| Hardwicke's bloodsucker | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Iguania |
| Family: | Agamidae |
| Genus: | Calotes |
| Species: | C. minor |
| Binomial name | |
| Calotes minor | |
 | |
| Synonyms | |
Agama minor Hardwicke & Gray 1827: 218 Contents | |
Hardwicke's bloodsucker (Calotes minor) is an agamid lizard and found in South Asia.
Physical structure: This is a small stocky and pot-belly lizard with a short tail. Its head large and elongated, flat above, sloping towards snout. [2] Its dorsal scales larger, strongly imbricate and keeled, pointing backward and upward, ventral scales smaller than dorsal; upper head scales larger, unequal, strongly keeled or tubercular. [3] Females are larger than the males. [1]
Color pattern: Dorsal color is olive-brown with three rows of dark-brown light edged spots on the back and base of the tail; spots of middle row are most prominent and rhomboidal; a white streak on each side of the neck is bifurcating behind and an oblique one from the eye to the angle of mouth; limbs are with dark-brown cross bars; throat is profusely spotted with dark-brown and orange; belly is yellowish-white with numerous orange dots. [3] Color inside the mouth is ink-blue. [4] Females are more brilliantly colored during breeding season. [1]
Length: Maximum:18 cm, [2] Common:10 cm. (Snout to vent 6 cm.) [2]
Found in Bangladesh (southeast part of the country), India (Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Odissa) and Pakistan (Sindh).
Bengali: আগামা গিরিগিটি, পাতি রক্তচোষা, পাতিয়াল গিরিগিটি (Patial girigiti), হার্ডউইকের গিরিগিটি।
English: Hardwicke's bloodsucker, Hardwicke's short-tail agama, dwarf rock agama, and lesser agama.
Hindi & other Indian languages: ?
Urdu & Sindhi: ?
This lizard is terrestrial and sometimes arboreal; inhabits frequently fragmented dry forest, arid environments, barren desert and desolate areas across the Indo-Gangetic plains. [1]
This lizard is diurnal and crepuscular. It shelters in burrows close to the roots of thorny bushes. [1] Generally it is found sitting on stones, but it can climb up shrubby vegetation. It is sluggish in movements, often not attempting to escape when approached. [3] It is a docile species. [5]
This lizard is mainly insectivorous; feeding on grasshoppers and their nymphs, earwigs, beetles, bugs, arthropods and spiders. [3] Sometimes it also eats flowers. [1]
This lizard is oviparous; the breeding season extends from April to June; it lays four to six hard shelled white eggs in burrows under the roots of vegetation. [1]
There are no known practical uses of this species, but it plays a role in the eco-system by eating various types of insects and otherwise.
This lizard is non-venomous and completely harmless to humans. [6]
The species-name minor, a Latin word, meaning 'less' or 'smaller', also referring to the smaller size of this agamid. [7]
This lizard has a reputation for being particularly harmful, which is totally baseless and has contributed much to its depletion. [1]
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