Cyrtodactylus darevskii NAZAROV, POYARKOV, ORLOV, NGUYEN, MILTO, MARTYNOV, KONSTANTINOV & CHULISOV, 2014
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Cyrtodactylus darevskii
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Darevsky’s Bent-toed Gecko |
| Synonym | Cyrtodactylus darevskii NAZAROV, POYARKOV, ORLOV, NGUYEN, MILTO, MARTYNOV, KONSTANTINOV & CHULISOV 2014 |
| Distribution | Laos (Khammouane) Type locality: environs of Na Phao Village, Boulapha District, Khammouane Province, Laos (17°34 ́57.1 ́ ́N, 105°44 ́37.3 ́ ́E; elevation 170 m a.s.l.) |
| Reproduction | oviparous (manual imputation, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Holotype: ZMMU R-13980, Adult male (field number F185) collected on 18 June 2009 by Nikolai Orlov, Sang Ngoc Nguyen and Konstantin Milto. Paratypes. Three adult males (ZMMU R-13981- 1; 13981-2 (FN 186, 187); ZIN 28247 (FN 256), two adult females (ZMMU 13981-3 (1999); ZIN 28248 (FN 188) and one subadult ZIN 28249 (FN 189). All members of the type series with the same collection data as the holotype. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. A large sized, slender Cyrtodactylus with a maximum SVL of 100 mm; the new species is distinguished from all congeners by the following morphological characters. Dorsal color pattern consisting of narrow dark nuchal band and 4–5 dark transversal breaking bands with light yellowish edge between limbs and 8–10 transversal dark bands on the tail. Dorsal surface of head very light brown, sometimes with a yellowish tinge, with few small irregular roundish dark brown spots. Dorsal of head and temporal region, body, hind limbs and base of tail covered by rounded, keeled tubercles, which are 2–3 times larger than the surrounding scales. Ventrals in 38–46 longitudinal rows at midbody, lateral folds are not strongly developed. Continuous series of 38–44 precloacal and femoral pores in males and 24–34 precloacal and femoral pores in females. Subcaudals in transversally enlarged median row, flat, smooth, imbricate. No enlarged keeled tubercles on the dorsal surface of the tail; 4–5 postcloacal spurs in both sexes. Comparisons. Below we compare the new species with eleven Laotian congeners. Cyrtodactylus darevskii sp. nov. differs from C. buchardi David, Teynie et Ohler, 2004 by the singe median row of subcaudals (vs. subcaudals not enlarged in C. buchardi), enlarged femoral scales (lacking in C. buchardi), fewer dorsal tubercle rows (16–20 vs. 25), more ventral scales (38–46 vs. 30), and more subdigital lamellae under the fourth finger and toe (17–20 and 18–22 vs. 14 and 12). From C. interdigitalis Ulber, 1993 new species differs by transversal enlarged subcaudal scales; higher number of precloacal and femoral pores in the singe row (38–44 for males and 24–38 for females vs. 14 precloacal and 9+9 femoral pores for C. interdigitalis); roundish tail versus flattened tail; dorsal patterns of new species consisting of 4–5 dark transverse narrow bands versus 4–5 wide brownish jagged transversal bands; no webbing between toes versus developed web on the basis of toes. Cyrtodactylus darevskii sp. nov. can be distinguished from C. jaegeri Luu, Calame, Bonkowski, Nguyen et Ziegler, 2014 by larger body size (maximum SVL 100 mm vs. 68.5 mm), a higher number of ventral scales (38–46 vs. 31–32), dorsal color patterns (dark narrow transverse wavy bands vs. wide transversal dark bands). The new species is distinguished from C. jarujini Ulber, 1993 by having smaller number of femoral and precloacal pores arranged in a continuous row (38–44 vs. 52–54 pores in an irregular row), more ventral scales (38–46 vs. 30–38), and also can be further distinguished by number of subdigital lamellae (LF4 17–20 and LT4 18–22 vs. 12–17 and 11–18 respectively). The new species is distinguishable from C. lomyenensis Tri et Pauwels, 2010 by the larger body size (maximum SVL 100 mm vs. 72.1 mm in C. lomyenensis), a higher number of ventral scales (38–46 vs. 35–36), dorsal color pattern (narrow dark transverse bands vs. wide bands in C. lomyenensis). Cyrtodactylus darevskii sp. nov. can be further differentiated from C. pageli Schneider, Nguyen, Schmitz, Kingsada, Auer et Ziegler, 2011 by the following morphological attributes: continuous row of precloacal and femoral pores (38–44 vs. 4–6 precloacal pores in C. pageli), greater number of enlarged dorsal tubercle rows (16–20 vs. 9–14)*. From C. roesleri Ziegler, Nazarov, Orlov, Nguyen, Vu, Dang, Dinh et Schmitz, 2010 the new species is distinguishable by having a higher number of precloacal and femoral pores (38–44 vs. 20–28), larger maximum body size (100 mm vs. 75.3 mm), dorsal pattern (irregular, dark transverse bands vs. wide transverse dark bands in C. roesleri). The new species differs from C. teyniei David, Nguyen, Schneider et Ziegler, 2011, by the higher number of pores in females (24–34 vs. 13 or 14 ), dorsal color pattern (narrow bands vs. blotches in C. teyniei), presence of nuchal loop (present in the new species vs. absent in C. teyniei). The new species can be further diagnosed from C. puhuensis Nguyen, Yang, Thi Le, Nguyen, Orlov, Hoang, Nguyen, Jin, Rao, Hoang, Che, Murphy et Zhang, 2014 by a higher number of precloacal and femoral pores (38–44 vs. 5 precloacal pores in C. puhuensis), and by a different dorsal pattern (dark transverse bands vs. light narrow bands in C. puhuensis). From C. vilaphongi Schneider, Nguyen, Duc Le, Nophaseud, Bonkowski et Ziegler, 2014 the new species differs by having enlarged median row of subcaudals (absent in C. vilaphongi), higher number of ventral scales (38–46 vs. 34–36 in C. vilaphongi) and different dorsal color pattern (dark transverse bands vs. narrow yellowish white bands in C. vilaphongi). From C. wayakonei Nguyen, Kingsada, Roesler, Auer et Ziegler, 2010 the new species is distinguished by a higher number of precloacal and femoral pores (38– 44 vs. 6–8 precloacal pores), different dorsal pattern (dark bands vs. blotched to reticulated pattern in C. wayakonei), and by subcaudal scalation (enlarged median row of subcaudals vs. somewhat enlarged and broadened subcaudals). |
| Comment | Abundance: only known from its original description (Meiri et al. 2017). |
| Etymology | Cyrtodactylus darevskii sp. nov. is named for the honor of the famous Ukrainian-born Russian herpetologist Ilya Sergeevich Darevsky (1924–2009). |
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