Spineless Forest Lizard
Encyclopedia
The spineless forest lizard is one of four Calotes species endemic to Sri Lanka, which all share a common set of characteristics (2). These include a relatively short head, with swollen cheeks, backwards, or backwards and downwards pointing scales on the side of the body, and a tail that is strongly swollen at the base in fully grown adult males (2). 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 the sides to the belly, and pale moss-green and dark brown to black rings around its limbs and tail. This cryptic colouration helps camouflage the small lizard from potential predators in the treetops of its habitat. The spineless forest lizard closely resembles the green garden lizard (Calotes calotes) but can be distinguished by the absence of spines above the ear found in other Calotes species (3), a feature that has earned the lizard its common name.
The Spineless Forest Lizard, Crestless Lizard or Lionhead Agama (Calotes liocephalus) is a species of lizard
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...

 in the Agamidae
Agamidae
Agamids, lizards of the family Agamidae, include more than 300 species in Africa, Asia, Australia, and a few in Southern Europe. Many species are commonly called dragons or dragon lizards. Phylogenetically they may be sister to the Iguanidae, and have a similar appearance. Agamids usually have...

 family.
It is endemic to Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

.
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