Lyriocephalus scutatus, Upper head scales very unequal, keeled; a prominent crest over each eye, extending forwards nearly to the nostril, terminating posteriorly in a triangular compressed spine; a pair of small spines on the occiput; a series of 20 to 25 enlarged keeled scales on each side of the head starting from near the nostril, passing below the eye and terminating on the temple, the last two or three very large; 12 to 15 upper and as many lower labials. Body strongly compressed; dorsal scales small, smooth, pointing upwards and backwards, intermixed with much larger scales; on the nape and upper parts of the back these form regular longitudinal series, lower down they are more scattered and are very strongly keeled. Gular scales large, shortly keeled, arranged in regular rows; ventral scales smaller, strongly keels. Limbs above with unequal keeled scales; fourth toe extending well beyond third; the hind limb reaches to the neck. A low nuchal crest formed a cutaneous fold, with closely set triangular scales above; dorsal crest continuous with it, composed of triangular scales, which are separated from one another. Tail rather short, strongly compressed, with blunt tip, crested above, covered on the sides and below with large, strongly keeled scales, the latter being much longer than broad. Gular pouch well developed in both sexes, larger in the male than in the female. A globular knob is on the end of the snout in the adult, absent in young. It is composed of dense spongy tissue within and is covered with large smooth scales. The first tooth in upper and lower jaw is caninoid. SVL: 83-185 mm; AG: 49-115 mm (Deraniyagala, 1953; Smith, 1935 Taylor, 1953; Vidyalankara & Bandara; 2004).

The body color is changeable from cinnamon brown to green, whitish below, gular sac and ante humeral fold yellow in life, the enlarged scales of the sac green, belly sometimes bluish black, limbs and tail banded with brown. The young are brown in color (Deraniyagala, 1953; Smith, 1935 Taylor, 1953)

Lyriocephalus scutatus is widespread in wet lowlands and mid hills at elevations below approximately 1650 m. It is a very slow moving lizard found both on the ground and on trees. It was recorded only from forested areas with a dense canopy (Das & De Silva, 2005; Manamendra-Arachchi & Liyanage, 1994).  This species is endemic to Sri Lanka. This speciesfeeds on earthworms, insects, such as butterflies, termites and moths and young shoots, buds, fruits and other vegetable matters also ingested (Das & De Silva, 2005; Smith, 1935). The main predator of these lizards is the Hawk eagle. Clearing of forest areas changes the temperature, light intensity and humidity will obviously have an impact on these shade loving species (Vidyalankara & Bandara; 2004).

The female digs a nest hole in the ground and deposits 1-11 eggs. The eggs are 20.5-24 x 12-14 mm; incubation period is 35-36 days (Das & De Silva, 2005).

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