The Common Green Forest Lizard (Calotes calotes) is an agamid lizard

Lizard

Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...

 found in the forests of the Western Ghats

Western Ghats

The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...

 and the Shevaroy Hills

Shevaroy Hills

Shevaroys is the anglicised name for the Servarayan which lie near the town of Salem in Tamil Nadu, India. It is a detached hill range, covering an area of 50 sq. m., with plateaus from 4000 to 5000 ft. above sea-level. They include the sanatorium and several old coffee plantations...

 in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, and Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

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Description

The length of head is one and a half times the size of its breadth, the snout is a little longer than the orbit. The lizard has a concave forehead, swollen cheeks and smooth, unequal upper head-scales. The canthus rostralis and the supraciliary edge both are sharp. A row of 8 or 9 compressed spines, divided into two groups, is above the tympanum, the diameter of these is less than half that of the orbit. C. calotes has 9 to 11 upper and as many lower labials. The body is compressed, the dorsal scales are large and usually feebly keeled, but sometimes smooth. these scales point backwards and upwardsand are as large as or a slightly smaller than the ventrals, which are strongly keeled and mucronate. 30 to 35 scales cover the middle of the body. The gular pouch is not developed, the gular scales are feebly keeled, they are nearly as large as the ventrals. A short oblique fold is in front of the shoulder and is covered with small granular scales. The Nuchal and dorsal crests are continuous, composed of closely set lanceolate spines with smaller ones at the base. In adult males the height of the crest on the neck equals or exceeds the diameter of the orbit, on the back it gradually diminishes in size. The Limbs are moderate, the third and fourth fingers are nearly equal, however the fourth toe is distinctly longer than third toe. The hind-limb reaches to the front of the eye or further. C. calotes has a very long and slender tail.

The lizard has a bright green dorsal coloration, usually with 5 or 6 white, cream or dark green transverse stripes, however these are changeable. Often the stripes continue on to the tail. The head is yellowish- or brownish-green whereas the male develops a bright red head and throat in the breeding season. The underside is a pale green, the tail is light brown. Young and immature sometimes have a whitish dorso-lnterr.1 stripe. A half-grown example in the British Museum, no. 74.4.29.836, has a broad vertebral stripe of buff with elongated dark brown spots. It roosts on green foliage bearing trees like Azadirachta indica. Though very little knowledge is available in roosting ecology of the species.