Calotes liolepis, Length of head one and half times its breadth; snout little longer than the orbit; forehead concave; cheeks swollen in the male; upper head scales unequal, smooth; canthus rostralis and supraciliary edge sharp; two longer spines set far apart over the tympanum, nuchal crest of male consists of ten well developed spines on neck; diameter of the tympanum half or less than half that of the orbit; 10 to 12 upper and as many lower labials. Body compressed; dorsal scales large, smooth, pointing backwards and downwards, except sometimes the upper one or two rows, which point backwards; two to three times as large as the ventrals, which are strongly keeled and mucronate; 330to 39 scales round the middle of the body. Gular sac not developed, or just a fold in the male; gular scales feebly keeled, about as large as the ventrals; a short oblique fold in front of the shoulder covered with small granular scales. Nuchal crest well developed in the male, composed of narrow, separated, lanceolate spines, the longest of which equals the diameter of the orbit; dorsal crest continuous with it, the spines lower, posteriorly forming a serrated ridge; in the female the whole crest is lower. Limbs moderate; third and fourth fingers equal; fourth toe a little longer than third; the hind limb reaches to the tympanum or a little farther. Tail long and slender; in the adult male it is markedly swollen at the base, with large, thick, keeled scales, those of the upper median row forming a slight serrated ridge (Deraniyagala, 1953; Smith, 1935 Taylor, 1953).

The body is green with whitish markings, namely two white blotches under eye., a white streak behind the eye and three transverse bars upon the body; base of tail greenish brown; below whitish or greenish; some times dark brown patches on the head and the body. Gular sac present without black bands, shoulder pit is white or cream in color, Gular sac is an old red with three white blotches (Deraniyagala, 1953; Smith, 1935 Taylor, 1953).

Calotes liolepis has been recorded only from a few widely separated localities restricted to the sub montane forests, primarily heavily shaded areas of forest in the wet zone and plantations below 1,000 m elevation (Das & De Silva, 2005; Manamendra -Arachchi & Liyanage, 1994). This species is endemic to Sri Lanka.

This species is largely arboreal and unusual among agamid lizards its habit of uttering a high-pitched whistle when alarmed. It feeds on insects and ants (Das & De Silva, 2005).

Conservation status: Endangered (Manamendra -Arachchi & Liyanage, 1994), Vulnerable (Bahir & Surasinghe, 2005; IUCN, 2007).