Sunday, December 15, 2013

කට කලු කටුස්සා/Black-cheek Lizard/Dark-lipped Lizard(Calotes nigrilabris)


An endemic lizard confine to submontane and montane areas of elevation 1000m and above. It is common in Horton plains national park. Hakgala, Nuwaraeliya and Peak wilderness. Black-cheek Lizard is an arboreal species and during the day time it feeds on insects, millipedes and also sometime on other smaller agamides like juvenile Rhino-horn Lizard and Pygmy Lizard (Somaweera R. & Somaweera N., 2009). As also seen in above picture, in Horton Plan National Park it is usually observed staying on Rhodondron arboreum zeylanicum [මහ රත් මල්] and Gorse[Ulex europaeus] flowers, which attract insects.  Anslem de Silva  noted that during the night they descend from trees and sleeping is done on grass blades (de Silva A., 2007)

de Silva A., 2007 - The diversity of Horton plains national park (with specieal reference to its herpetofauna)

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