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Cnemaspis menikay MANAMENDRA-ARACHCHI, BATUWITA & PETHIYAGODA, 2007

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Higher TaxaGekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos)
Subspecies 
Common Names 
SynonymCnemaspis menikay MANAMENDRA-ARACHCHI, BATUWITA & PETHIYAGODA 2007 
DistributionSri Lanka

Type locality: Ihala- Kalugala, Allauwa, Kegalle District, Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka, 07°15’N, 80°16’E, 300m elevation.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: NMSL (= WHT) 7219, (male), 26.8 mm SVL, coll. S. Batuwita, 19 April, 2006 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Cnemaspis menikay differs from its peninsular Indian and Sri Lankan congeners by a combination of the following characters. Maximum SVL 28.0 mm; paired postmentals separated by a medial scale; each postmental bounded by 3 scales; ventrals, 126–138; ventral scales across mid-body, 20–26; dorsal scales heterogeneous; 15 spine-like tubercles on flanks; ventrals smooth; 1 or 2 preanal pores, 3 or 4 femoral pores per side; subcaudals in median series not enlarged, keeled; supralabials to angle of jaws, 7 or 8; subdigital lamellae on digit IV of pes, 15; (in life) dorsum dark-brown, with yellowish spots laterally; uninterrupted dusky yellow mid-dorsal line; occipital region with three yellow spots. [from MANAMENDRA-ARACHCHI et al. 2007]. 
CommentAbundance: only known from its original description (Meiri et al. 2017). This is one of the species called 'lost' and 'rediscovered' by Lindken et al. 2024. 
EtymologyThe species name is a transliteration of the Sinhala word for jewel or gem, an object of great value, a term of endearment by which women are sometimes addressed; applied here as a noun in apposition. 
References
  • Agarwal, I., Biswas, S., Bauer, A.M., Greenbaum, E., Jackman, T.R., De Silva, A. & Batuwita, S. 2017. Cryptic species, taxonomic inflation, or a bit of both? New species phenomenon in Sri Lanka as suggested by a phylogeny of dwarf geckos (Reptilia, Squamata, Gekkonidae, Cnemaspis). Systematics and Biodiversity, 15, 427–439 - get paper here
  • Karunarathna, Suranjan; Nikolay A. Poyarkov, Anslem de Silva, Majintha Madawala, Madhava Botejue, Vladislav A. Gorin, Thilina Surasinghe, Dinesh Gabadage, Kanishka D.B. Ukuwela & Aaron M. Bauer 2019. Integrative taxonomy reveals six new species of day geckos of the genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from geographically-isolated hill forests in Sri Lanka. Vertebrate Zoology 69 (3): 247–298 - get paper here
  • Lindken T.; Anderson, C. V., Ariano-Sánchez, D., Barki, G., Biggs, C., Bowles, P., Chaitanya, R., Cronin, D. T., Jähnig, S. C., Jeschke, J. M., Kennerley, R. J., Lacher, T. E. Jr., Luedtke, J. A., Liu, C., Long, B., Mallon, D., Martin, G. M., Meiri, 2024. What factors influence the rediscovery of lost tetrapod species? Global Change Biology, 30: 1-18 - get paper here
  • Manamendra-Arachchi, Kelum; Batuwita, Sudesh & Pethiyagoda, Rohan 2007. A taxonomic revision of the Sri Lankan day-geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae: Cnemaspis), with description of new species from Sri Lanka and southern India. Zeylanica 7 (1): 9-122
  • Meiri, Shai; Aaron M. Bauer, Allen Allison, Fernando Castro-Herrera, Laurent Chirio, Guarino Colli, Indraneil Das, Tiffany M. Doan, Frank Glaw, Lee L. Grismer, Marinus Hoogmoed, Fred Kraus, Matthew LeBreton, Danny Meirte, Zoltán T. Nagy, Cristiano d 2017. Extinct, obscure or imaginary: the lizard species with the smallest ranges. Diversity and Distributions - get paper here
  • Somaweera, R. & Somaweera, N. 2009. Lizards of Sri Lanka: a colour guide with field keys. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 304 pp.
  • VIDANAPATHIRANA, DULAN RANGA; M. D. GEHAN RAJEEV, NETHU WICKRAMASINGHE, SAMANTHA SURANJAN FERNANDO & L. J. MENDIS WICKRAMASINGHE & L. J. MENDIS WICKRAMASINGHE 2014. Cnemaspis rammalensis sp. nov., Sri Lanka’s largest day-gecko (Sauria: Gekkonidae: Cnemaspis) from Rammalakanda Man and Biosphere Reserve in southern Sri Lanka. Zootaxa 3755 (3): 273–286 - get paper here
 
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