Cnemaspis rammalensis VIDANAPATHIRANA, GEHAN-RAJEEV, WICKRAMASINGHE, FERNANDO & MENDIS-WICKRAMASINGHE, 2014

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Higher Taxa	Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos)
Subspecies
Common Names	Sinhala: Rammale diva huna Tamil: Rammale pahalpalli English: Rammale day gecko
Synonym	Cnemaspis rammalensis VIDANAPATHIRANA, GEHAN-RAJEEV, WICKRAMASINGHE, FERNANDO & MENDIS-WICKRAMASINGHE 2014
Distribution	Sri Lanka Type locality: Rammalakanda, Hambanthota District, Sri Lanka, (06°14'26.66"N, 80°38'4.19"E, elevation 470 m
Reproduction	oviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022)
Types	Holotype: NMSL 2013.25.01 NH, Adult male, 52.9 mm SVL, 23 December 2011, collected by Dulan Ranga Vidanapathirana, Gehan Rajeev, and L. J. Mendis Wickramasinghe. Paratype. DWC 2013.05.001, Adult female, 53.8 mm SVL (Figure 3), 13.01.2012, the same data as holotype.
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: A large-sized Cnemaspis (adult snout to vent length 52–54 mm) (Table 1), which can be distinguished from all known congeners by the following combination of characters: Postmentals separated by a small scale; nostrils not in contact with first supralabial; supralabials (to mid orbital position) 8; supralabials (to angle of jaws) 10; interorbital scales across midpoint 48–50;throat scales smooth; dorsal tubercles 94–96; spine- like tubercles present on flanks; ventral scales smooth and imbricate; ventrals across mid body 28; ventrals 186– 207; mid-subcaudals large; no precloacal pores; 15 femoral pores on each side; 22–23 and 23–25 subdigital lamellae on finger IV and on toe IV respectively; tail dorsum bearing smooth scales. Cnemaspis rammalensis sp. nov., was compared with all 21 extant species of the genus Cnemaspis known from Sri Lanka and the species can be readily distinguished from the diagnostic characteristics, especially by its large size and the number of ventral scales, which is the highest amongst members of the genus (Table 2 in VIDANAPATHIRANA et al. 2014).
Comment	Abundance: only known from its original description (Meiri et al. 2017).
Etymology	The species epithet rammalensis is derived from “Rammalakanda” referring to the forest where the species was discovered. The specific name is an adjective derived from the geographical name.
References	Agarwal, I., Biswas, S., Bauer, A.M., Greenbaum, E., Jackman, T.R., De Silva, A. & Batuwita, S. 2017. Cryptic species, taxonomic inflation, or a bit of both? New species phenomenon in Sri Lanka as suggested by a phylogeny of dwarf geckos (Reptilia, Squamata, Gekkonidae, Cnemaspis). Systematics and Biodiversity, 15, 427–439 - get paper here Karunarathna S, Ukuwela KDB. 2019. A new species of dwarf day gecko (Reptilia: Gekkonidae: Cnemaspis) from lower-elevations of Samanala Nature Reserve in Central massif, Sri Lanka. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13(2) [General Section]: 14–27 (e187) - get paper here Karunarathna, Suranjan; Nikolay A. Poyarkov, Anslem de Silva, Majintha Madawala, Madhava Botejue, Vladislav A. Gorin, Thilina Surasinghe, Dinesh Gabadage, Kanishka D.B. Ukuwela & Aaron M. Bauer 2019. Integrative taxonomy reveals six new species of day geckos of the genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from geographically-isolated hill forests in Sri Lanka. Vertebrate Zoology 69 (3): 247–298 - get paper here Meiri, Shai; Aaron M. Bauer, Allen Allison, Fernando Castro-Herrera, Laurent Chirio, Guarino Colli, Indraneil Das, Tiffany M. Doan, Frank Glaw, Lee L. Grismer, Marinus Hoogmoed, Fred Kraus, Matthew LeBreton, Danny Meirte, Zoltán T. Nagy, Cristiano d 2017. Extinct, obscure or imaginary: the lizard species with the smallest ranges. Diversity and Distributions - get paper here VIDANAPATHIRANA, DULAN RANGA; M. D. GEHAN RAJEEV, NETHU WICKRAMASINGHE, SAMANTHA SURANJAN FERNANDO & L. J. MENDIS WICKRAMASINGHE & L. J. MENDIS WICKRAMASINGHE 2014. Cnemaspis rammalensis sp. nov., Sri Lanka’s largest day-gecko (Sauria: Gekkonidae: Cnemaspis) from Rammalakanda Man and Biosphere Reserve in southern Sri Lanka. Zootaxa 3755 (3): 273–286 - get paper here Zimin, A., Zimin, S. V., Shine, R., Avila, L., Bauer, A., Böhm, M., Brown, R., Barki, G., de Oliveira Caetano, G. H., Castro Herrera, F., Chapple, D. G., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Doan, T. M., Glaw, F., Grismer, L. L., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton 2022. A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–16 - get paper here
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information Google images

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