Otocryptis Wagler, 1830

Srikanthan, Achyuthan N., Adhikari, Omkar Dilip, Ganesh, Sumaithangi Rajagopalan, Deuti, Kaushik, Das, Kalpana, Kulkarni, Vidisha M., Gowande, Gaurang G. & Shanker, Kartik, 2021, A molecular and morphological study of Otocryptis Wagler, 1830 (Squamata: Agamidae) reveals a new genus from the far south of the Western Ghats, Peninsular India, Zootaxa 5016 (2), pp. 205-228 : 212-213

Otocryptis Wagler, 1830

Type species. Otocryptis wiegmanni Wagler, 1830 (by original description)

Content. Two species, O. wiegmanni Wagler, 1830 and O. nigristigma Bahir & de Silva 2005 , both known only from Sri Lanka. Apart from the type species ( O. wiegmanni ) dealt with below in detail, the other congener Otocryptis nigristigma shares the following synapomorphic characters (after Somaweera & Somaweera 2009) that are opposing in Agasthyagama gen. nov.:

a. presence of large, well-developed dewlap in mature males

b. absence of clavicular pit anterior to shoulder (= antehumeral pit)

These two species of Otocryptis differ as follows (key from Somaweera & Somaweera 2009): a. Maroon patch laterally on dewlap; 5 th toe longer (19.2-24.5% of head length) … wiegmanni

b. Black patch laterally on dewlap; 5 th toe shorter (14.3-18.5% of head length) … nigristigma

Remarks. The genus Otocryptis was described by Wagler (1830) and credited Wiegmann with the species epithet O. weigmanni Wagler 1830 . But, subsequently, Wiegmann (1831) claimed the authority for himself while describing O. bivittata Wiegmann, 1831 based on the same type specimen as of O. wiegmanni Wagler, 1830 , thereby becoming an objective junior synonym of O. wiegmanni (see Denzer et al. 1997).

Distribution and Natural History. Members of the genus Otocryptis constitute a semi-arboreal to terrestrial group of lizards endemic to Sri Lanka ( Amarasinghe et al. 2009) (see Fig. 2 for map). A recent summary of this genus can be found in Bahir & de Silva (2005) and Manthey (2008). The long-known species O. wiegmanni occurs in the wet zone, i.e., the southwestern quarter of the island, while the newly discovered species O. nigristigma occurs in the drier and the intermediary zones of Sri Lanka ( Bahir & de Silva 2005). Conservation assessments of this group were conducted by Manamendra-Arachchi & Liyanage (1994) and later by Bahir & Surasinghe (2005). Taylor (1953) was perhaps the first to distinguish the two species of Otocryptis in Sri Lanka, but unfortunately, he attributed the then-undescribed O. nigristigma to O. wiegmanni and instead, referred to the true O. wiegmanni as Otocryptis sp. ( Taylor 1953; also see Bahir & de Silva 2005). As currently understood, the two congeners have, for the most part, largely non-overlapping geographic ranges, except for a few areas such as Puwakpitiya in the Knuckles region ( Somaweera & Somaweera 2009).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Map of Indian peninsula showing the distribution of Agasthyagama beddomii comb. nov. (blue) and the Sri Lankan Otocryptis species, O. wiegmanni (red) and O. nigristigma (green)