Gehyra finipunctata DOUGHTY, BAUER, PEPPER, KEOGH & ELLIS, 2018
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Gehyra finipunctata
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Small-spotted Mid-west Rock Gehyra |
| Synonym | Gehyra punctulata DOUGHTY, BAUER, PEPPER & KEOGH 2018 Gehyra finipunctata DOUGHTY, BAUER, PEPPER, KEOGH & ELLIS 2018 (nom. nov.) |
| Distribution | Australia (Western Australia: from Toolonga Nature Reserve near Murchison, north to Callythara Springs, 40 km east of Gascoyne Junction; western Pilbara area, from approximately 100 km south-east of Onslow in the Cane River area) Type locality: Mount Minnie (22.2650°S, 115.4072°E) |
| Reproduction | oviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Holotype: WAM R139194, an adult male collected at Mount Minnie (22.2650°S, 115.4072°E) by P.G. Kendrick on 26 June 2000. Paratypes: WAM R113599 and WAM R113633 (males), 30 km east-north-east of Nanutarra (22.4166°S, 115.6167°E); WAM R117038 (female) and WAM R117040 (male), 18 km west of Mt Stuart Homestead (22.4333°S, 115.8833°E); WAM R131769 (female), Muggon Station (26.6166°S, 115.5333°E); WAM R163106 (female), 19.5 km south- south-west of Mt Amy (22.4193°S, 115.8380°E), all fromWestern Australia. |
| Diagnosis | DIAGNOSIS: Differs from non-Australian Gehyra by lack of extensive webbing between toes III and IV and a cutaneous fold along the posterior margin of the hindlimb and transversely widened subcaudal scales. Distinguished from other Australian Gehyra by possession of moderate body size (up to 56 mm SVL) and broad snout, dorsal edge of rostral flat to gabled and moderately furrowed, upper postnasal 1/3 the size of lower, 9–10 supralabials, first supralabial slightly taller and narrower than second, inner chin shields in contact with second infralabial, first parinfralabial in contact with posterior edge of second infralabial, mental scale penetrates along half the length of the inner chin shields with straight sides or slight concavity in contact with first infralabial, subdigital lamellae on fourth finger 6–7, fourth toe 7–8, lamellae divided and without basal wedge of granules; background colour light reddish to greyish-brown with small dark and pale spots not in contact and evenly spaced, canthal stripe weak, loreal and temporal stripe variable, post-orbital stripes absent, tail with alternating dark and pale rows of spots, dark spots forming bands distally. Further distinguished from other reddish-brown Gehyra in the mid-west and Pilbara regions as follows. It resembles G. polka sp. nov. most closely but differs by possessing a darker and more stippled background with smaller spots. From G. media sp. nov., G. micra sp. nov. and G. peninsularis sp. nov. by larger body size, longer and more depressed snout and more numerous supralabials and subdigital lamellae; from G. punctata by slightly smaller body size, first parinfralabial encroaching on posterior edge of second (not third) infralabial and dark and pale spots on dorsum not in contact; from G. macra sp. nov. by smaller body size, fewer subdigital lamellae and pre-cloacal pores, more reddish dorsum, clearly demarcated spots and lack of a pale, narrow vertebral stripe; from G. pilbara and G. montium by larger body size, longer snout, and distinct markings on dorsum without background reticulations. |
| Comment | Habitat: granite outcrops and ridges, near a dry stream bed and undulating stony ground; rock crevices, under exfoliating granite slabs, rocks or under rubbish. Distribution: see map in Doughty et al. 2018: 7 (Fig. 2). Gehyra punctulata is a junior secondary homonym of Phyria punctulata Gray, 1842 from the type locality of ‘Port Essington’ Northern Territory, Australia (Bauer 1994) and the name Phyria punctulata is itself currently treated as a nomen oblitum and subjective synonym of Gehyra australis Gray, 1845 (Bauer 1994). Due to the absence of an extant type specimen (presumed lost fide Cogger et al. 1983), it is not possible to definitively allocate Phyria punctulata Gray, 1842 to any known species or populations of Gehyra Gray, 1834 and the interpretation of P. punctulata as a synonym of G. australis has been based on the limited diagnostic information and the type locality. Ellis et al. 2018 regard the name Phyria punctulata as a nomen dubium and remove it from the synonymy of G. australis. Despite the nomen dubium status of the name Phyria punctulata, the name punctulata is nonetheless considered unavailable for new species within the genus Gehyra in accordance with Article 59 of the Code. Hence the name Gehyra finipunctata nom. nov. Doughty, Bauer, Pepper, Keogh & Ellis, 2018 was proposed as a replacement name for Gehyra punctulata Doughty et al. 2018. |
| Etymology | Punctulata is the diminutive of punctata, referring to this species’ smaller spots relative to those of G. punctata and G. polka sp. nov. The species epithet finipunctata is derived from the Latin words finis (fine) and punctata (punctate or bearing small spots), as in bearing fine spots or finely spotted, in reference to the dorsal pattern which forms part of the species diagnosis, described by Doughty et al. (2018: 19) as ‘background colour light reddish to greyish-brown with small dark and pale spots not in contact and evenly spaced’. |
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