Cnemaspis upendrai MANAMENDRA-ARACHCHI, BATUWITA & PETHIYAGODA, 2007
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Cnemaspis upendrai
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Cnemaspis upendrai MANAMENDRA-ARACHCHI, BATUWITA & PETHIYAGODA 2007 Cnemaspis clivicola MANAMENDRA-ARACHCHI, BATUWITA & PETHIYAGODA 2007 Cnemaspis cf. clivicola — KOTTAWA-ARACHCHI & GAMAGE 2015 |
| Distribution | Sri Lanka Type locality: Pussellawa, Kandy District, Central Province of Sri Lanka, 07º05’N, 80º30’E, 900 m elevation. clivicola: Sri Lanka; Type locality: Nanu Oya, Nuwara Eliya District, Central Province of Sri Lanka, 06º56’30”N, 80º44’30”E, 1623 m elevation. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: NMSL (= WHT) 7189 (male), 31.5 mm SVL, coll. S. Batuwita & K. Wewelwala, 27 November, 2002. Holotype: NMSL (= WHT) 7204 (male), 36.6 mm SVL, coll. S. Batuwita, 11 August, 2005 [clivicola] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Cnemaspis upendrai differs from its peninsular Indian and Sri Lankan congeners by a combination of the following characters. Maximum SVL 35.2 mm; paired postmentals separated by a medial scale; each postmental bounded by 4 scales including medial scale; ventrals, 112–128; ventral scales across midbody, 16–25; dorsal scales heterogeneous; a row of 15 irregular, spine-like tubercles present on flank; ventrals smooth; 2 or 3 preanal pores, 4 or 5 femoral pores on each side; subcaudals keeled, median row enlarged, irregular; supralabials to angle of jaws, 7 or 8; subdigital lamellae on digit IV of pes, 17–21; (in life) dorsum light-brown, with about eight median black markings extending from neck and on to tail; much larger, irregular, dark-brown blotches on sides; occipital region with two black chevrons, a light yellow marking between them, followed by a black spot on neck; a narrow interorbital band present; tail rusty brown; venter white. Some individuals uniform yellowish brown, without prominent dorsal markings [from MANAMENDRA-ARACHCHI et al. 2007]. |
| Comment | Synonymy: Agarwal et al. 2017 synonymized C. clivicola and C. upendrai. The holotypes of these two species are only 0.1% genetically divergent from one another (with ND2 used as marker). |
| Etymology | The species name is a patronym Latinized in the genitive singular honouring the Sri Lankan prehistorian Dr Siran Upendra Deraniyagala. The species name upendrai is Latin for ‘inhabitant of the hills’, an allusion to the montane type locality of this species. |
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