The original descriptions and figures of Sri Lankan Agamid Lizards
(Squamata: Agamidae) of the 18th and 19th Centuries
Thasun Amarasinghe, Ulrich Manthey, Edi Stöckli, Ivan Ineich, Sven O Kullander, Franz Tiedemann, Colin McCarthy, Dinesh E Gabadage
Abstract
Eighteen species of agamid lizards are recognized from Sri Lanka, representing one subfamily: Draconinae. Thirteen of these species were described in the period 1758-1887. The early descriptions of agamid lizards were very brief and often written in languages other than English. Original descriptions and images of type specimens are provided for Calotes calotes (Linnaeus, 1758), C. versicolor (Daudin, 1802), C. nigrilabris Peters, 1860, C. liocephalus Gunther, 1872, C. liolepis Boulenger, 1885, C. ceylonensis Müller, 1887, Otocryptis wiegmanni Wagler, 1830, Ceratophora stoddartii Gray, 1835, C. tennentii Günther, 1861, C. aspera Günther, 1864, Lyriocephalus scutatus (Linnaeus, 1758), Cophotis ceylanica Peters, 1861, and Sitana ponticeriana Cuvier, 1829. Translations to English are provided of original descriptions that were published in Latin, French, and German.
Key words: Original description; type specimen; Agamidae; Taxonomy; English translation; Sri Lanka
Amarasinghe, A. A. T., U. Manthey, E. Stöckli, I. Ineich, S. O Kullander, F. Tiedemann, C. McCarthy and D. E. Gabadage. 2009. The original descriptions and figures of Sri Lankan Agamid Lizards (Squamata: Agamidae) of the 18th and 19th centuries. Taprobanica, 1 (1): 2-15+4 pls. DOI: 10.4038/tapro.v1i1.2771