A new karst-dwelling bent-toed gecko (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Cyrtodactylus) from Xiangkhoang Province, northeastern Laos.

Roman A Nazarov,Nikolay A Poyarkov,Evgeniy L Konstantinov,Nikolai L Orlov,Jr Jr,Anatoliy S Chulisov,Olivier S.G Pauwels

doi:10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2018.010

Abstract

We describe a new karst-dwelling Cyrtodactylus from Ban Thathom, Xiangkhoang Province, northeastern Laos. The new species can be distinguished from other congeners by having four dark dorsal bands between limb insertions, a discontinuous nuchal loop, 10 precloacal pores in males or 10–12 precloacal pits (females) separated by a diastema from a series of enlarged femoral scales bearing 18 or 19 pores (male) or 8–10 pits (females) along each femur, 14–18 dorsal tubercle rows at midbody, no precloacal groove, 30–36 midbody scale rows across belly between ventrolateral skin folds, transversely enlarged subcaudal plates, and a maximal known snout-vent length of 75.5 mm. Our description brings to 22 the number of Cyrtodactylus species recorded from Laos.

Highlights

The diversity of the gecko genus Cyrtodactylus has increased at a phenomenal rate
Laos is located between these two species-rich countries and harbors a varied geological relief propitious to micro-endemism, its Cyrtodactylus fauna is currently known to include only 21 species (Luu et al, 2016a; Nazarov et al, 2014). Such low species number may be due to the fewer herpetological surveys conducted in Laos compared to Vietnam and Thailand, on the karst reliefs (Teynié & David, 2014)
During fieldwork in the forested karst massifs in the Laotian province of Xiangkhoang, we (A.S.C. and E.L.K.) encountered three geckos that differed in color pattern and scalation from known species, and which we show hereafter to belong to an undescribed species

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The diversity of the gecko genus Cyrtodactylus has increased at a phenomenal rate. Of the more than 250 species recognized within the genus, about 80% of the diversity has been described in the twenty-first century (Uetz et al, 2018). Laos is located between these two species-rich countries and harbors a varied geological relief propitious to micro-endemism, its Cyrtodactylus fauna is currently known to include only 21 species (Luu et al, 2016a; Nazarov et al, 2014). Such low species number may be due to the fewer herpetological surveys conducted in Laos compared to Vietnam and Thailand, on the karst reliefs (Teynié & David, 2014). Our team co-described five of the Cyrtodactylus species currently recorded from Laos (Nazarov et al, 2014; Ngo & Pauwels, 2010), and we are pursuing our efforts to better inventory the diversity of the genus in this country. In agreement with the definition of this group provided by Luu et al (2016a: 132), this new species exhibits a maximum adult SVL comprised between 73.0 and 100.6 mm, 0 or 1 supranasal, a DorTub (14–18) between 10 and 24, no webbing between fingers or toes, tubercles nearly absent on forelimbs but present on hind limbs, precloacal and femoral pores in males (in total 47) between 20 and 60, number of postcloacal tubercles (5 or 6 in male) between 3 and 8, enlarged subcaudals, and dorsum displaying well-defined dark bands

MATERIALS AND METHODS

RESULTS

Cyrtodactylus badenensis

DISCUSSION

89.9 Bl – D – 12