Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis, Liu & Rao, 2021

Liu, Shuo & Rao, Dingqi, 2021, A new species of Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Yunnan, China, ZooKeys 1021, pp. 109-126 : 109

Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. Figs 2 , 3 , 4 , 5

Holotype.

KIZL2020049 , adult male, China, Yunnan Province, Lincang City, Zhenkang County, Nansan town , 23°46'32"N, 98°50'28"E, 1060 m elevation, collected on 11 September 2020 by Shuo Liu.

Paratypes.

KIZL2020048 and KIZL2020050 , two adult females ; KIZL2020046 , subadult male; and KIZL2020047 , subadult female; all the same collection data as the holotype .

Etymology.

The name refers to Zhenkang County, where the new species was found.

Diagnosis.

Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. differs from all other congeners by the following combination of characters: medium size ( SVL 78.1-87.4 mm); ventrolateral folds present with interspersed tubercles; 12-15 enlarged femoral scales on each thigh; 2-5 femoral pores on each thigh in males, 0-3 pitted scales on each thigh in females; eight or nine precloacal pores in a continuous row or separated by one poreless scale in males, 7-9 pitted scales in females; two or three postcloacal tubercles on each side; 18-21 lamellae under finger IV, 21-23 lamellae under toe IV; subcaudals enlarged, arranged alternately as single and double on anterior and mostly single at middle and posterior; dorsal surface of head with obvious, light-colored reticulations; eight or nine irregular transverse bands on the dorsum of body.

Description of holotype.

Adult male, SVL 87.4 mm; head distinguished from neck, moderately long (HL/ SVL 0.27), relatively widened ( HW /HL 0.79), slightly depressed (HH/HL 0.48); two supranasals separated by one internasal; nares oval, surrounded by supranasal, rostral, first supralabial, and three or four postnasals; loreal region concave; snout long ( SE /HL 0.41), round anteriorly, longer than diameter of orbit ( OD / SE 0.70); snout scales small, round, granular, larger than those in frontal and parietal regions; eye large ( OD /HL 0.28), pupils vertical; upper eyelid fringe with spinous scales; ear opening oval, obliquely directed, small in size ( ED /HL 0.08); rostral wider than high ( RH / RW 0.66), medially divided dorsally by a suture, reaching to approximately half-way down rostral, in contact with first supralabial and nostrils laterally, and supranasals and internasal dorsally; mental triangular, narrower than rostral ( MW / RW 0.83), wider than high ( ML / MW 0.82); two postmentals, enlarged, in contact posteriorly, bordered by mental anteromedially, first infralabial anterolaterally, and an enlarged chin scale posterolaterally; 10/10 supralabials; 10/10 infralabials.

Body slender ( AG / SVL 0.41), ventrolateral folds slightly developed with interspersed tubercles; dorsal scales granular; dorsal tubercles round and weakly keeled, four or five times larger than the size of adjoining scales, conical, present on occiput, back and tail base, each surrounded by nine or ten granular scales, in 24 irregular longitudinal rows at the midbody, 29 paravertebral tubercles; ventral scales smooth, larger than those of dorsum, round, subimbricate, largest posteriorly, in 33 longitudinal rows at midbody; gular region with homogenous smooth scales; precloacal groove absent; three rows of enlarged scales present in posterior region of pore-bearing scales; 13/15 enlarged femoral scales beneath thighs continuous with enlarged precloacal scales; femoral pores bearing scales separated from pore-bearing precloacal scales by six poreless or pitted femoral scales on the left side and nine poreless or pitted femoral scales on the right side; 5/5 femoral pores; 5/3 precloacal pores, separated by one poreless scale; most precloacal pores are positioned in the posterior margin of their scales and femoral pores positioned in the center of scales.

Fore and hind limbs moderately slender (ForeaL/SVL 0.17, SL/ SVL 0.20); dorsal surface of forelimbs covered by a few weakly developed tubercles; interdigital webbing absent; lamellae under finger IV 20/18, under toe IV 21/23; relative length of fingers I<II< V <III <IV, relative length of toes I<II<III< V <IV.

Tail complete, longer than snout-vent length (TaL/ SVL 1.12); 2/3 postcloacal tubercles; dorsal tail base with tubercles; subcaudals smooth, enlarged, arranged alternately in single and double series at anterior and mostly singly at middle and posterior parts.

Color of holotype in life. Head brown with pale-yellow, slightly symmetrical reticulations on either side of the midline, no dark-colored nuchal loop; dorsum of body brown with approximately nine pale-yellow, transverse, irregular bands from forelimb insertions to base of tail and one longitudinal, continuous, narrow vertebral stripe; dorsal surface of limbs brown with some light-yellow, irregularly shaped bands, some small, light-yellow spots on the dorsum of fingers and toes; ventral surface of head, body, and limbs grey with no stripes or spots; tail brownish black with ten yellowish white rings; iris copper-yellow.

Variations. Color pattern variations are shown in Figure 5 , and morphometric and meristic differences are presented in Table 2. Morphologically the paratypes resemble the holotype except as follows: KIZL2020046 and KIZL2020047 each has one vertebral stripe like the holotype but it is discontinuous; KIZL2020050 has one continuous vertebral strip and two discontinuous, longitudinal, narrow stripes on the sides of vertebral strip; KIZL2020048 only has transverse bands and no vertebra stripe. All paratypes have continuous precloacal pores (pitted) and fewer femoral pores (pitted).

Distribution.

The new species is currently known only from the type locality in Zhenkang County, Yunnan Province, China .

Natural history.

All specimens were found at night between 19:00 and 21:00 on limestone cliffs of the karst formations. The surrounding habitat was primary forestwith a stream nearby. No eggs or juveniles were found.

Comparisons.

Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. is distinguishable from all other members of the C. wayakonei group by a unique combination of morphological characters. Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. differs from C. bichnganae Ngo & Grismer, 2010; C. huongsonensis Luu, Nguyen, Do & Ziegler, 2011; and C. sonlaensis Nguyen, Pham, Ziegler, Ngo & Le, 2017 in having fewer femoral pores in males (4-10 vs 15-29).

Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. differs from C. bobrovi Nguyen, Le, Pham, Ngo, Hoang, Pham & Ziegler, 2015; C. otai Nguyen, Le, Pham, Ngo, Hoang, Pham & Ziegler, 2015; and C. vilaphongi Schneider, Nguyen, Le, Nophaseud, Bonkowski & Ziegler, 2014 in having enlarged subcaudal scales (vs lacking enlarged subcaudals).

Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. differs from C. chauquangensis Hoang, Orlov, Ananjeva, Johns, Hoang & Dau, 2007; C. cucphuongensis Ngo & Chan, 2011; C. houaphanensis Schneider, Luu, Sitthivong, Teynié, Le, Nguyen & Ziegler, 2020; C. puhuensis Nguyen, Yang, Le, Nguyen, Orlov, Hoang, Nguyen, Jin, Rao, Hoang, Che, Murphy & Zhang, 2014; C. spelaeus Nazarov, Poyarkov, Orlov, Nguyen, Milto, Martynov, Konstantinov & Chulisov, 2014; and C. taybacensis Pham, Le, Ngo, Ziegler & Nguyen, 2019 in having femoral pores in males (vs lacking femoral pores in males).

Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. differs from C. martini in having femoral pores in males (vs lacking femoral pores in males) and more irregular transverse bands on the dorsum of body (8-9 vs 5-7).

Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. differs from C. ngoiensis Schneider, Luu, Sitthivong, Teynié, Le, Nguyen & Ziegler, 2020 and C. soni Le, Nguyen, Le & Ziegler, 2016 in its smaller body size (64.1-87.4 mm vs 62.9-103 mm) and having more lamellae under finger IV (18-21 vs 15-19) and toe IV (21-23 vs 18-22).

Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. differs from C. wayakonei in having enlarged subcaudal scales (vs lacking enlarged subcaudals) and with more irregular transverse bands on the dorsum of body (8-9 vs 5-7).

For other species which were not included in the phylogenetic analyses and resemble Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. in morphology. Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. differs from C. auribalteatus Sumontha, Panitvong & Deein, 2010 in having more transverse bands on the dorsum of body (8-9 vs 4-5), obvious reticulations on the dorsum of head (vs no obvious reticulations) and absent dark-colored nuchal loop (vs present).

Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. differs from C. doisuthep Kunya, Panmongkol, Pauwels, Sumontha, Meewasana, Bunkhwamdi & Dangsri, 2014 in having fewer femoral pores (0-10 vs 12-14), more precloacal pores (7-9 vs 6), and absent dark-colored nuchal loop (vs present).

Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. differs from C. dumnuii Bauer, Kunya, Sumontha, Niyomwan, Pauwels, Chanhome & Kunya, 2010 in having more lamellae under toe IV (21-23 vs 19), absent dark-colored nuchal loop (vs present), and obvious reticulations on the dorsum of head (vs not obvious or no reticulations).

Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. differs from C. erythrops Bauer, Kunya, Sumontha, Niyomwan, Panitvong, Pauwels, Chanhome & Kunya, 2009 in having fewer femoral pores in males (4-10 vs 18-20), more lamellae under finger IV (18-21 vs 16) and toe IV (21-23 vs 20), and more transverse bands on the dorsum of body (8-9 vs 6-7).

Figures

Figure 2. Type series of Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. in preservative A dorsal view B ventral view.

Figure 3. Close-up views of the holotype (KIZL 20200049) of Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. in preservative A dorsal view of head B ventral view of head C right side femoral region D precloacal region E left side femoral region F subcaudal scales.

Figure 4. The holotype (KIZL 20200049) of Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. in life A dorsal view B lateral view.

Figure 5. The paratypes of Cyrtodactylus zhenkangensis sp. nov. in life A subadult male (KIZL 2020046) B subadult female (KIZL 2020047) C adult female (KIZL 2020048) D adult female (KIZL 2020050).