''Salea'' is a genus of

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

, slow-moving, diurnal,

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores we ...

egg-laying Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings known as ...

agamid lizards endemic to the Western Ghats of

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

. It has two species, each inhabiting very high mountainous tracts of the Western Ghats in the

Shola A shola is the local name for a patch of stunted Montane grasslands and shrublands, tropical montane forest found in valleys amid rolling grassland in the higher montane regions of South India, largely in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. These ...

forest ecosystems.

Description

Albert Günther Albert Karl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther , also Albert Charles Lewis Gotthilf Günther (3October 18301February 1914), was a German-born British zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. Günther is ranked the second-most productive reptile tax ...

, in his treatise "The Reptiles of British India", described ''Salea'' as follows:

The tympanum naked. Back and sides covered with strongly
keeled scales Keeled Scales is an independent record label based in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2014 by musicians Tony Presley (Real Live Tigers) and Seth Whaland (Literature, Tres Oui). The label has released over 60 albums from artists such as Buck Mee ...
of moderate size; several larger scales are intermixed with the others on the side; the scales form longitudinal series, and their tips arc directed backwards; bead without any spines. A crest on the back;
gular sac Gular skin (throat skin), in ornithology, is an area of featherless skin on birds that joins the lower mandible of the beak (or ''bill'') to the bird's neck. Other vertebrate taxa may have a comparable anatomical structure that is referred to as ...
: none. Tail slightly compressed at the base, with keeled scales below, which arc almost as broad as long. The head is tetrahedral, covered with small irregular shields above, which are nearly as large as the labials. Nostrils lateral, in the hinder part of a small shield. ''Canthus rostralis'' is very distinct; superciliary edge not prominent; eye of moderate size; tympanum as large as the eye. The trunk is slightly compressed, and covered with scales of moderate size which are sharply keeled and acutely pointed, the keels forming continuous longitudinal lines; the ventral and
gular scales Snakes, like other reptiles, have skin covered in scale (zoology), scales.Boulenger, George A. 1890 The Fauna of British India. p. 1 Snakes are entirely covered with scales or scutes of various shapes and sizes, known as snakeskin as a whole. A ...
are similar in shape and size to those on the sides. There arc three larger scales, separate from one another, and placed in the same longitudinal line somewhat below the middle of the sides. Throat without pouch or fold; dorsal crest more or less developed. Tail long, tapering, slightly compressed at the base, uniformly covered with rhombic keeled scales, those at its lower side having very strong keels. The limbs are well developed; the fourth hind toe is not much longer than the third.

Species

There are only two confirmed species of ''Salea''. The

Palakkad Gap Palakkad Gap or Palghat Gap is a low mountain pass in the Western Ghats between Coimbatore in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Palakkad in the state of Kerala. It has an average elevation of with a width of . The pass is located between the ...

is believed to have played a significant role in causing speciation of these lizards on these mountain tops. A doubtful 'third' taxon ''Salea gularis'' is often associated with this genus.

References

Salea Lizards of Asia Lizard genera Taxa named by John Edward Gray {{agamidae-stub