Rock Agama

Finally picked up Daniel's Book on Indian Reptiles & Amphibians. The trigger was to identify a lizard we saw at Hoskote lake on sunday, 2nd July.

Peninsular Rock Agama Psammophilus dorsalis

Beautiful isn't it ? Notice the colors, and the patterns. The eye & the ear. What you see is the colorful male. It turns brilliant crimson red on the head & foreparts and black elsewhere.

Herz the female. No wonder, I have found it difficult to spot.

The males maintains a territory, by displaying from a conspicuous location, press ups & nods of the head. These guyz are very sensitive to our presence.

Insectivorous in food habits. Females have upto 8 eggs in ovaries (eggs hatch within the body).

Distinguished by

• Regular arranged scales
• Flattened body
• Presence of a fold in the skin of the throat.

Look at these, the coloring looks a bit different, couple of months back - May - at Ramnagara. Basically, a rock dweller.

And this was at Hoskote last year July. The coloring has come down, as though the rains have washed them away. Its fun looking for Agama's, Calotes, Gecko's, etc. Some of them bask in the sun, and you need to move in silently, amongst those rocks. And, Rock Agamas are quite easily seen around Bangalore, so do look for them.