BEHAVIOR OF Ceratophora tennentii GUNTHER, 1834 IN RELATION TO AMBIENT TEMPERATURE IN A SELECTED HABITAT IN KNUCKLES FOREST RANGE OF SRllANKA

Abstract

A research was conducted in the eastern slope of the northern flank of the Knuckles forestrange for a period of 3 months from March - June 2002 with the objective of studying thegeneral behavior of C. tennentii related to the ambient temperature. Data was collected fora period of 10 days between 0800 to 1800 hrs using focal sampling method. Juvenile (1),male (M) and female (F) lizards were observed and the ambient temperature or thesubstrate used in the habitat Was recorded. An average temperature in the study sitefluctuated from 16.80DC in the morning, H.2SDC at noon and 16.25DC in the evening.Activity of all lizards was high around noon (1100-1300 hrs) and it was observed that theyare relatively inactive in the morning and evening when the ambient temperatures wereminimum. All the groups spent more time on resting (1 = 50.83%, M = 42% and F =55.83(10). The most preferred substrates were tree trunks and cardamom plants (J = 34.3%,33.5%; M = 37.3%, 28.2%; F = n5%, 32.2% respectively). It can be concluded that thegeneral behavior of C. tennentii correlates with the ambient temperature where a highdegree of activity was observed during the daytime. The optimum range could be 20°C-24DC for captive management of these lizards. They preferred substrates exposed tosunlight such as tree trunks and cardamom plants where there were numerous insectsduring the flowering season.