Cnemaspis adii SRINIVASULU, KUMAR & SRINIVASULU, 2015
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Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
Subspecies | |
Common Names | E: Adi’s day gecko |
Synonym | Cnemaspis adii SRINIVASULU, KUMAR & SRINIVASULU 2015 |
Distribution | India (Karnataka) Type locality: behind Elephant Stable (15°19'16" N, 76°28'20" E; 467 m elevation), Hampi, Karnataka, India |
Reproduction | oviparous (manual imputation, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
Types | Holotype: NHM.OU REP.CN.2–2013 (Natural History Museum of Osmania University, Hyderabad), adult male, collected on 16 February 2013 by Aditya Srinivasulu. Paratypes. NHM.OU REP.CN.1–2013, adult female, collection details are same as the holotype except collected by Aditya Srinivasulu & Tariq A. Shah. NHM.OU REP.CN.3–2013, adult male, Sri Krishna Temple (15°19'49" N, 76°27'37" E; 467 m a.s.l), Hampi, Karnataka, India collected on 16 February 2013 by Aditya Srinivasulu & Tariq A. Shah. |
Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A medium-sized Cnemaspis (snout to vent length at least 34.9 mm), dorsal pholidosis at midbody homogeneous, small, granular and feebly keeled. Spine-like tubercles absent on flanks; ventrals smooth, imbricate, 22 to 26 scale rows across venter; two pairs of postmentals, primary pair in contact with the mental and separated from each other with a single chin shield; nostril in contact with supralabial I. Males with two precloacal pores, two femoral pores on each side of the thigh. 20–22 lamellae under the 4th digit. Tail cylindrical, with six rows of large (much larger than the dorsal scales), posteriorly pointed dorsal tubercles; ventrals smooth, imbricate, without a series of enlarged median subcaudal scales. The new species of Cnemaspis described here was compared with all 23 extant species of the genus Cnemaspis known from Indian mainland and two species from Andaman Islands. Cnemaspis adii sp. nov. may be distinguished from all the peninsular Indian congeners on the basis of the following differing characters: spine-like tubercles absent on flanks (versus spine-like tubercles present on flanks in C. assamensis, C. jerdonii, C. littoralis, C. heteropholis, C. gracilis, C. monticola, C. nilagirica, C. goaensis, C. mysoriensis, C. indraneildasii); scales on the dorsal aspect of trunk homogeneous (versus scales heterogeneous in C. gracilis, C. ornata, C. beddomei, C. goaensis, C. heteropholis, C. monticola, C. australis, C. andersonii, C. yercaudensis, C. wicksii, C. girii, C. kottiyoorensis); absence of keeled scales on the venter or gular regions (versus keeled scales on the venter or gular regions in C. beddomei and C. goaensis); males with two femoral pores on each side of the thigh and two precloacal pores (versus femoral pores absent, precloacal pores present in C. beddomei, C. nairi, C. ornata; only femoral pores present in C. heteropholis, C. indica, C. jerdonii, C. littoralis, C. sisparensis, C. wynadensis, C. girii, C. kottiyoorensis; versus both femoral and precloacal pores absent in C. boiei, C. assamenis; 4 precloacal and 3 femoral pores on each thigh present in C. otai; continuous series of 26–28 precloacal-femoral pores in C. kolhapurensis); primary pair of postmentals separated by a single chin shield (versus primary post mentals in broad contact as in C. otai). Cnemaspis adii sp. nov. closely resembles C. yercaudensis in general morphology, mental and postmental arrangement, absence of spine-like tubercles on the flanks and low number of precloacal pores. However, it can be distinguished from the latter in having SVL of 34.9 mm (versus SVL 29.7 mm); 9 supralabials, 9 infralabials (versus 7 supralabials, 7 infralabials); two precloacal, two femoral pores on each thigh (versus two precloacal, three femoral pores on each side of the thigh); dorsum with homogeneous, small, granular and feebly keeled scales (versus dorsum with three pairs of paravertebral rows of tubercles); narrow digital lamellae under digit IV of pes 20–22 (versus 11–12 narrow digital lamellae under digit IV of pes); and venter and gular region creamy white with patterned black markings extending from snout to anterior part of the gape running parallel to each other diagonally in the gular region (versus venter and gular region yellowish-cream, unpatterned). |
Comment | Sympatry: Hemidactylus giganteus, Hemidactylus cf. maculatus, and Hemidactylus cf. brookii. Abundance: only known from its original description (Meiri et al. 2017). |
Etymology | The species is named after Aditya Srinivasulu, fondly called Adi, who collected the types, and in recognition of his interest in herpetology. |
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