Cnemaspis flaviventralis, a new species of gecko (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Western Ghats of Maharashtra, India

Amit Sayyed,Neelesh Dahanukar,Robert Alexander Pyron

doi:10.11609/jott.2599.8.14.9619-9629

Abstract

Cnemaspis flaviventralis, a new species of day gecko, is described from the forests of Amboli, Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra State, northern Western Ghats, India. The new species was previously confused with the sympatric species Cnemaspis girii, C. indraneildasii, C. kolhapurensis and C. goaensis. It is distinguished from C. giri by having spine-like tubercles on flanks, granular dorsal scales intermixed with large, depressed, slightly keeled scales (vs. lack of spine-like tubercles on flanks, granular dorsal scales, intermixed with large smooth scales); from C. indraneildasii by having dorsal scales heterogeneous (vs. homogenous), lacking a series of enlarged median sub-caudal scales, and 28–29 (vs. 20) ventral scales across mid-body; from C. kolhapurensis by having heterogeneous (vs. homogenous) dorsal scalation, lacking spine-like tubercles on flanks and lacking pre-cloacal pores (vs. 24–28 pre-cloacal-femoral pores); and from C. goaensis by lacking pre-cloacal pores and lacking a series of enlarged median sub-caudal scales. We further provide partial mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene sequences for the new species and for the sympatric species C. girii, C. kolhapurensis and C. goaensis, and show that the new species is genetically distinct.

Highlights

The species-rich lizard genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 in the family Gekkonidae includes at least 120 Old World species (Uetz & Hošek 2015) distributed from Africa to South-east Asia
The Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot is becoming a hotspot for Cnemaspis with several new species described in recent years (e.g., Manamendra-Arachchi et al 2007; Giri et al 2009; Cyriac & Umesh 2014; Mirza et al 2014; Vidanapathirana et al 2014; Srinivasulu et al 2015)
Based on a new collection from the northern Western Ghats of Maharashtra, India, we describe here a new species of Cnemaspis to make a name available and facilitate their conservation

Summary

Introduction

The species-rich lizard genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 in the family Gekkonidae includes at least 120 Old World species (Uetz & Hošek 2015) distributed from Africa to South-east Asia. The Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot is becoming a hotspot for Cnemaspis with several new species described in recent years (e.g., Manamendra-Arachchi et al 2007; Giri et al 2009; Cyriac & Umesh 2014; Mirza et al 2014; Vidanapathirana et al 2014; Srinivasulu et al 2015). Based on a new collection from the northern Western Ghats of Maharashtra, India, we describe here a new species of Cnemaspis to make a name available and facilitate their conservation. We provide a molecular analysis based on 16S rRNA genomic sequences that may facilitate future studies in the region

Methods

Results

Conclusion