Goniurosaurus zhoui ZHOU, WANG, CHEN & LIANG, 2018
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Goniurosaurus zhoui
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| Higher Taxa | Eublepharidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Zhou’s Leopard Gecko Chinese: Zhou Shi Jian Hu |
| Synonym | Goniurosaurus zhoui ZHOU, WANG, CHEN & LIANG 2018 |
| Distribution | China (Hainan) Type locality: karst area (at an altitude of 220-300 meters above sea level) in the central area of Hainan Island, China;exact locality withheld for conservation reasons; available to qualified researchers upon request. |
| Reproduction | oviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Holotype: private collection, BL-RBZ-002 (apparently an acronym for Bin Liang and Run-Bang Zhou, two of the authors), an adult male, collected by Run-Bang Zhou on March 18th, 2017. Paratypes. Four paratypes, including two adult males (BL-RBZ-001, 007) and two adult females (BL-RBZ-003, 008) collected by Run-Bang Zhou from the same locality as the holotype. BL-RBZ-001 was collected on November 28th, 2015; BL-RBZ-003 on March 18th, 2017; BL-RBZ-007, and 008 on April 16th, 2017. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Goniurosaurus zhoui sp. nov. differs from all other congeners by a combination of the following characters: moderate size, SVL (93.41–97.35 mm in adults); light purple-brown dorsal ground color of head, body and limbs in adults and mottled with irregularly shaped dark brown blotches; a posteriorly protracted nuchal loop present on nape, and four faint, purple-gray dorsal body bands with dark spots between the nuchal loop and the caudal constriction, bordered by wide dark bands anteriorly and posteriorly; blurred margins of these body bands and dark spots; dark tubercles in the dark spots within the light-colored body bands are always present; iris brown; eight nasal scales surrounding nares; one internasal; 49–62 eyelid fringe scales; upper eyelid scales similar in size with granular scales on the top of the head; absent of a row of slightly enlarged supraorbital tubercles; eight or nine supralabials, 7– 9 infralabials; 130–140 scales around midbody; 19–22 dorsal tubercle rows at midbody; 24–32 paravertebral tubercles between limb insertions; dorsal body tubercles surrounded by 11 granular scales; 36–38 precloacal pores in males and pores absent in females; claws sheathed by four scales, two lateral scales long and curved; two postcloacal tubercles. |
| Comment | Distribution: see map in Ngo et al. 2023. |
| Etymology | Goniurosaurus zhoui sp. nov. is named after Mr. Hai-quan Zhou, the great-grandfather of the discoverer, who was a landlord and a prestige patriarch in Xiwu village, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. He was a wild animal enthusiast and he educated all his descendants to contribute to the wildlife conservation. Additionally, since Goniurosaurus zhoui sp. nov. is the third eyelid gecko found in Hainan Island, this specific epithet also commemorates the Zhou Dynasty, the third dynasty in Chinese history. |
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