Cyrtodactylus taybacensis PHAM, LE, NGO, ZIEGLER, NGUYEN, 2019
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Cyrtodactylus taybacensis
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | Taybac Bent-toed Gecko Vietnamese: Thạch sùng ngón tây bắc |
| Synonym | Cyrtodactylus taybacensis PHAM, LE, NGO, ZIEGLER, NGUYEN 2019 |
| Distribution | NW Vietnam (Son La Province) Type locality: karst forest near Ca Nang Village (21 ̊54.440’N, 103 ̊31.390’E, elevation: 650 m asl.), Ca Nang Commune, Quynh Nhai District, Son La Province, northwestern Vietnam |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. IEBR 4379 (Field No. SL 2016.400), adult male, collected by A.V. Pham and D.A. Giang on 14 October 2016. Paratypes. TBU 07, 08 (Field Nos. SL 2016.271, 272), adult males collected by A.V. Pham, T.Q.L. Hoang, L.M. Ha, N.B. Song, D.K.K.S. Vanh, and C.A. Lau on 25 September 2016 and IEBR 4380 (Field No. SL2017.26), adult female, collected by N.B. Song and D.K.K.S. Vanh on 22 June 2017 in the karst forest near Pha Luong Village (21 ̊36.324’N, 103 ̊34.540’E, elevation: 720 m asl.), Phong Lai Commune, Thuan Chau District, Son La Province; IEBR 4381 & 4382 (Field Nos. SL2016.403, 405), adult males and TBU 09 (Field No. SL2016.404), adult female collected by A.V. Pham, L.M. Ha, O.V. Dieu and D.A. Giang on 15 October 2016 near Tua Thang Commune, Tua Chua District, Dien Bien Province (21 ̊56.933’N, 103 ̊27.803’E, elevation: 610 m asl.). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. The new species can be distinguished from other members of the genus Cyrtodactylus by a combination of the following characters: medium size (SVL up to 97.5 mm); dorsal tubercles in 13–16 irregular rows; ventral scale rows 30–38; ventrolateral folds present without interspersed tubercles; each thigh with 11–13 enlarged femoral scales; femoral pores absent in males and females; precloacal pores 11–13 in males, five or 15 pitted scales in females, in a continuous row; postcloacal tubercles two or three; lamellae under toe IV 16–20; subcaudal scales transversely enlarged; dorsal head with dark brown marking, oval, triangle and arched shape; five brown dorsal bands between limb insertions. Comparisons. We compared the new species with its congeners from Vietnam and neighboring countries in mainland Indochina, including Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, China (Yunnan), Thailand, and peninsular Malaysia based on examination of specimens (see Appendix) and data obtained from the literature (Smith 1917, 1921a,b, 1935; Taylor 1963; Ulber & Grossmann 1991; Ulber 1993; Bauer 2002, 2003; Bauer et al. 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010; Ziegler et al. 2002, 2010, 2013; Pauwels & Sumontha 2014; Pauwels et al. 2004, 2013, 2014a,b, 2016; Nguyen et al. 2006, 2014; Hoang et al. 2007; Orlov et al. 2007; Grismer & Ahmad 2008; Ngo 2008, 2011; Ngo & Bauer 2008; Ngo & Chan 2010, 2011; Ngo & Grismer 2010, 2012; Ngo & Pauwels 2010; Ngo et al. 2008, 2010; Sumontha et al. 2010, 2012, 2014; Chan-ard & Makchai 2011; David et al. 2011; Schneider et al. 2011; Luu et al. 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016a,b,c; Grismer et al. 2012, 2016, 2017; Kunya et al. 2014, 2015; Nazarov et al. 2014; Panitvong et al. 2014; Le et al. 2016; Connette et al. 2017; Pham et al. 2017; and Nguyen et al. 2015a, 2017). The new species can be distinguished from other known species of Cyrtodactylus by morphological characters (see Table 2). Below we compared the new species from the closely related species from northern Vietnam and northern Laos. In general appearance, Cyrtodactylus taybacensis sp. nov. is similar to C. bichnganae Ngo & Grismer, C. cf. bichnganae, C. bobrovi Nguyen, Le, Pham, Ngo, Hoang, Pham & Ziegler, C. chauquangensis Hoang, Orlov, Ananjeva, Johns, Hoang & Dau, C. cucphuongensis Ngo & Chan, C. huongsonensis Luu, Nguyen, Do & Ziegler, C. martini Ngo, C. puhuensis Nguyen, Yang, Le, Nguyen, Orlov, Hoang, Nguyen, Jin, Rao, Hoang, Che, Murphy & Zhang, C. otai Nguyen, Le, Pham, Ngo, Hoang, Pham & Ziegler, C. spelaeus Nazarov, Poyarkov, Orlov, Nguyen, Milto, Martynov, Konstantinov & Chulisov, C. soni Le, Nguyen, Le & Ziegler, C. sonlaensis Nguyen, Pham, Ziegler, Ngo & Le, C. vilaphongi Schneider, Nguyen, Duc Le, Nophaseud, Bonkowski & Ziegler, C. wayakonei Nguyen, Kingsada, Rösler, Auer & Ziegler. Cyrtodactylus taybacensis sp. nov. differs from C. bichnganae by having more precloacal pores in males (11–13 vs. 10) and the absence of femoral pores on each thigh in males (vs. 9); from C. bobrovi by having fewer ventral scale rows (30–38 vs. 40–45), the presence of enlarged femoral scales (vs. absent), the presence of enlarged subcaudals (vs. absent), more preloacal pores in males (11–13 vs. 5), and fewer lamellae under toe IV (16–20 vs. 21–22); from C. chauquangensis by the presence of enlarged femoral scales (vs. absent) and having more precloacal pores in males (11–13 vs. 6); from C. cucphuongensis by the presence of precloacal pores in males (vs. absent), having fewer ventral scale rows (30–38 vs. 42), fewer lamellae under finger IV (17–19 vs. 21) and under toe IV (16–20 vs. 24); from C. huongsonensis by having more enlarged femoral scales on each thigh (11–14 vs. 7–9), more precloacal pores in males (11–13 vs. 6), and fewer ventral scale rows (30–38 vs. 41–48); from C. martini by having more precloacal pores in males (11–13 vs. 4), fewer ventral scale rows (30–38 vs. 39–43), and fewer lamellae under toe IV (16–20 vs. 22–24); from C. puhuensis by having more precloacal pores in males (11–13 vs. 5) and fewer lamellae under toe IV (16–20 vs. 23); from C. otai by having more preloacal pores in males (11–13 vs. 7–8), the presence of enlarged femoral scales (vs. absent), and the presence of enlarged subcaudals (vs. absent); from C. soni by having more enlarged femoral scales on each thigh (11–14 vs. 8–9), more precloacal pores in males (11–13 vs. 6–8), the absence of femoral pores in males (vs. 6–8 on each thigh), and fewer ventral scale rows (30–38 vs. 41–45); from C. sonlaensis by its larger size (SVL reaching 97.5 mm vs. 83.2 mm), the absence of femoral pores in males (vs. 13–15 on each thigh), more precloacal pores in males (11–13 vs. 8), and fewer enlarged femoral scales on each thigh (11–14 vs. 15–17); from C. spelaeus by having more precloacal pores in males (11–13 vs. 8–9) and fewer lamellae under toe IV (16–20 vs. 22–24); from C. vilaphongi by the presence of enlarged subcaudals (vs. absent), the presence of of enlarged femoral scales (vs. absent), and the presence of pitted scales in females (vs. absent); and from C. wayakonei by having fewer dorsal tubercle rows (13–16 vs. 16–19), the presence of enlarged femoral scales (vs. absent), and more precloacal pores in males (11–13 vs. 6–8). Morphologically, Cyrtodactylus taybacensis sp. nov. resembles C. cf. bichnganae. However, the new species can be distinguished from the latter by having more precloacal pores in males (11–13 vs. 7–9 in C. cf. bichnganae) and the absence of femoral pores on each thigh in males (vs. 3–10 in C. cf. bichnganae). See extensive table of comparisons in Pham et al. 2019: 370 (Table 2). |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | Specific epithet “taybacensis” is a toponym in reference to the type locality of the species, meaning “from northwestern region”. |
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