Range extension of the rare agamid, Pseudocalotes austeniana (Annandale, 1908) (Reptilia, Sauria, Draconinae) in the East Himalaya, with comments on its ontogenetic shift

Abstract

Despite its recognition since the early 1900s, the agamid lizard Pseudocalotes austeniana remains known based on 3 vouchered specimens only from the East Himalaya, and little is known about its general biology. During herpetological surveys of Tibet, China, we collected 3 specimens of P. austeniana from Medog County, southeastern Tibet, including the first juvenile specimen ever vouchered. We provide a detailed description based on new material of this enigmatic species, report on a range extension of 400 km northeastward from its type locality, its ontogenetic shift, and clutch size.

On the systematics and the phylogenetic position of the poorly known, montane dragon-lizard species Pseudocalotes austeniana (Annandale, 1908) (Squamata, Agamidae, Draconinae)

“…nov. (ultrafast bootstrap values 58, posterior probability 0.90). The relationships between the ingroup taxa were generally consistent with the previously published phylogenies including Pyron et al (2013), , Harvey et al (2017), Giri et al (2019), Wang et al (2019), however, there were certain deviations, particularly with the placement of the genera Acanthosaura Gray, 1831, Cristidorsa Wang, Deepak, Datta-Roy, Lin, Jiang, Che & Siler, 2018, and Salea. Additionally, previous studies have recovered Ptyctolaemus spp.…”

“…The species was rediscovered by Das and Das (2007) from Sangti, West Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh, who added two specimens, currently housed at ZSI (male, ZSI 24841, Bomdila) and MAVC (female, MAVC L31, Dirang), increasing the number of specimens from one to three, and provided details on the female colouration of the species for the first time. The species was recently reported from China (Wang et al 2019), expanding the distribution range by 400 km northeastward, adding three more specimens to the collection. It is known to occur with certainty in the Dafla hills, from Harmatti, Bomdila and Dirang (Das and Das 2007), Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary (Athreya 2006;Agarwal et al 2010) and Medog County, southeastern Tibet (Wang et al 2019) only, and the geographic distribution P. austeniana remains poorly understood.…”

“…The species was recently reported from China (Wang et al 2019), expanding the distribution range by 400 km northeastward, adding three more specimens to the collection. It is known to occur with certainty in the Dafla hills, from Harmatti, Bomdila and Dirang (Das and Das 2007), Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary (Athreya 2006;Agarwal et al 2010) and Medog County, southeastern Tibet (Wang et al 2019) only, and the geographic distribution P. austeniana remains poorly understood. Mahony (2010), attributing to lack of strong morphological characters to define the genus Mictopholis, syn-onymized Mictopholis to Pseudocalotes, and stated that phylogenetic analysis of the subfamily Draconinae was necessary to comment on the systematics of P. austeniana.…”