Vivariums;reptiles;Agamid;Sitana

For the external links , refrences click here to read the full wikipedia article

Sitana :

For the external links , refrences click here to read the full wikipedia article

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sitana is a genus of lizards, collectively known as the fan-throated lizards, from the family Agamidae. They are found in Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.[1] The genus comprises ten species, including several recently discovered species,[2] such as two new species from Sri Lanka.[3] In 2016, a new genus named Sarada was erected, consisting of one former Sitana species and two newly described ones. Sarada is the sister genus of Sitana. Together they form a clade which sister group is Otocryptis.[1]

Distribution :

Fan-throated lizards are distributed across the Indian Subcontinent. In the past they were all included in a single species but a 2016 study pointed out to the existence of six species in two genera. Sitana ponticeriana in the strict sense occurs only in the Coromandel coast around Pondicherry.

Sitana

Sitana ponticeriana, the type species

Scientific classification:

Kingdom:Animalia

Phylum:Chordata

Subphylum:Vertebrata

Class:Reptilia

Order:Squamata

Suborder:Iguania

Family:Agamidae

Subfamily:Draconinae

Genus:Sitana
G. Cuvier, 1829

Type species :

Sitana ponticeriana
Cuvier, 1829

Description :

Sitana are small to medium-sized lizards. They are ground dwellers, primarily eating insects but also mollusks and plant seeds.[1]

Males measure 37–47 mm (1.5–1.9 in) and females 36–52 mm (1.4–2.0 in) in snout–vent length. Males have prominent dewlaps which are used in communication during the breeding season. The dewlap may be small to large, depending on the species. Females lack the dewlap.[1]

Species :

There are ten species that are listed here alphabetically:[2] :

Sitana bahiri Amarasinghe, Ineich & Karunaratna, 2014
Sitana devakai Amarasinghe, Ineich & Karunaratna, 2014
Sitana fusca Schleich & Kästle, 1998[4]
Sitana laticeps Deepak and Giri, 2016[1]
Sitana marudhamneydhal Deepak, Khandekar, Varma & Chaitanya, 2016
Sitana ponticeriana Cuvier, 1829 – (blue) fan-throated lizard
Sitana schleichi Anders & Kästle, 2002
Sitana sivalensis Schleich, Kästle & Shah, 1998; endemic to Nepal[5][6]
Sitana spinaecephalus Deepak, Vyas and Giri, 2016[1]
Sitana visiri Deepak, 2016[1]

Video :

Fan Throated Lizard (Sitana ponticeriana) by Dr. Akash Akinwar

Variation in orange coloration on the throat-fan of Sitana from the southern tip of India

Other websites :

- www.anoleannals.org/author/ambikamath/

- www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160308-the-beautiful-brightly-coloured-lizards-that-nobody-noticed

- tb.plazi.org/GgServer/html/DA632C027E54E51146A6FEA5FDF1ED7B

- www.researchgate.net/publication/

Species :

1- Sitana bahiri

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Bahir's fan-throated lizard (Sitana bahiri) is an endemic species of agamid lizard recently found from Sri Lanka.[1][2][3] The species was first found from Yala national park.[4] The species was named in honor of M.M Bahir, who is one of a leading wildlife conservationist of Sri Lanka.

Descriptions

Bahir's Fan-throated lizard

Scientific classification :

Kingdom:Animalia

Phylum:Chordata

Subphylum:Vertebrata

Class:Reptilia

Order:Squamata

Suborder:Iguania

Family:Agamidae

Subfamily:Draconinae

Genus:Sitana

Species:S. bahiri

Binomial name :

Sitana bahiri
Amarasinghe, Ineich & Karunaratna, 2014

Synonyms :

Litana ponticereana [sic] Kelaart (1854) [partim]
Sitana ponticereana Smith (1935) [partim]
Sitana ponticereanaTaylor (1957) [partim]
Sitana ponticereanaWermuth (1967) [partim]
Sitana ponticereanaManamendra-Arachchi & Liyanage (1994) [partim]
Sitana ponticereanaErdelen (1998) [partim]
Sitana ponticereana Das & De Silva (2005) [partim]
Sitana ponticereana De Silva (2006) [partim]
Sitana ponticereanaSomaweera & Somaweera (2009) [partim]
Sitana ponticereanaManthey (2010) [partim]
Sitana ponticereana Ponticereana Deraniyagala (1953) [partim]
Sitana ponticereana [sic] Bahir & Surasinghe (2005) [partim]

The species was considered mainly as a subspecies or a color variation of much broader distributed Sitana ponticeriana. The lizard can be found in open scrub jungles.

For the external links , refrences click here to read the full wikipedia article

Other websites :

- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25662111

- fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitana_bahiri

- www.contributionstozoology.nl/vol85/nr01/a04

Two New Species of Fan-Throated Lizards from Sri Lanka :

courtesy to : www.anoleannals.org/2015/02/14/two-new-species-of-fan-throated-lizards-from-sri-lanka/

February 14, 2015 by : Ambika Kamath

Fan-throated lizards (Sitana) are one of the Indian Subcontinent’s most widespread and charismatic lizards, found in many of the region’s drier, scrubbier habitats. Not surprisingly, lizards across this vast range vary dramatically, most strikingly in the size and coloration of the throat-fans for which they’re named. Everyone has long suspected that the lizards in this genus must belong to several different species, and Sitana taxonomy has been long overdue for an upheaval.

Sitana from India. Photographs by Shrikant Ranade, Jahnavi Pai, and Jitendra Katre.

The beginning of the revolution is finally here! Amarasinghe et al. (2015) have just published descriptions of two new species of fan-throated lizards, both from Sri Lanka. The authors also clarify some of the very confusing taxonomic and nomenclatural history of Sitana, paving the way for a comprehensive revision of the whole genus.

As is customary, the species descriptions of Sitana bahiri and S. devakai presented in this paper are based largely on morphological traits, including scale counts and throat-fan size, and I refer you to the paper for the details. The two species also differ in where they’re found, the former restricted to south-eastern Sri Lanka, the latter to the north of the island, separated by the Mahaweli River and surrounding wetter regions. Most interestingly, from my perspective, the authors suggest that S. bahiri and S. devakai differ in the coloration of their throat-fan. Sitana devakai is said to have brighter red coloration as well as a black patch on the throat-fan, whereas S. bahiri is described to have lighter orange coloration and no black patch.

Sitana bahiri and Sitana devakai, two newly described species from Sri Lanka (photos from Amarasinghe et al 2015).

I’m not sure I’m completely convinced of this difference in coloration. Though the differences are apparent in the examples shown above, another photo of S. bahiri shows some black coloration on the throat-fan (Figure 2 in the paper). I’ve also seen variation from bleached orange to deep orange, if not red, coloration within a single population of Sitana in southern India (in what Amarasinghe et al. refer to as Sitana cf. devakai):

The need of the hour for Sitana taxonomy is not only more comprehensive geographic sampling across the whole range of this genus but also close examination of intra-population variation. Moreover, phylogenetic methods for delimiting species and discovering relationships between species will be necessary to understand both morphological evolution and biogeographic patterns in this group. The two species described by Amarasinghe et al. (2015), as well as their clarifications of the descriptions of S. deccanensis and S. ponticeriana, are just the start of an exciting period for Sitana systematics, so stay tuned!

[Herpetology • 2015] Sitana bahiri & Sitana devakai • Two New Species of the Genus Sitana Cuvier, 1829 (Reptilia: Agamidae)from Sri Lanka, including a Taxonomic Revision of the Indian Sitana Species

courtesy to : novataxa.blogspot.ae/2015/02/sitana-from-sri-lanka.html

Sitana bahiri Amarasinghe, Ineich & Karunarathna 2015
live breeding male with expanded throat-fan from Kumana National Park, Sri Lanka

[photo: Harsha Matarage in 2011]

Abstract :

The genus Sitana was described by Cuvier (1829) on the basis of a single species, S. ponticeriana. The secondly described, Sitana minor Günther, 1864, is identical to S. ponticeriana Cuvier, 1829, and should be considered as a junior objective synonym of the latter. The syntypes of S. deccanensis Jerdon, 1870 have been rediscovered, misplaced among the syntypes of S. minor (sensu Boulenger 1885) at the Natural History Museum (London) and the former taxon is here recognised as a valid species and redescribed. There is some doubt surrounding the taxon Sitana ponticeriana mucronata Deraniyagala, 1957. Its type is lost and no live populations have been found since its original description; therefore, we here consider this trinomen as a nomen dubium. The Sitana populations which are distributed in drier and warmer areas of the lower peneplain of Sri Lanka are sufficiently different from the known Indian species and are thus herein described as new species. The two new species,Sitana bahiri sp. nov. and Sitana devakai sp. nov., differ from mainland Indian congeners by having the following combination of characters: SVL 40.0–50.0 mm; axilla-dewlap length 28.3–32.5% of axilla-groin length; snout length 54.7–63.2% of head width; femur length 70.6–78.4% of tibia length; foot length 154.7–180.2% of head length; 49–59 midbody scales; 87–108 ventral scales; unequal and irregular lateral scales with intermediate enlarged scales; 7–9 supralabials; 14–17 subdigital lamellae on toe III; 21–26 subdigital lamellae on toe IV; enlarged scales above the tympanum; a single pale stripe from the snout up to the shoulder. Sitana bahiri sp. nov. differs from Sitana devakai sp. nov. by having ventrals 87–89 (vs. 100–108), mucronate lateral scales (vs. rounded) in males, and rounded (vs. mucronate) ventral scales in females, plus several other characters discussed later . The remaining Sitana populations in India seem to represent several undescribed species, but extensive field work and molecular studies are needed in order to obtain better knowledge. We believe this study, which provides descriptions for all the recognised Indian species, will go some way in stabilizing the nomenclature for this group of common agamid lizards.

Keywords: biogeography, fan-throated lizard, lectotype, Sitana ponticeriana, syntype, taxonomy

- [Herpetology • 2016] Systematics and Phylogeny of Sitana (Reptilia: Agamidae) of Peninsular India, with the Description of One New Genus, Sarada, and Five New Species

- [Herpetology • 2013] Behavioral Ecology and Microhabitat Use by Lyriocephalus scutatus (Linnaeus, 1758): A Monotypic Genus in Sri Lanka (Reptilia: Agamidae: Draconinae) with Notes on the Taxonomy

- [Herpetology • 2014] Calotes manamendrai • A New Calotes Species from Sri Lanka with a Redescription of Calotes liolepis Boulenger, 1885

- [Herpetology • 2015] The Sri Lankan Torrent Toads (Bufonidae: Adenominae:Adenomus): Species Boundaries assessed using Multiple Criteria

2 - Sitana ponticeriana :

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The fan-throated lizard (Sitana ponticeriana) is a species of agamid lizard found in Southern India. It was earlier thought to be widespread but studies in 2016 resulted in the splitting of the group into several species placed in two genera.[2][3]

The species is found mostly on the ground in open ground patches in thin forests. When disturbed this lizard sometimes runs with a bipedal gait.

Fan-throated lizard

Descriptions :

Upper head-scales small, sharply keeled; canthus rostralis and supraciliary edge sharp, with much enlarged scales. Dorsal scales larger than ventrals, with sharp keels forming straight longitudinal lines; lateral scales smallest, uniform or intermixed with scattered enlarged ones. The fore limb does not extend on to the vent, if laid backwards; the hind limb reaches to the orbit, if laid forwards; the lower thigh is rather shorter than the foot (measured from the heel to the tip of the longest toe), the length of which is only three-fourths of the distance between the shoulder and hip joints. Limbs above with uniform strongly keeled scales. The length of the limbs varies very much : in some specimens the hind limb stretched forwards does not extend beyond the orbit, in others it reaches the end of the snout or even considerably beyond. Brown, with a series of dark spots along the middle of the back, the spot on the neck being the darkest; a whitish band along each side of the back. Gular appendage tricoloured—blue, black, and red.[4]

Tail round, slender, once and a half to twice as long as the head and body, covered with equal keeled scales. Olive-brown above, with a series of rhomboidal spots along the middle of the back; a more or less distinct light band along each side of the back. Gular appendage tricoloured—blue, black, and red; this appendage is more developed in the breeding-season, and in the majority of individuals, at all events, is not coloured at other times.[5]

Conservation status :

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification :

Kingdom:Animalia

Phylum:Chordata

Subphylum:Vertebrata

Class:Reptilia

Order:Squamata

Suborder:Iguania

Family:Agamidae

Subfamily:Draconinae

Genus:Sitana

Species:S. ponticeriana

Binomial name :

Sitana ponticeriana
Cuvier, 1829

This species attains a maximum length of 8 inches, of which the tail takes 5 inches. From snout to vent 3-5 inches. Ebanasar (1989) reported the histomorphology of thyroid gland and thyroid activity in Sitana ponticeriana in juveniles, males and females with different ovary maturation stages. He has also reported ovoviviparity in females from Madurai and Virudhunagar areas of Tamil Nadu.[6]

M. A. Smith notes that there are two size variants with intermediates :

A larger form. From snout to vent 70–80 mm. ; tail once and a half to twice the length of the head and body ; hind-limb not reaching to beyond the snout;, lateral scales not intermixed with larger ones ; no enlarged scales on the occiput. This form appears to be confined to the district around Bombay. This may possibly represent Jerdon's deccanensis.
A smaller form. From snout to vent 40–50 mm. ; tail two to three times the length of the head and body ; hind-limb reaching to beyond the tip of the snout ; lateral and occipital scales intermixed with larger ones. This form ranges over the rest of India and Ceylon. The typical form is from Pondicherry, and Gunther's minor, from Madras, is, therefore, a synonym of it.[7]

in Hyderabad, India

Videos :