Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5301 No. 5: 14 Jun. 2023
Type: Article
Published: 2023-06-14
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5301.5.2
Page range: 540-560
Abstract views: 305
PDF downloaded: 20

An expanded description of Cnemaspis gracilis (Beddome 1870) (Squamata: Gekkonidae) based on recent material

Thackeray Wildlife Foundation; Mumbai; 400051; India. Department of Zoology; Shivaji University; Kolhapur; 416004; India
Department of Zoology; Shivaji University; Kolhapur; 416004; India
Bombay Natural History Society; Hornbill House; Dr. Salim Ali Chowk; Mumbai 400001; India
Thackeray Wildlife Foundation; Mumbai; 400051; India
Thackeray Wildlife Foundation; Mumbai; 400051; India
Reptilia Biodiversity hotspot day geckos species complex taxonomy Western Ghats

Abstract

Cnemaspis gracilis is a poorly known species that has been reported from across southern India, with 11 named species within the clade. The species is known only from the type series, as many other records from areas outside the type locality have turned out to represent distinct species. We provide an expanded morphological description of the species based on topotypic material and other samples that were assigned using genetic data. Cnemaspis gracilis is now known with certainty from three localities in the vicinity of Palakkad, Palakkad District, Kerala, and Valparai town, Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu, besides from an introduced population in the Timber Market, Kolhapur city, Kolhapur district, Maharashtra, India. The species is 7.6–15.8 % divergent on the ND2 gene from described members of the gracilis clade and can be diagnosed by a combination of morphological characters including body size, number of paravertebral tubercles between limb insertions, number of dorsal tubercle rows, number of ventral scale rows across the belly, number of femoral and precloacal pores and poreless scales separating these series in males, and the presence of a single central black ocellus on the neck and a smaller one on the occiput. The assignment of extant populations to the species, a detailed morphological description and genetic data will allow the description of many more species from within this diverse clade of diurnal geckos.

 

References

  1. Agarwal, I., Bauer, A.M. & Khandekar, A. (2020a) A new species of South Asian Cnemaspis (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Eastern Ghats, India. Zootaxa, 4802 (3), 449–462. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4802.3.3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4802.3.3
  2. Agarwal, I., Thackeray, T. & Khandekar, A. (2021b) A new medium-sized rupicolous Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) of the C. bangara clade from granite boulder habitats in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, India. Zootaxa, 4969 (2), 351–366. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4969.2.7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4969.2.7
  3. Agarwal, I., Thackeray, T., Pal, S. & Khandekar, A. (2020b) Granite boulders act as deep-time climate refugia: a Miocene divergent clade of rupicolous Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Mysore Plateau, India, with descriptions of three new species. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 58 (4), 1234–1261. https://doi.org/10.1111/jzs.12391 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jzs.12391
  4. Agarwal, I., Thackeray, T. & Khandekar, A. (2022) A multitude of spots! Five new microendemic species of the Cnemaspis gracilis group (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from massifs in the Shevaroy landscape, Tamil Nadu, India. Vertebrate Zoology, 72, 1137–1186. https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.72.e94799 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.72.e94799.figure10
  5. Beddome, R.H. (1870) Descriptions of some new lizards from the Madras Presidency. Madras Monthly Journal of Medical Science, 1, 30–35.
  6. Cyriac, V.P., Palot, M.J., Deuti, K. & Umesh P.K. (2020) A preliminary 16S rRNA phylogeny of the Indian Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) with the description of two new cryptic species from the C. wynadensis clade. Vertebrate Zoology, 70, 171–193. https://doi.org/10.26049/VZ70-2-2020-06
  7. Grismer, L.L., Wood Jr., P.L., Anuar, S., Riyanto, A., Ahmad, N., Muin, M.A., Sumontha, M., Grismer, J.L., Onn, C.K., Quah, E.S. & Pauwels, O.S.G. (2014) Systematics and natural history of Southeast Asian rock geckos (genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887) with descriptions of eight new species from Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Zootaxa, 3880 (1), 1–147. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3880.1.1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3880.1.1
  8. Macey, J.R., Larson, A., Ananjeva, N.B., Fang, Z. & Papenfuss, T.J. (1997) Two novel gene orders and the role of light-strand replication in rearrangement of the vertebrate mitochondrial genome. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 14, 91–104. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a025706 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a025706
  9. Malonza, P.K. & Bauer, A.M. (2022) Resurrection of the African gecko genus Ancylodactylus Müller, 1907 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) and description of six new species from Kenya. Zootaxa, 5141 (2), 101–139. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5141.2.1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5141.2.1
  10. Karunarathna, S., Poyarkov, N.A., de Silva, A., Madawala, M., Botejue, M., Gorin, V.A., Surasinghe, T., Gabadage, D., Ukuwela, K. & Bauer, A.M. (2019a) Integrative taxonomy reveals six new species of day geckos of the genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from geographically isolated hill forests in Sri Lanka. Vertebrate Zoology, 64, 247–298. https://doi.org/10.26049/VZ69-3-2019-02
  11. Khandekar, A. (2019) A new species of rock-dwelling Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Tamil Nadu, southern India. Zootaxa, 457 (3), 383–397. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4571.3.6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4571.3.6
  12. Khandekar, A., Gaitonde, N. & Agarwal, I. (2019a) Two new Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Shevaroy massif, Tamil Nadu, India, with a preliminary ND2 phylogeny of Indian Cnemaspis. Zootaxa, 4609 (1), 68–100. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4609.1.3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4609.1.3
  13. Khandekar, A., Thackeray, T. & Agarwal, I. (2019b) Two more new species of Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the northern Western Ghats, Maharashtra, India. Zootaxa, 4646 (1), 236–250. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4656.1.2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4656.1.2
  14. Khandekar, A., Thackeray, T. & Agarwal, I. (2020a) A new cryptic Cnemaspis Strauch (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from an isolated granite hill on the Mysore Plateau, Karnataka, India. Zootaxa, 4845 (4), 509–528. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4845.4.3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4845.4.3
  15. Khandekar, A., Thackeray, T., Pal, S. & Agarwal, I. (2020b) A new large-bodied, rupicolous Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) allied to Cnemaspis heteropholis Bauer, 2002 from the Central Western Ghats of Karnataka, India. Zootaxa, 4801 (1), 57–84. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4801.1.2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4801.1.2
  16. Khandekar, A., Thackeray, T. & Agarwal, I. (2022a) Three new cryptic species of South Asian Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Karnataka, India. Vertebrate Zoology, 72, 115–142. https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.72.e76308 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.72.e76308
  17. Khandekar, A., Thackeray, T. & Agarwal, I. (2022b) Three more novel species of South Asian Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India. Vertebrate Zoology, 72, 385–422. https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.72.e82343 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.72.e82343.figure10
  18. Manamendra-Arachchi, K., Batuwita, S. & Pethiagoda, R. (2007) A taxonomic revision of the Sri Lankan day-geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae: Cnemaspis), with description of new species from Sri Lanka and southern India. Zeylanica, 7, 9–122.
  19. Pal, S., Mirza, Z.A., Dsouza, P. & Shanker, K. (2021) Diversifying on the Ark: multiple new endemic lineages of dwarf geckos from the Western Ghats provide insights into the systematics and biogeography of South Asian Cnemaspis. Zoological Research, 42, 675−691. https://doi.org/10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2021.074 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2021.074
  20. Sayyed, A., Cyriac, V.P., Pardeshi, A. & Sulakhe, S. (2021) Dwarfs of the fortress: A new cryptic species of dwarf gecko of the genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Rajgad fort in the northern Western Ghats of Maharashtra, India. Evolutionary Systematics, 25–38. https://doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.5.62929 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.5.62929
  21. Sharma, R.C. (1976) Records of the reptiles of Goa. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 71, 149–167. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v71/i1-4/1975/161960 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v71/i1-4/1975/161960
  22. Smith, M.A. (1935) The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma; Reptilia and Amphibia. Volume II. Sauria. Taylor and Francis, London, xiv + 440 pp., 2 folding maps, 1 pl.
  23. Srinivasulu, C. & Srinivasulu, B. (2013) Cnemaspis gracilis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013, e.T194094A2297889. Available from: https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/ (Accessed 30 August 2022) https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T194094A2297889.en DOI: https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T194094A2297889.en
  24. Tamura, K., Peterson, D, Peterson, N., Stecher, G., Nei, M. & Kumar, S. (2011) MEGA5: Molecular evolutionary genetics analysis using maximum likelihood, evolutionary distance, and maximum parsimony methods. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 28, 2731–2739. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msr121 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msr121
  25. Thompson, J.D., Higgins, D.G. & Gibson, T.J. (1994) CLUSTAL W: improving the sensitivity of progressive multiple sequence alignment through sequence weighting, positions-specific gap penalties and weight matrix choice. Nucleic Acids and Research, 22, 4673–4680. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/22.22.4673 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/22.22.4673
  26. Uetz, P., Freed, P. & Hosek, J. (2023) The Reptile Database. Available from: http://reptile- database.reptarium.cz (accessed 20th April 2023)