Cyrtodactylus muangfuangensis SITTHIVONG, LUU, HA, NGUYEN, LE & ZIEGLER, 2019
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Cyrtodactylus muangfuangensis
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Muangfuang Bent-toed Gecko Laotian: Ki Chiem Muang Fuang |
| Synonym | Cyrtodactylus muangfuangensis SITTHIVONG, LUU, HA, NGUYEN, LE & ZIEGLER 2019 |
| Distribution | C Laos (Vientiane) Type locality: karst cliff (18°30’N, 101°57’E, 289 m elevation), nearby Phaluoang Village, Muangfuang District, Vientiane Province, Central Laos |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. VNUF R.2018.32 (Field number: SL.18.32), adult male, collected on 31 December 2018 by Saly Sitthivong and Ha Van Ngoan. Paratypes. NUOL R.2018.33 (Field number: SL.18.33), adult female, ZFMK 102701 (Field number: SL.18.40), subadult female, VNUF R.2018.41 (Field number: SL.18.41), subadult female, NUOL R.2018.39 (Field number: SL.18.39), subadult female, same collection data as the holotype. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. The new Cyrtodactylus species can be distinguished from remaining congeners by the following combination of characters: maximum SVL reaching 83.9 mm; dorsal pattern consisting of dark continuous nuchal loop, nape band and five dark transversal bands between limb insertions; intersupranasals two; dorsal tubercles present on occiput, body, hind limbs and tail base; 15 or 16 irregular dorsal tubercle rows at midbody; lateral folds clearly defined, without interspersed tubercles; 31–37 ventral scales between ventrolateral folds; 6 precloacal pores separated by a diastema of 6–8 poreless scales from a series of 7 (left) and 8 (right) femoral pores in enlarged femoral scales; 6 precloacal pores plus in total 10–15 femoral pores in females, which are separated by 6–8 pore- less scales; enlarged precloacal and femoral scales present; one to four postcloacal tubercles on each side; median subcaudal scales transversely enlarged. Sexual dimorphism and variation. The females differ from males by the absence of hemipenial swellings at the tail base. The subadult female paratype (ZFMK 102701) has the original tail with 11 dark bands. For further morphological characters of the paratypes see Table 2 and Fig. 4 in Sitthivong et al 2019. Comparisons. We compared Cyrtodactylus muangfuangensis sp. nov. with other congeners from Laos and neighboring countries in the mainland Indochina region, including Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand based on examination of specimens (see Appendix) and data from literature (Luu et al. 2014; Nazarov et al. 2014; Nguyen et al. 2014; Panitvong et al. 2014; Pauwels et al. 2014; Pauwels & Sumontha 2014; Schneider et al. 2014 a,b; Luu et al. 2015; Nguyen et al. 2015b; Sumontha et al. 2014, 2015; Pauwels et al. 2016; Le et al. 2016; Luu et al. 2016 a,b,c; Luu et al. 2017; Nguyen et al. 2017; Pauwels et al. 2018; Nazarov et al. 2018; Murdoch et al. 2019; Pham et al. 2019). The new species can be differentiated from other known species of the genus Cyrtodactylus by morpho- logical characters (see Table 3). Below we compared the new species with the morphologically similar species from Thailand, Vietnam, and remaining species from Laos. Cyrtodactylus muangfuangensis sp. nov. is morphologically similar to C. dumnuii Bauer, Kunya, Sumontha, Niyomwan, Pauwels, Chanhome & Kunya; C. tigroides Bauer, Sumontha & Pauwels, C. khelangensis Pauwels, Sumontha, Panitvong & Varaguttanonda, C. brevipalmatus (Smith), and C. huongsonensis Luu, Nguyen, Do & Ziegler in arrangement and the number of femoral and precloacal pores. However, the new species can be distinguished from C. dumnuii by having fewer ventral scales (31–37 versus 40), the presence of pitted scaless in females (versus absent), nuchal band enlarged posteriorly, butterfly-shaped (versus interrupted posteriorly), fewer body bands (5 versus 6–7), fewer dorsal tubercles at midbody (15–16 versus 18–20), and fewer dark and light caudal bands on tail (8–10 versus 12; 9–10 versus 13, respectively); from C. tigroides by having fewer precloacal pores (6 versus 8 or 9), a heterogeneous mixture of body scalation (versus homogeneous), more numbers of conical, keeled tubercles (15–16 versus 13 small tubercle rows); from C. khelangensis by its smaller size (maximum SVL 83.9 mm versus 95.3 mm), having more pitted scales in females (5–9+5–8 versus 2+1 femoral pores in left and right side, respectively), and more precloacal pores in males (6 versus 2–5); from C. brevipalmatus by its larger size (maximum SVL 83.9 mm versus 72 mm), having fewer ventral scales (31–37 versus 44), having fewer femoral pores in males (6 versus 9), dorsal pattern banded (versus blotched); from C. huongsonensis by having fewer ventral scales (31–37 versus 48), the presence of pitted scales in females (versus absent), and fewer pitted scales in females (6 versus 8). For more details see Table 4. Cyrtodactylus muangfuangensis sp. nov. has transversely enlarged median subcaudal scales and thus differs from the following species which lack this structure: C. buchardi David, Teynié & Ohler, C. cryptus Heidrich, Rösler, Vu, Böhme & Ziegler, C. interdigitalis Ulber, C. pseudoquadrivirgatus Rösler, Vu, Nguyen, Ngo & Ziegler, C. vilaphongi Schneider, Nguyen, Le, Nophaseud, Bonkowski & Ziegler, and C. ziegleri Nazarov, Orlov, Nguyen & Ho. Cyrtodactylus muangfuangensis sp. nov. has femoral pores in the male and thus differs from the following spe- cies which lack this structure: C. pageli Schneider, Nguyen, Schmitz, Kingsada, Auer & Ziegler, C. spelaeus Naz- arov, Poyarkov, Orlov, Nguyen, Milto, Martynov, Konstantinov & Chulisov, C. teyniei David, Nguyen, Schneider & Ziegler, C. thathomensis Nazarov, Pauwels, Konstantinov, Chulisov, Orlov & Poyarkov. In addition, the new species differs from C. pageli by having fewer ventral scales (31–37 versus 41–44), and the presence of enlarged femoral scales (versus absent); from C. spelaeus by the presence of enlarged femoral scales and pitted scales in females (versus absent); from C. teyniei by having body pattern banded (versus blotched); and from C. thathomensis by the presence of enlarged femoral scales (versus absent), and having 16-21 pitted scales in females (versus 12 pores in females). Cyrtodactylus muangfuangensis sp. nov. has six precloacal pores plus in total 21 femoral pores in the male, which are separated by poreless scales and thus differs from the following species which have a contiguous se- ries of precloacal-femoral pores: C. bansocensis Luu, Nguyen, Le, Bonkowski & Ziegler (34), C. calamei Luu, Bonkowski, Nguyen, Le, Schneider, Ngo & Ziegler (35–39), C. darevskii Nazarov, Poyarkov, Orlov, Nguyen, Milto, Martynov, Konstantinov & Chulisov (38–44), C. hinnamnoensis Luu, Bonkowski, Nguyen, Le, Schneider, Ngo & Ziegler (36–44), C. jaegeri Luu, Calame, Bonkowski, Nguyen & Ziegler (44), C. jarujini Ulber (52–54), C. kham- mouanensis Nazarov, Poyarkov, Orlov, Nguyen, Milto, Martynov, Konstantinov & Chulisov (40–44), C. lomyenen- sis Ngo & Pauwels (39–40), C. multiporus Nazarov, Poyarkov, Orlov, Nguyen, Milto, Martynov, Konstantinov & Chulisov (58–60), C. rufford Luu, Calame, Nguyen, Le, Bonkowski & Ziegler (42–43), and C. soudthichaki Luu, Calame, Nguyen, Bonkowski & Ziegler (29). |
| Comment | Habitat: karst cliffs with surrounding karst forest, at elevations of 255–289 m a.s.l. Similar species: C. dumnuii, C. tigroides, C. khelangensis, C. brevipalmatus, C. huongsonensis. |
| Etymology | The specific epithet of the new species refers to the type locality of the new species in Muangfuang District, Vientiane Province, Central Laos. |
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