shields; (7) gular scales count 27-31, homogeneous in posteromedial region, much larger than ventrals, mucronate with distinct, moderate-lengthed tips; (8) body scales small, ABR 58-67; (9) distinct gular pouch absent, transverse gular fold absent; (10) shoulder fold absent; (11) neck scales oriented posterosuperiorly; (12) axillary scales oriented posterosuperiorly at an angle less than 60°; (13) nuchal crests long, elongated, lanceolate-shaped, differentiated from dorsal crest, TNC 17.6-24.0% HL; (14) middorsal crest scale count 47-52; (15) ventral scale count 63-76, (17) F4S 23-28, T4S 28-32; (18) dorsal background coloration Pratt’s Payne’s Gray (Color 293) to Sky Blue (Color 192) under long-term preservation, ventral Paris White (Color 139); and (19) short, Pale Pinkish Buff (Color 3) to Yellow Ocher (Color 14), oblique stripes present on dorsum, similar colored patches present on tail base.
Redescription of the lectotype.
Large sized Calotes , SVL 101.0 mm; body not compressed dorsally, lachrymiform in cross-section; tail swollen at base, long, TAL 322 mm, 318.8% SVL. Limbs slender, forelimb 52.7 mm, 52.2% SVL; hindlimb 69.8 mm, 69.1% SVL. Rostral rectangular, bordering four small scales excluding supralabials; supralabials 10/11, feebly keeled posteriorly; nasal elongated oval, bordering second supralabial, 6/7 scales away from orbit circle; loreals distinctively keeled, each bearing single keel; canthal ridge distinct, canthus rostralis scales 10/10, elongated except anterior most two, supraciliaries only slightly overlapping, overlapping length less than half of scale length; suborbital scale rows 3/3, about equal size, each scale bearing single, distinct, inferior-located lateral keel. Distinctively protruding, enlarged keeled scales each bearing multiple keels aligned in two parallel lateral ridges: superior row continuing from posterior most supraciliary to superior squamosal head, consisting 8 raised scales, anterior-most 2 and 4 scales conical on left and right, respectively, remaining 6 and 4 much more elongated into spikes; inferior row two small scales away from posterior mid orbit to inferior squamosal head, consisting 12/10 scales, anterior-most 5 sub-pyramidal or conical, remaining posterior scales elongated into spikes. Inferior one of parallel ridges four small scale rows away from anterior tympanum. Tympanum exposed, round, TD 10.5% HL; no post orbital spikes, posterosuperior tympanic and temporal spikes present, which are located on parallel ridges. Dorsal head scales heterogeneous in size and shape, slightly larger above eyes, distinctively smaller on temporal, moderately keeled, each bearing single keel; enlarged scales arranged in Y-shape three scales posterior to rostral along longitudinal midline, with posterior most scale on stem of “Y” figure largest; 17 scales transversely across dorsal head between and excluding supraciliary at widest point; parietal scale elongated, narrow, parietal eye present; scales posterolateral of parietal bearing longitudinal keels.
Except scales anterior to shoulder, all dorsal body scales broad triangular shaped, regularly arranged, imbricate, mostly homogeneous, weakly keeled; neck scales oriented posterosuperiorly; axillary scales oriented posterosuperiorly; remaining lateral and superior body scales oriented posterosuperiorly, inferolateral body scales more distinctively keeled, oriented straight posteriorly or inferoposteriorly; midbody scale row around body 67. Nuchal crest 13, distinctively elongated into spikes, much taller than remaining dorsal crests, tallest one 5.6 mm in height, 19.5% HL; dorsal crests much lower, curving posteriorly; mid-dorsal crest scale count 52 anterior to cloaca; shoulder fold absent. Scales of dorsal limbs more or less homogeneous, keeled. Dorsal tail scales homogeneous, feebly keeled or smooth anteriorly, more distinctively keeled posteriorly.
Mental spear-shaped, enclosed by and smaller than first pair of chin shields; chin shields feebly keeled, larger than nearby gulars, 5/6, anterior most 3/2 in contact with infralabials on each side, remaining ones separated by one or two rows of small scales; infralabials 10/10, more distinctively keeled than supralabials; gular scales all distinctively keeled; anterior gulars smaller, juxtaposed, various in shape and size; remaining posterior gular scales larger, similar size to dorsals, rhomboid shaped, imbricated, mucronate with moderate-length tip on posterior end of each gular; post mental gular scales 30 along medial line. Ventral body cut open from chest to pelvis, ventral scales imbricated, slightly smaller than larger gulars, distinctively keeled, carinated, ventral scale count 76 along medial axis from neck to cloaca. Ventral limb scales homogeneous in size, more distinctively keeled than dorsal limb scales; subdigital lamellae 27/28 under finger IV, 32/32 under toe IV. Tail scales distinctively keeled, carinated (ventral tail cut open at base).
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.