Cnemaspis ingerorum BATUWITA, AGARWAL & BAUER, 2019
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Cnemaspis ingerorum
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Cnemaspis ingerorum BATUWITA, AGARWAL & BAUER 2019 Cnemaspis sp. 2 — AGARWAL et al. 2017 Cnemaspis kumarasinghei — MANAMENDRA-ARACHCHI et al. 2007 [non Cnemaspis kumarasinghei WICKRAMASINGHE & MUNINDRADASA, 2007] |
| Distribution | Southern Sri Lanka (Hambantota) Type locality: Sandagala near Tissamaharama, Hambantota District, Southern Sri Lanka, 6.3416°N, 81.2666° E, ~100 m elevation |
| Reproduction | oviparous. An adult female (30.0 mm SVL) laid two hard shelled eggs, each about 6.0 x 5.0 mm, which hatched after 53 days; hatchling were 11.9 and 12.2 mm in SVL. |
| Types | Holotype. NMSL WHT 7332, Male, 26.9 mm SVL, collected by S. Batuwita and J. R. De Lile, 29 July 2005. Paratypes: NMSL WHT 7330, Females, 22.2 mm SVL, NMSL WHT 7331, 24.1 mm SVL, same collection data as holotype. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Small-sized gecko, maximum SVL 30.0 mm; pupil rounded; paired postmentals separated by a medial scale; nostril not in contact with first supralabial; 17–21 ventral scales across mid-body; dorsal scales heterogeneous, isolated scattered spinous tubercles on dorsum; gular, pectoral and abdomen scales smooth; two precloacal pores, five femoral pores on each side in male; subcaudals smooth, median row of enlarged subcaudals semicircular, consisting of a series with a single enlarged scale alternating with a pair of narrow scales; supralabials to angle of jaws seven; digits not dilated towards distal end; proximal lamellae wider than distal lamellae; all digits bearing recurved well-developed claws; subdigital lamellae under 4th digit of pes 16–18; dorsum olive green in life with about five black bands on dorsum; nape with a black spot and occipital area with two dark markings; venter white (Fig. 1A, B). Cnemaspis ingerorum sp. nov. is morphologically most similar to C. kumarasinghei Wickramasinghe & Munindradasa (Fig. 1C). The new species differs from this species by the following suite of characters: 17–21 ventral scales across midbody (versus 24–26; not 34–36 as given by Wickramasinghe & Muindradasa, 2007), heterogeneous (versus homogeneous) dorsal scales, ventral sides of forelimb and hind-limb with smooth (versus keeled) imbricate scales, caudal scales on dorsal side unkeeled (versus keeled) and distinct banded (versus diffuse dark markings) dorsum colouration (Table 2). The new species also differs genetically from C. kumarasinghei by a 4.5% genetic difference in ND2 (Fig. 2). Cnemaspis ingerorum sp. nov. is most closely related to C. silvula Manamendra-Arachchi, Batuwita & Pethiyagoda (Fig. 1D) with 4.5% uncorrected ND2 sequence divergence. The new species differs from C. silvula by the absence (versus presence) of keeled pectoral scales and dorsal scales, in having 8 (versus 10–15) pairs of irregular spine-like tubercles on flank, and by the presence of unkeeled (versus keeled) subcaudal scales. |
| Comment | Sympatry: Hemidactylus frenatus, H. hunae, H. leschenaultii, H. depressus and H. lankae. Habitat: rupicolous gecko usually observed on rock surfaces, but close to the ground or in the litter layer in rock caves. |
| Etymology | The specific epithet is an eponym in the Latin genitive plural honouring Robert Frederick Inger (1920-2019)and Tan Fui Lian Inger of the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), for their enormous contributions to herpetology and in appreciation of their support for biodiversity exploration in Sri Lanka, and for their guidance to the first author. For an obituary see Voris & Resetar 2020. |
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