A revision of the endemic Sri Lankan agamid lizard genus Ceratophora Gray, 1835, with description of two new species

The homed lizards of the endemic Sri Lankan genus Ceratophora Gray, 1835, hitherto considered to be comprised of only three species (Ceratophora stoddartii Gray, 1835; C. tennentii Gunther & Gray, 1861; and C. aspera Gunther, 1864), are re described. Two new species are described: Ceratophora erdeleni sp. nov. is distinguished from all other Ceratophora by having the rostral appendage absent or rudimentary (8.7-17.3% of eyeto-nostril distance, if present). Ceratophora karu sp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners (except C. tennentii and C. aspera) by the rostral appendage be.ng complex, comprising more scales than the rostral scale alone; it is distinguished from C. tennentii by the presence of prominent superciliary scales (absent in C. tennentii) and from C. aspera by the absence of a squamosal process and the presence of a prominent nuchal crest (vs. squamosal process present, nuchal crest feebly defined in C. aspera). All the species, except for C. erdeleni and C. karu (which share part of their ranges of distribution), are allopatric. While C. aspera is widely distributed in the lowland moist forests of Sri Lanka's south-western wet zone, all the other species of Ceratophora are restricted to areas of undisturbed cloud forest between 760 and 2200 m above sea level.