A FIRST REPORT ON THE OCCURENCE OF THE AGAMID LIZARD, PSAMMOPHILUS DORSALIS (GRAY) IN MYSORE (SOUTH INDIA)

While making a collection of lizards, viz. Calotes versicolor, Varanus monitor and Chameleon calcaratus to study the reproductive cycle in relation to changing environmental conditions in and around Mysore and also for karyological analysis, we came across a new agamid lizard found in Chamundi Hills which is situated at about 3.5 km to the South-East of Mysore city. It is an isolated rocky hill (latitude 12° 18' N; longitude 76° 42° E; altitude 1020 meters above sea level). These specimens were identified by the British Museum, Natural History, London, as Psammophilus dorsalis Gray, 1831, Its distribution is confined to Southern India of South about 16°N (Malabar, Mysore, Nilgiri and South Arcot districts; Smith, 1933).