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Issue: Vol. 4459 No. 1: 14 Aug. 2018
Type: Article
Published: 2018-08-14
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4459.1.3
Page range: 85–100
Abstract views: 138
PDF downloaded: 1

Description of two new species of Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Western Ghats of Kerala, India

IISER-TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE), School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695551, India.
IISER-TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE), School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695551, India. National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore 560065, India
Pavukandy House, Moolad post, Narayamkulam, Kozhikode, Kerala 673614, India
Zoological Survey of India—Western Ghats Regional Center, Kozhikode, Kerala 673006, India
Reptilia Cnemaspis Gekkonidae new species southern Western Ghats

Abstract

Two new species of geckos of the genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 are described from the southern Western Ghats of Kerala. Both species are medium to large sized Cnemaspis and can be differentiated from all other Indian congeners by a suite of distinct morphological characters. Both species are found in the high elevation forests of the two major massifs—       Anaimalai Hills and Agasthyamalai Hills and are presently known to have very restricted distributional ranges. The discovery of these novel species highlights the understudied diversity of reptiles in the high mountain ranges of the Western Ghats.

 

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