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Calotes Pethiyagodai
The Pethiyagoda's crestless lizard (''Calotes pethiyagodai'') is an agamid lizard endemic to Sri Lanka. Locally known as පෙතියාගොඩගේ නොසිලු කටුස්සා (Pethiyagodage nosilu katussa). Description Researchers named the species "Pethiyagoda's crestless lizard" to honor Rohan Pethiyagoda for his contributions to the biodiversity of Sri Lanka. This species has earlier been misidentified as '' Calotes liocephalus'' but researchers found that the males of ''C. pethiyagodai'' lack a gular pouch unlike the males of ''C. liocephalus''; scalation is also different. Distribution The lizard is restricted to the Knuckles Mountain Range The Knuckles Mountain Range lies in central Sri Lanka, in the Districts of Matale and Kandy. The range takes its name from a series of recumbent folds and peaks in the west of the massif which resemble the knuckles of clenched fist when viewed ..., at elevations of asl. It inhabits forest edges and is found ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agamid
Agamidae is a family of over 300 species of iguanian lizards indigenous to Africa, Asia, Australia, and a few in Southern Europe. Many species are commonly called dragons or dragon lizards. Overview Phylogenetically, they may be sister to the Iguanidae, and have a similar appearance. Agamids usually have well-developed, strong legs. Their tails cannot be shed and regenerated like those of geckos (and several other families such as skinks), though a certain amount of regeneration is observed in some. Many agamid species are capable of limited change of their colours to regulate their body temperature. In some species, males are more brightly coloured than females, and colours play a part in signaling and reproductive behaviours. Although agamids generally inhabit warm environments, ranging from hot deserts to tropical rainforests, at least one species, the mountain dragon, is found in cooler regions. They are particularly diverse in Australia. This group of lizards includes so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia although some lizards are more closely related to these two excluded groups than they are to other lizards. Lizards range in size from chameleons and geckos a few centimeters long to the 3-meter-long Komodo dragon. Most lizards are quadrupedal, running with a strong side-to-side motion. Some lineages (known as " legless lizards"), have secondarily lost their legs, and have long snake-like bodies. Some such as the forest-dwelling ''Draco'' lizards are able to glide. They are often territorial, the males fighting off other males and signalling, often with bright colours, to attract mates and to intimidate rivals. Lizards are mainly carnivorous, often being sit-and-wait predators; many smaller species eat insects, while the Komodo eats mammals as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can be also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or in scientific literature as an ''endemite''. For example '' Cytisus aeolicus'' is an endemite of the Italian flora. '' Adzharia renschi'' was once believed to be an endemite of the Caucasus, but it was later discovered to be a non-indigenous species from South America belonging to a different genus. The extreme opposite of an endemic species is one with a cosmopolitan distribution, having a global or widespread range. A rare alternative term for a species that is endemic is "precinctive", which applies t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, and southeast of the Arabian Sea; it is separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. Sri Lanka shares a maritime border with India and Maldives. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is its legislative capital, and Colombo is its largest city and financial centre. Sri Lanka has a population of around 22 million (2020) and is a multinational state, home to diverse cultures, languages, and ethnicities. The Sinhalese are the majority of the nation's population. The Tamils, who are a large minority group, have also played an influential role in the island's history. Other long established groups include the Moors, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rohan Pethiyagoda
Rohan David Pethiyagoda is a Sri Lankan biodiversity scientist, amphibian and freshwater-fish taxonomist, author, conservationist and public-policy advocate. Early life and career Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 19 November 1955 Pethiyagoda had his secondary education at S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia. He was awarded a BSc (Eng.) Hons. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from King's College, University of London in 1977, and a M.Phil. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Sussex in 1980. Service From 1981 to 1982 Pethiyagoda served as an engineer in the Division of Biomedical Engineering of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health, and from 1982 to 1987 as director of that institution. That same year he was awarded the Vadamarachchi Medal by President J.R. Jayewardene for his services to the Sri Lanka Armed Forces during the Vadamarachchi Campaign. In 1984 he was concurrently appointed chairman of Sri Lanka's Water Resources Board. He served as Advisor on Environme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calotes Liocephalus
The spineless forest lizard, crestless lizard or lionhead agama (''Calotes liocephalus'') 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 ''Calotes'' is a genus of lizards in the draconine clade of the family Agamidae. The genus contains 29 species. Some species are known as forest lizards, others as " bloodsuckers" due to their red heads, and yet others (namely '' C. versicolo ...'' 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knuckles Mountain Range
The Knuckles Mountain Range lies in central Sri Lanka, in the Districts of Matale and Kandy. The range takes its name from a series of recumbent folds and peaks in the west of the massif which resemble the knuckles of clenched fist when viewed from certain locations in the Kandy District. Whilst this name was assigned by early British surveyors, the Sinhalese residents have traditionally referred to the area as ''Dumbara Kanduvetiya'' meaning Mist-laden Mountain Range. The higher montane area is often robed in thick layers of cloud. In addition to its aesthetic value, the range is of great scientific interest. It is a climatic microcosm of the rest of Sri Lanka as the conditions of all the climatic zones in the country are exhibited in the massif. At higher elevations there is a series of isolated cloud forests, harbouring a variety of flora and fauna. Although the range constitutes approximately 0.03% of the island's total area, it is home to a significantly higher proportio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Above Sea Level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. The combination of unit of measurement and the physical quantity (height) is called " metres above mean sea level" in the metric system, while in United States customary and imperial units it would be called "feet above mean sea level". Mean sea levels are affected by climate change and other factors and change over time. For this and other reasons, recorded measurements of elevation above sea level at a reference time in history might differ from the actual elevation of a given location over sea level at a given moment. Uses Metres above sea level is the standard measurement of the elevation or altitude of: * Geographic locations such as towns, mountains and other landmarks. * The top of buildings and other structures. * Flying ob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calotes
''Calotes'' is a genus of lizards in the draconine clade of the family Agamidae. The genus contains 29 species. Some species are known as forest lizards, others as " bloodsuckers" due to their red heads, and yet others (namely '' C. versicolor'') as garden lizards. The genus name ''Calotes'' has been derived from the Greek word ''Καλότης (Kalótës)'', meaning ‘beauty’, referring to the beautiful pattern of this genus. Geographic range Species in the genus ''Calotes'' are native to South Asia, southern China, mainland Southeast Asia and Ambon. Additionally, ''C. versicolor'' has been introduced to Florida (USA), Borneo, Sulawesi, the Seychelles, Mauritius and Oman.Calotes versicolor'' The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org. Retrieved 17 January 2013 The greatest species richness of the genus is from the Western Ghats, northeast India, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Description ''Calotes'' is distinguished from related genera in having uniform-sized ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reptiles Of Sri Lanka
This is a list of reptiles of Sri Lanka. The reptilian diversity in Sri Lanka is higher than the diversity of other vertebrates such as mammals and fish with 181 reptile species. All extant reptiles are well documented through research by many local and foreign scientists and naturalists. Sri Lankan herpetologist, Anslem de Silva largely studied the biology and ecology of Sri Lanka snakes, where he documented 96 species of land and sea snakes. Five genera are endemic to Sri Lanka - ''Aspidura'', ''Balanophis'', ''Cercaspis'', ''Haplocercus'', and ''Pseudotyphlops''. Out of them only five of the land snakes are considered potentially deadly and life threatening to humans. Among snakes, 54 are endemic to Sri Lanka. The total increased to 107 with new descriptions of ''Dendrelaphis'', ''Rhinophis'', ''Aspidura'' and ''Dryocalamus''. Lizard diversity in the island has been documented and studied by many local scientists and researchers such as Imesh Nuwan Bandara, Kalana Maduwage, A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic Fauna Of Sri Lanka
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can be also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or in scientific literature as an ''endemite''. For example '' Cytisus aeolicus'' is an endemite of the Italian flora. '' Adzharia renschi'' was once believed to be an endemite of the Caucasus, but it was later discovered to be a non-indigenous species from South America belonging to a different genus. The extreme opposite of an endemic species is one with a cosmopolitan distribution, having a global or widespread range. A rare alternative term for a species that is endemic is "precinctive", which applies to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reptiles Described In 2014
Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates ( lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( tuatara). As of March 2022, the Reptile Database includes about 11,700 species. In the traditional Linnaean classification system, birds are considered a separate class to reptiles. However, crocodilians are more closely related to birds than they are to other living reptiles, and so modern cladistic classification systems include birds within Reptilia, redefining the term as a clade. Other cladistic definitions abandon the term reptile altogether in favor of the clade Sauropsida, which refers to all amniotes more closely related to modern reptiles than to mammals. The study of the traditional reptile orders, historically combined with that of modern amphibians, is called herpetology. The earliest known proto-reptiles originat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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