Cnemaspis amba KHANDEKAR, THACKERAY & AGARWAL, 2019
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Cnemaspis amba
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Amba dwarf gecko |
| Synonym | Cnemaspis amba KHANDEKAR, THACKERAY & AGARWAL 2019: 55 |
| Distribution | India (Maharashtra) Type locality: near Kokan Darshan Point, Manoli vil- lage, near Amba (16.928° N 73.796° E; ca. 820 m asl.), Kolhapur District, Maharashtra, India |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. NCBS-BH690 (VG 0407), SVL 33.1 mm, adult male; collected by Akshay Khandek- ar and Abhilash Kadam, on 27 March 2018. Paratypes. BNHS 2542 (VG 0409), SVL 29.3 mm, adult male; NCBS-BH691 (VG 0408), SVL 32.7 mm, adult female; same collection data as holotype, BNHS 2543 (AK 581), SVL 31.6 mm, BNHS 2544 (AK 582), SVL 30.7 mm, adult females; same location data as holotype, collected by Swapnil Pawar and Tejas Thackeray, on 12 September 2018. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis and comparison with Indian congeners: A small-sized Cnemaspis, SVL less than 34.0 mm (n=5). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous, weakly keeled, granular scales intermixed with large, strongly keeled, conical tubercles, 11–14 longitudinal rows, 17–22 tubercles in paravertebral rows; spine-like scales absent on flanks; ven- tral scales on belly smooth, subimbricate, 22–24 scales across the mid-body; 141–149 longitudinal scales between mental to anterior border of cloaca; subdigital scansors smooth, entire, unnotched; lamellae under fourth digit of pes 18–20; males with two or three femoral pores on each thigh, separated by 24–26 poreless scales; dorsal side of tail with enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles forming whorls; subcaudals smooth, not enlarged. Cnemaspis amba sp. nov. can be distinguished from all other Indian congeners on the basis of the following dif- fering or non-overlapping characters: spine-like scales absent on flanks (versus present on flanks in C. amboliensis, C. assamensis, C. flaviventralis, C. goaensis, C. jerdonii, C. koynaensis sp. nov. C. littoralis, C. monticola, C. my- soriensis and C. nilagirica); scales on dorsal aspect of trunk heterogeneous (versus homogeneous in C. adii, C. assa- mensis, C. australis, C. boiei, C. indica, C. jerdonii, C. kolhapurensis, C. littoralis, C. mysoriensis, C. nilagirica and C. sisparensis); original tail with smooth imbricate median row of unenlarged subcaudals (versus smooth enlarged median row of subcaudals in C. adii, C. agarwali, C. boiei, C. goaensis, C. gracilis, C. heteropholis, C. indica, C. jerdonii, C. kolhapurensis, C. nairi, C. nilagirica, C. ornata, C. shevaroyensis, C. sisparensis, C. thackerayi, and C. wynadensis; C. amboliensis, C. australis, and C. goaensis with keeled subcaudals); absence of keeled scales on the venter or gular regions (versus keeled scales on the venter or gular region in C. australis, C. monticola and C. nilagir- ica); males lacking precloacal pores and having two or three femoral pores on each side, separated by 24–26 poreless scales (versus only precloacal pores present in C. anamudiensis, C. beddomei, C. maculicollis, C. nairi, C. ornata; males with both femoral and precloacal pores in C. adii, C. agarwali, C. amboliensis, C. australis, C. goaensis; C. gracilis, C. mysoriensis, C. otai, C. shevaroyensis, C. thackerayi, C. yercaudensis; and males with a continuous series of 26–28 precloacal-femoral pores in C. kolhapurensis; males without femoral and precloacal pores in C. assamensis; males with four femoral pores in C. girii, eight in C. jerdonii, six in C. heteropholis, four or five in C. kottiyoorensis, and C. limayei, 14–18 in C. littoralis, seven or eight in C. sisparensis, 4–6 in C. wynadensis. C. amba sp. nov. morphologically similar to C. ajijae, C. girii, and C. mahabali; from which it can be distin- guished by having 22–24 ventral scales across the mid-body (versus 29–30 in C. ajijae; 26–28 in C. girii; 26–27 in C. mahabali); by having 141–149 longitudinal ventral scales (versus 131–134 in C. ajijae; 133–139 in C. girii; 121–125 in C. mahabali); presence of enlarged tubercle row on lower flanks (versus enlarged tubercle row absent on lower flanks in C. ajijae, C. girii, and C. mahabali). Additionally, C. amba sp. nov. is 19.3 % divergent from C. ajijae; 11.3 % divergent from C. girii and 11.0 % divergent from C. mahabali in uncorrected pairwise ND2 se- quence divergence (Table 2). |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | The specific epithet is a toponym for Amba in Kolhapur District of Maharashtra, the type and only known locality for this species. |
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