Cyrtodactylus bhupathyi AGARWAL, MAHONY, GIRI, CHAITANYA & BAUER, 2018
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Cyrtodactylus bhupathyi
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Bhupathy’s bent-toed gecko |
| Synonym | Cyrtodactylus bhupathyi AGARWAL, MAHONY, GIRI, CHAITANYA & BAUER 2018 Cyrtodactylus gubernatoris — AGARWAL et al. 2014 |
| Distribution | India (West Bengal) Type locality: near Bagdogra (26.88004°N 88.47187°E; ca. 200 m elevation), Darjeeling District, West Bengal state, India |
| Reproduction | oviparous (manual imputation, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Holotype: BNHS 2255, adult female, collected by A. Datta-Roy and I. Agarwal, 28 October 2010. Paratype: BNHS 2256, adult female, same data as holotype. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis and comparison with regional congeners. A small sized Cyrtodactylus, snout-vent length to 61.5 mm; body and limbs relatively slender, digits relatively short; two pairs of well-developed postmentals, inner pair longer than outer and either in broad contact behind mental or separated by a large scale; 24–25 rows of circular tubercles, bluntly conical and feebly keeled throughout; 51–55 paravertebral tubercles; 37 or 38 mid-body ventral scale rows; no precloacal groove; 4–7 weakly pitted femoral scales on each side separated by 17 or 18 smaller non- pored scales from a single series of 10 or 11 pitted precloacal scales on females; male condition unknown. Five or six basal and 13 apical subdigital lamellae beneath Digit IV of pes, with three intervening rows of non-lamellar granular scales between basal and distal lamellae series. Subcaudal scalation of original tail without clearly defined median series of enlarged scales. Dorsal pattern of 8–10 paired transversely arranged dark blotches/cross-bars, which may be more or less irregular, occasionally alternating with lighter blotches. Original tail with 11–13 alternating dark and light bands, distal-most light bands almost white. The condition of females with precloacal and femoral pores separated by a diastema in the new species is unique within the Indo-Burma Cyrtodactylus clade for which females are known. Cyrtodactylus bhupathyi sp. nov. differs from the following species in having 24 or 25 dorsal tubercle rows: C. annandalei (16–18 DTR), C. cayuensis (18 DTR), C. fasciolatum (15–17 DTR), C. gubernatoris (20 or 21 DTR), Cyrtodactylus himalayicus comb. nov. (19–21 DTR), C. mandalayensis (18 DTR), C. markuscombaii (14 or 15 DTR), C. russelli (22 DTR), C. tamaiensis (21 DTR), the new species from Tripura described below (19–21 DTR), and C. brevidactylus (27 DTR). The small body size of C. bhupathyi sp. nov. (SVL to 61.5 mm) and the number of mid-body ventral scale rows (37 or 38) distinguishes it from the large bodied species C. slowinskii (SVL to 108 mm, MVSR 27–32). Cyrtodactylus bhupathyi sp. nov. differs from the following species by possessing femoral pores separated from precloacal pores in females: C. ayeyarwadyensis (no pores on females, continuous series of 10–28 Pcp to PcFP pores on males), C. gansi (14 small PcP on females, 16–29 PcP on males), C. khasiensis (no pores on females, 10–12 PcP on males), C. martinstolli (no pores on females, 0–8 PcP on males), C. wakeorum (12 PcP on female holotype). Cyrtodactylus bhupathyi sp. nov. is most similar morphologically to C. gubernatoris from which it differs in the number of paravertebral tubercles (51–55 vs. 46–48), dorsal tubercle rows (24 or 25 vs. 20 or 21), and by the presence of femoral pores/partially pitted femoral scales in females (vs. absence on females). |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | The specific epithet is a patronym honouring the late Subramaniam Bhupathy for his contributions to Indian herpetology. Dr. Bhupathy also led herpetological research projects on elevational patterns in reptile diversity in Sikkim (Chettri et al. 2010). Dr. Bhupathy passed away in 2014 in an accident while conducting fieldwork in the southern Western Ghats, India. |
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