Erode Ground Gecko Cyrtodactylus speciosus (Beddome, 1870) (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from peri-urban common-lands of Coimbatore, India, with comments on habitat associations

Abstract

We report the Erode Ground Gecko Cyrtodactylus speciosus (Beddome, 1870), a rare, hill forest-dwelling species, from two sites in the northern periphery of Coimbatore city. These two sites, viz., Nallusamy checkdam (Site–1) and Sarkar Sama Kulam (Site–2) are lakes with remnant vegetation belts, surrounded by pastures, farmlands, and villages. From 100 hours of observations during a six-month period (April–September 2023) in these two sites, we report 14 sightings of C. speciosus including gravid females, juveniles, and subadults indicating a persistent breeding population. The encounter rate estimates ranged from 5 h (in Nallusamy checkdam; n = 10/50 h) to 12½ h (in Sarkar Sama Kulam; n = 4/50 h), averaging at about 7 h (pooled; n = 14/100 h) to get one sighting of C. speciosus. Our sightings of C. speciosus in peri-urban common lands abutting a city, calls for intensified biodiversity surveys and enhanced protections of such remnant vegetation belts, often presumed to have low or marginalised conservation values.