Cnemaspis vijayae KHANDEKAR, THACKERAY, & AGARWAL, 2022
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Cnemaspis vijayae
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Cnemaspis vijayae KHANDEKAR, THACKERAY, & AGARWAL 2022 |
| Distribution | India (Karnataka) Type locality: Honey Valley Estate (12.2146°N, 75.6586°E; elevation ca. 1250 m) near Byllikere peak, Kodagu district, Karnataka state, India. |
| Reproduction | Oviparous; 2-3 eggs per clutch (Khandekar et al. 2022) |
| Types | Holotype: NRC-AA-1188 (AK-R 839), adult male, collected by Ishan Agarwal on 2nd December 2018. Paratypes: NRC-AA-1186 (AK-R 837), BNHS 2815 (AK 599), adult males, NRC-AA-1185 (AK-R 836), NRC-AA-1187 (AK-R 838), adult females, same locality data as holotype except collected by Akshay Khandekar, Ishan Agarwal and Swapnil Pawar on 2nd December 2021. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A small-sized Cnemaspis, snout to vent length less than 36 mm (n=5). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous; weakly keeled, granular scales, intermixed with irregularly arranged rows of large, keeled, tubercles on the body; two or three rows of enlarged tubercles on each flank weakly keeled and spine-like; 9–11 rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body, irregularly arranged rows of paravertebral tubercles between forelimb and hindlimb insertions; ventral scales smooth (rarely keeled n=1), subimbricate, 26–30 scales across belly at mid-body, 118–127 longitudinal scales from mental to cloaca; subdigital scansors smooth, entire, unnotched; 10 or 11 lamellae under digit I of manus and pes, 15 or 16 lamellae under digit IV of manus and 17–19 lamellae under digit IV of pes; males (n=3/5) with three or four femoral pores on thigh, separated by seven or eight poreless scales on either side from three discontinuous precloacal pores, a single precloacal pore on left and two on right side, separated by one or two poreless scale (n=2/3); precloacal pores sometime continuous (n=1/3); each femoral pore bearing scale flanked posteriorly with enlarged spine-like scale; tail with enlarged, strongly keeled, distinctly pointed, conical tubercles forming whorls; median row of sub-caudal scales slightly enlarged, smooth only at anterior half of the tail, rest weakly keeled. Dorsal ground colour dirty brown with a bright straw-coloured mid-dorsal stripe that extends from occiput to tail in some specimens; dark blotch on nape forming indistinct collar and smaller ocellus just anterior to forelimb insertions; dark markings and light grey blotches on dorsum; original tail with thick mid-dorsal stripe. (KHANDEKAR et al. 2022) Comparisons: Cnemaspis vijayae sp. nov. can be morphologically distinguished from all other described members of the goaensis clade on the basis of the following differing or non-overlapping characters: 9–11 dorsal tubercle rows at midbody (versus 6–8 dorsal tubercle rows at mid-body in C. amboliensis and C. goaensis; eight or nine dorsal tubercles rows at mid-body in C. sakleshpurensis sp. nov.); paravertebral tubercles on the body between forelimb and hindlimb irregularly arranged (versus 7–12 paravertebral tubercles on the body between forelimb and hindlimb insertions in C. amboliensis); 26–30 scales across belly at mid-body (versus 19–22 ventral scales across belly at mid-body in C. amboliensis and 23–26 scales across belly at mid-body in C. sakleshpurensis sp. nov.); scales on upper arm and those towards knee on thigh tricarinate (versus scales on upper arm and thigh unicarinate in C. goaensis; C. ranganaensis and C. sakleshpurensis sp. nov.); males with three or four femoral pores on thigh, separated by seven or eight poreless scales on either side from three discontinuous precloacal pores, a single precloacal pore on left and two on right side, separated by one or two poreless scale (n=2/3), precloacal pores sometime continuous (n=1/3) (versus three or four femoral pores on each thigh, separated by seven or eight poreless scales from continuous series of three or four precloacal pores in C. amboliensis; two or three femoral pores on each thigh, separated by 8–12 poreless scales from continuous series of two or three precloacal pores in C. goaensis; two or three femoral pores on each thigh, separated by eight or nine poreless scales from continuous series of three precloacal pores in C. ranganaensis; three or four femoral pores on each thigh, separated by 10 or 11 poreless scales from continuous series of two precloacal pores in C. sakleshpurensis sp. nov.). Cnemaspis vijayae sp. nov. is morphologically similar to its sympatric species C. cf. schalleri of monticola clade in body size, having spine-like scales on flanks and presence of both femoral and precloacal pores in males. However, the new species can be easily distinguished from C. schalleri by having 9–11 irregularly arranged rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body (versus 14–16 regularly arranged rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body); having irregularly arranged rows of paravertebral tubercles on body between forelimb and hindlimb insertion (versus a regular series of 17–20 tubercles in paravertebral rows on the body between forelimb and hindlimb); and by presence of small dorsal ocellus just anterior to forelimb insertions (versus dorsal ocellus just anterior to forelimb insertions absent). (KHANDEKAR et al. 2022) Coloration: Dorsal ground colour of head, body, limbs and tail brown; head speckled with black, fine dark vertical streak between left and right orbit; fine dark pre-orbital streak from nostril to orbit, two fine dark postorbital streaks just extending onto neck; labials yellow with lighter and darker bars. A discontinuous straw-coloured mid-dorsal stripe runs from occiput to tail; a small, dark ocellus is present just anterior to forelimb insertions; enlarged, spine-like tubercles on flank yellow. Tail lighter than body; dorsum of forelimbs mottled, hindlimbs with light and dark markings, digits with alternating indistinct dark and light bands. Ventral surfaces dullwhite, underside of head and neck throat dirty yellow with fine back spots fading out between hindlimb insertions, fine black spots under forelimbs and sides of the belly; underside of the tail off white, without any dark markings. Pupil black, iris bronze, outlined by fine silver ring. (KHANDEKAR et al. 2022) |
| Comment | Natural history: A few individuals were observed during sunny weather between ~0800–1400 hrs at a height of 2–4 m on the walls of a few buildings. The new species is sympatric with two congeners, C. cf. schalleri and C. cf. wynadensis. During the second trip to the type locality in late November, we observed new species in good numbers, predominantly on the building walls above 2–4 m height and sympatric with C. cf. schalleri. (KHANDEKAR et al. 2022) |
| Etymology | Named after late Jagannathan Vijaya (1959–1987), India’s first women herpetologist, for her inspiring contribution towards ecology of rare Indian turtles. |
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