Goniurosaurus gollum QI, WANG, GRISMER, CHEN, LYU & WANG, 2020
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Goniurosaurus gollum
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| Higher Taxa | Eublepharidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Gollum Leopard Gecko Chinese: “guǎng dōng jiǎn hǔ” (广东睑虎) |
| Synonym | Goniurosaurus gollum QI, WANG, GRISMER, CHEN, LYU & WANG 2020 |
| Distribution | China (Guangdong) Type locality: Huaiji County, Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province, China |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. SYS r002420, adult male (Figs 2, 3A, 4A, 5), collected by Shuo Qi, Jian Wang and Hong-Hui Chen on 21 May 2020. Exact locality available to only qualified researchers upon request. Paratypes. One adult male (SYS r002421) and one adult female (SYS r002422) share the same collection information as the holotype. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Goniurosaurus gollum sp. nov. can be distinguished from all other congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) adult body size moderate, 91.0–93.4 mm SVL; (2) nasal scales surrounding nares seven or eight; (4) internasal single; (5) eyelid fringe scales 59–63; (6) granular scales of upper eyelids similar in size to those on top of head; (7) scales around midbody 121–128; (8) longitudinal dorsal tubercle rows at midbody 16 or 17; (9) paravertebral tubercles between limb insertions 25 or 26; (10) claws sheathed by four scales, dorsal claw scales small, two lateral claw scales short and shell-shaped; (11) axillary pockets deep; (12) presence of 10 or 11 precloacal pores in males and absent in females; (13) dorsal ground color of head, body, and limbs in adults yellowish brown and mottled with irregularly shaped dark-brown blotches; (14) nuchal loop complete, rounded posteriorly; (15) presence of three or four thin dorsal body bands between nuchal loop and caudal constriction, with black anterior and posterior borders, bands usually irregularly shaped; (16) iris orange, gradually darker on both sides. |
| Comment | Distribution: see map in Ngo et al. 2023. |
| Etymology | The specific epithet “gollum” is named after the fictional character, Gollum, from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings book series. This new species and Gollum have similar cave-dwelling habit and emaciated body. |
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