Hemidactylus flavicauda LAJMI, GIRI, SINGH & AGARWAL, 2020
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Hemidactylus flavicauda
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Mahabubnagar yellow-tailed brookiish gecko |
| Synonym | Hemidactylus flavicaudus LAJMI, GIRI, SINGH & AGARWAL 2020 Hemidactylus flavicauda — BÖHME & DENZER 2019 (by implication) |
| Distribution | India (Telangana) Type locality: near Guddeguda village, Mahabubnagar District, Telangana, India (16.68069° N, 77.82587° E, 416 m asl) |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: NCBS NRC-AA-1105, adult female (National Centre for Biological Sciences); collected on 22 August 2015 by Aparna Lajmi, Aniruddha Datta Roy, Deepak Veerappan and Praveen Karanth. Paratypes. CES 17028 adult female, CES 17029, CES 17031 adult males (same collection data as holotype); NRC-AA-1106, NRC-AA-1108, adult females (same collection data as holotype except collected on 20 April 2015 by Aparna Lajmi, Taneraw Singh and Maitreya Sil; NRC-AA-1107, CES 16129 adult females, NRC-AA-1109 adult male collected from Manyamkonda, Mahabubnagar District, Telangana, India (16.6504° N, 77.888° E, 560 m asl) on 20 April 2015 by Aparna Lajmi, Taneraw Singh and Maitreya Sil. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A small sized Hemidactylus, snout-vent length up to at least 41.8 mm (n=9). Dorsal pholidosis het- erogeneous composed of subcircular granular scales intermixed with moderately enlarged, circular, flattened, feebly keeled tubercles extending from occiput to tail and in 11–14 irregularly arranged longitudinal rows at midbody. Ventrolateral folds indistinct, about 22–26 scale rows across venter. Digits with slightly enlarged, divided scansors; lamellae in oblique series, six or seven (manus) and seven or eight (pes) beneath fourth digit and four (manus) and four or five (pes) beneath first digit; 15–17 precloacofemoral pores on each side separated by one or two poreless scales in males (n=3). Original tail slightly depressed, verticillate, oval in transverse section with indistinct median dorsal furrow; dorsal tail pholidosis heterogenous with rounded, smooth, subimbricate scales intermixed with two to three enlarged, conical keeled tubercles at the base of every whorl, on either side of median dorsal furrow; subcau- dals much enlarged; a pair of slightly enlarged postcloacal spurs on either side. Dorsal colouration of transversely arranged, pale grey to ashy markings on a pale, mustard-brown background; thick nuchal collar which fuses with postorbital streaks laterally. Tail distinctly yellow in adults of both sexes and juveniles. |
| Comment | Sympatry: The most common species of Hemidactylus on the boulders were H. cf. treutleri followed by H. flavicaudus sp. nov. Other sympatric rupicolous congeners included H. cf. giganteus Stoliczka and a large tuberculated undescribed species (denoted by “Hemidactylus species 3” from Lajmi & Karanth 2020). The terrestrial Hemidactylus cf. gleadowi was also noted in the vicinity of the rocky outcrop, on the soil surface. |
| Etymology | The specific epithet is an adjective derived from the Latin flavus (= yellow) and cauda (= tail), for the yellow tail of the new species. The species name needs to be flavicauda, according to ICZN Article 34.2.1 which states that the gender of a noun in apposition must not be changed to agree in gender with the generic name, The Latin noun for tail is cauda and of female gender. For further explanations and examples see Böhme & Denzer (2019). |
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