Cnemaspis koynaensis KHANDEKAR, THACKERAY & AGARWAL, 2019
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Cnemaspis koynaensis
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Koyna dwarf gecko |
| Synonym | Cnemaspis koynaensis KHANDEKAR, THACKERAY & AGARWAL 2019 |
| Distribution | India (Maharashtra) Type locality: near Dhanagarwada, Humbarli village, near Koyna (17.413° N 73.731° E; ca. 970 m asl.), Satara District, Maharashtra, India |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. NCBS-BH685 (AK 470), SVL 32.4 mm, adult male, collected by Akshay Khandekar, Swapnil Pawar and Tejas Thackeray, on 12 September 2018. Paratypes. NCBS-BH687 (AK 297), SVL 31.1 mm, NCBS-BH688 (AK 298), SVL 31.3 mm, BNHS 2538 (AK 301), SVL 30.5 mm, BNHS 2541 (AK 580), SVL 27.3 mm, adult males; NCBS-BH689 (AK 299), SVL 23.9 mm, sub-adult male; BNHS 2539 (AK 578), SVL 28.7 mm, BNHS 2540 (AK 579), SVL 30.4 mm, adult females; NCBS-BH686 (AK 296), SVL 22.1 mm, sub-adult female; same collection data as holotype. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis and comparison with Indian congeners. A small-sized Cnemaspis, SVL less than 33.0 mm (n=9). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous, weakly keeled, granular scales intermixed with large, strongly keeled, conical tubercles; 10–14 longitudinal rows of dorsal tubercles, 18–25 tubercles in paravertebral rows; spine-like scales present on flanks; ventral scales on belly smooth, subimbricate; 20–26 scales across mid-body, 128–139 longitudinal scales between mental to anterior border of cloaca; subdigital scansors smooth, entire, unnotched; subdigital lamellae under fourth digit of pes 17–21; males with three or four femoral pores on each thigh, separated by 22–25 poreless scales; dorsal side of tail with enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles forming whorls; median row of subcaudals smooth, not enlarged. Cnemaspis koynaensis sp. nov. can be distinguished from all other peninsular Indian congeners on the basis of the following differing or non-overlapping characters: spine-like scales present on flanks (versus absent in C. adii Srinivasulu, Kumar & Srinivasulu, C. agarwali Khandekar, C. ajijae, C. anamudiensis Cyriac, Johny, Umesh & Palot, C. australis Manamendra-Arachchi, Batuwita & Pethiyagoda, C. beddomei (Theobald), C. boiei (Gray), C. girii, C. gracilis (Beddome), C. heteropholis, C. indica Gray, C. kolhapurensis, C. kottiyoorensis Cyriac & Umesh, C. limayei, C. maculicollis Cyriac, Johny, Umesh & Palot, C. mahabali, C. nairi Inger, Marx & Koshy, C. ornata (Beddome), C. otai Das & Bauer, C. shevaroyensis Khandekar, Gaitonde & Agarwal, C. sisparensis (Theobald), C. thackerayi Khandekar, Gaitonde & Agarwal, C. wynadensis (Beddome), C. yercaudensis Das & Bauer); scales on dorsal aspect of trunk heterogeneous (versus homogeneous in C. adii, C. assamensis, C. australis, C. boiei, C. indica, C. jerdonii, C. kolhapurensis, C. littoralis Jerdon, C. mysoriensis (Jerdon), 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. gracilis, C. heteropholis Bauer, C. indica, C. jerdonii, C. kolhapurensis, C. nairi, C. nilagirica Manamendra-Arachchi, Batuwita & Pethiyagoda, 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 Manamendra-Arachchi, Batuwita & Pethiyagoda and C. nilagirica); males lacking precloacal pores and having three or four femoral pores on each side, separated by 22–25 poreless scales (versus males with only precloacal pores present in C. anamudiensis, C. beddomei, C. maculicollis, C. nairi, C. ornata; males with both femoral and precloacal pores present in C. adii, C. agarwali, C. amboliensis, C. australis, C. goaensis; C. gracilis, C. mysoriensis, C. otai, C. shevaroyensis, C. thackerayi, C. yercaudensis; males with a continuous series of 26–28 precloacal-femoral pores in C. kolhapurensis; males without femoral and precloacal pores in C. assamensis Das & Sengupta; males with eight femoral pores in C. jerdonii (Theobald), six in C. heteropholis, 14–18 in C. littoralis, seven or eight in C. sisparensis, 4–6 in C. wynadensis). C. koynaensis sp. nov. morphologically similar to C. flaviventralis, from which it can be distinguished by having 22–26 ventral scales across the mid-body (versus 28 or 29 in C. flaviventralis), having 22–25 poreless scales between femoral pores (versus 27–29). Additionally, C. koynaensis sp. nov. is 18.4 % divergent from C. flaviventralis in ND2 sequences (Table 2). C. koynaensis sp. nov. is just 7.9% divergent from C. girii and differs only in the presence of spine-like scales on the flanks (versus absence in C. girii), and slightly less ventral scale rows (20–26) across the mid-body (versus 26–28 in C. girii n= 9 each). |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | The specific epithet is a toponym for Koyna in Satara District of Maharashtra, the type and only known locality for this species. |
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