Cnemaspis kandambyi, Batuwita, Sudesh & Udugampala, Sampath, 2017

Batuwita, Sudesh & Udugampala, Sampath, 2017, Description of a new species of Cnemaspis (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Knuckles Range of Sri Lanka, Zootaxa 4254 (1) : -

Cnemaspis kandambyi sp. nov.

( Figs. 1A , B, 2A, B, 3; Table 1 )

Holotype. NMSL WHT 9466 , adult male, 21.4 mm SVL; Meemure , Knuckles Range, 07°26'N, 080°50'E, elevation 450 m msl, Sri Lanka. Paratypes . NMSL WHT 9467, adult male, 22.0 mm SVL; same collection data as holotype; NMSL uncatalogued specimen ( Fig. 1A ), adult male, 23.6 mm SVL; no locality data.

Diagnosis. Cnemaspis kandambyi sp. nov. ( Fig. 1A , B) differs from its peninsular Indian and Sri Lankan congeners by a combination of the following characters: maximum SVL 23.6 mm; three enlarged postmentals; dorsum with homogeneous, unkeeled granular scales; ventral scales smooth, imbricate to subimbricate; gulars, pectoral and abdominal scales smooth; ventral scales across midbody, 16–17; obtuse tubercles on flank; four precloacal pores, 5–6 femoral pores on each side separated from precloacal series by 7–8 unpored scales; subcaudals smooth, median row enlarged, in a regular series (scales subequal in width); supralabials to angle of jaws 7–8; subdigital lamellae on fourth digit of pes, 19–20. Colouration (in life, Fig. 1 B) dark brown with diamond shaped dark markings longitudinally on mid-dorsum; lateral sides of neck with distinct black stripes (begin behind eye); ventral side dusky white; ventro-lateral sides of limbs, tail and flanks with blue iridescence.

The new species closely resembles C. podihuna ( Fig. 1 C) and C. molligodai . From C. podihuna it differs by the presence of 7–8 (versus 3–6) unpored scales separating precloacal and femoral pores, absence (versus presence) of internasal scale, body (axilla to groin) relatively long 47.7–48.3 (versus 38.1–38.7) % of SVL, having dark brown (versus yellowish brown) dorsum colouration and flank, ventro-lateral sides of tail, limbs with blue iridescence (versus bright yellow). Cnemaspis kandambyi sp. nov. further differs from C. podihuna by morphometrically: relatively shorter head length, 23.6–28.0 (versus 28.3–28.8 % of SVL in C. podihuna ); relatively long body length, 48.2–48.3 (versus 37.7–38.1) % of SVL; longer tibia length, 16.1–16.7 (versus 14.3– 14.5) % of SVL; and shorter femur length, 17.3–18.7 (versus 19.7–20.6) % SVL.

Cnemaspis kandambyi sp. nov. is distinguished from C. molligodai by the presence of 4 (versus 5) precloacal pores and 4–6 (versus 7–9) femoral pores on each side, precloacal pores not in an inverted V-shaped arrangement (versus in inverted V-shaped arrangement in C. molligodai ), and the black lateral stripe on the head and neck begins behind the eye and extends beyond the base of the forearm (versus black lateral stripe not extending beyond the base of the forearm).

Description of holotype. (For mensural and meristic data, see Tables 1–2 ). An adult male, 21.4 mm SVL. Head relatively short (HL 28.0% of SVL), wide (HW 18.7% of SVL, HW 66.7% of HL), distinct from neck. Snout length greater than twice length of eye diameter (ED 43.4% of ES); interorbital wide (IO 7.0% of HL); eye to ear distance subequal to eye to nostril length (EE 93.8% of EN); snout length longer than eye to ear opening distance (ES 153.3% of EE); pupil rounded. Granules on snout keeled, larger than those on interorbital region and occipital region; scales of interorbital region conical and keeled; obtuse tubercles on sides of neck, and around ear. Chin and throat with unkeeled scales; gular scales keeled, imbricate. Rostral scale wider than long, partially divided by a medial groove, in contact with first supralabial. Nostrils separated by two enlarged supranasals; no internasals ( Fig. 2 A); two enlarged scales behind the supranasals. Nostrils oval, dorsally orientated; nostrils not in contact with first supralabial. Two postnasals, the lower one in broad contact with first supralabial. Mental subpentagonal, wider than long, posteriolaterally in contact with three enlarged postmentals; postmentals in contact medially and bordered posteriorly by five unkeeled scales. Supralabials 7, infralabials, 6, decreasing in size towards gape. Ear opening oval, oblique (EL, 0.2 mm).

Body slender, relatively long (AG 47.7% SVL). Mid-dorsal granules homogeneous. Five very weakly developed tubercles on flank; ventro-lateral scales not enlarged; pectoral and abdominal scales smooth, subimbricate to imbricate towards precloacal region; scales across midbody, 16; scales around vent and base of tail smooth, imbricate; four precloacal and, 5 (on left side) and 6 (on right side) femoral pores ( Fig. 2 B).

Forelimbs moderately long, slender (LAL 11.7% SVL, UAL 14.0% SVL); hind limbs long, tibia short (TBL 16.4% SVL, FEL 18.7% SVL). Dorsal and anterior surfaces of upper arm with unkeeled scales; ventral scales unkeeled and granular. Scales on dorsal, ventral and anterior surfaces of lower arm imbricate. Scales on dorsal surface of thigh unkeeled and granular, anterior and ventral surfaces with imbricate scales. Dorsal and ventral surfaces of tibia with imbricate scales, posterior surface with unkeeled granules. Dorsal and ventral scales on manus and pes with unkeeled granules. Dorsal surface of digits with granular scales. Digits elongate, slender, all bearing slightly recurved claws. Subdigital lamellae entire (except the divided lamellae at first interphalangial joint), unnotched; subdigital lamellae on menus: digit I, 10, digit II, 12, digit III, 14, digit IV, 14, digit V, 14; subdigital lamellae on pes: digit I, 11, digit II, 13, digit III, 16, digit IV, 20, digit V, 17; interdigital webbing present; relative length of digits of manus: IV (1.7 mm)> III (1.4 mm) ~ II (1.4 mm) ~ V (1.2 mm)> I (1.0 mm); relative length of digits of pes IV (2.6 mm)> III (2.0 mm) ~ V (1.7 mm) ~ II (1.6 mm)> I (0.9 mm).

Unregenerated tail of holotype longer than snout-vent length (110.7% of SVL); tail base not swollen (TBW 2.1), tail with homogeneous scales dorsally, directed backwards; tail with 4–5 enlarged flattened obtuse scales forming whorls; post-cloacal spur on each side, dorso-ventrally flattened and obtuse ( Fig. 2 B); subcaudals smooth, in a regular hexagonal median series.

Colour in life. Dark brown with six diamond-shaped light brown markings on mid-dorsum. Lateral surfaces of neck with two distinct black stripes beginning behind the eyes and extend beyond the insertion of the forelimbs; flanks with scattered yellow spots. Ventral side light yellow; ventro-lateral surfaces of tail, limbs and flank with blue iridescence ( Fig. 1 B).

Colour in preservative. Dorsum dark brown with indistinct darker diamond-shaped markings from nape to sacrum. Ventro-lateral sides of neck with distinct black stripes begin behind eye and extend beyond the insertion of forelimbs; limbs and digits with black bands; ventral side dusky white.

Distribution and natural history. The new species was observed in large trees with epiphytes ( Dendrobium sp.) in the Meemure area (07°26’N, 80°50’E; ~ 450 m msl) in the Knuckles Range ( Fig. 3 ). Cnemaspis kandambyi sp. nov. is an arboreal and diurnal gecko.

Etymology. The species name is a patronym in the Latin genitive singular, in honour of Dharma Sri Kandamby (Former Curator of the vertebrate section of the National Museum of Sri Lanka [1982-2012]), for his contributions to the herpetology of Sri Lanka and for his guidance to both authors.

Remarks. The record of Cnemaspis podihuna from Pallegama (07°32’N, 0 80°49’E) by Karunarathna et al. (2011) might belong to C. kandambyi sp. nov.

Comparisons. Cnemaspis kandambyi sp. nov. differs from following South Asian congeners of Cnemaspis by having homogeneous dorsal scales and presence of unkeeled gular, pectoral and abdominal scales versus having either heterogeneous dorsal scales or/ and keeled ventral scales in Cnemaspis tropidogaster (Boulenger) , C. kandiana (Kelaart) , C. menikay Manamendra-Arachchi, Batuwita & Pethiyagoda , C. girii Mirza, Pal, Bhosale & Sanap , C. samanalensis Wickramasinghe & Munindradasa , C. retigalensis Wickramasinghe & Munindradasa , C. kumarasinghei Wickramasinghe & Munindradasa , C. latha Manamendra-Arachchi, Batuwita & Pethiyagoda , C. silvula Manamendra-Arachchi, Batuwita & Pethiyagoda , C. upendrai Manamendra-Arachchi, Batuwita & Pethiyagoda , C. pulchra Manamendra-Arachchi, Batuwita & Pethiyagoda , C. pava Manamendra-Arachchi, Batuwita & Pethiyagoda , C. clivicola Manamendra-Arachchi, Batuwita & Pethiyagoda , C. amith Manamendra- Arachchi, Batuwita & Pethiyagoda, C. goaensis Sharma , C. heteropholis Bauer , C. indraneildasii Bauer , C. andersonii (Annandale) , C. monticola Manamendra-Arachchi, Batuwita & Pethiyagoda , C. australis Manamendra- Arachchi, Batuwita & Pethiyagoda, C. nilagirica Manamendra-Arachchi, Batuwita & Pethiyagoda , C. wicksii (Stoliczka) and C. gracilis (Beddome) . Cnemaspis kandambyi sp. nov. is distinguished from Cnemaspis scalpensis (Ferguson) , C. gemunu Bauer, De Silva, Greenbaum & Jackman , C. phillipsi , C. littoralis (Jerdon) and C. rammalensis Vidanapathirana, Rajeev, Wickramasinghe, Fernando & Wickramasinghe by having 4–6 femoral pores and 4 precloacal pores (( versus 12–18 femoral pores and lacking precloacal pores); from Cnemaspis alwisi Wickramasinghe & Munindradasa and C. molligodai by having 4–6 (versus 7–9) femoral pores; and from Cnemaspis punctata Manamendra-Arachchi, Batuwita & Pethiyagoda by lacking spotted dorsal colouration, having precloacal pores and lesser SVL (versus distinctive spotted dorsal colouration, lacking precloacal pores and greater SVL). The new species differs from Cnemaspis podihuna by having 7–8 unpored scales in precloacalfemoral pores scale row (versus 5–6) (see diagnosis). Cnemaspis indica (Gray) , C. nairi Inger, Marx & Koshy , C. otai Das & Bauer , C. yercaudensis Das & Bauer , C. sisparensis (Theobald) , C. kolhapurensis Giri, Bauer & Gaikwad , and C. wynadensis (Beddome) differ from C. kandambyi sp. nov. by the absence of obtuse tubercles on flank (versus obtuse tubercles present in C. kandambyi sp. nov.). The new species also differs from following species by having both femoral and precloacal pores: Cnemaspis jerdonii (Theobald) (lacks precloacal pores), C. boiei (Gray) (no pores), C. ornata (Beddome) (lacking femoral pores), and C. beddomei (Theobald) (lacking femoral pores). Cnemaspis kandambyi sp. nov. distinguished from C. mysoriensis (Jerdon) in having 5–6 (versus 2–3) femoral pores.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A, NMSL uncatalogued paratype of Cnemaspis kandambyi sp. nov. (flip vertically to show neck stripe); B, Cnemaspis kandambyi sp. nov., in life, not preserved from Meemure in the Matale District (courtesy of S. P. Benjamin) (Note the flattened tail and black stripe on neck with the NMSL uncatalogued paratype); C, Cnemaspis podihuna, topotype, WHT 7334, Maligawila in the Ampara District. Scale bar: 5 mm.

FIGURE 2. Cnemaspis kandambyi sp. nov., NMSL WHT 9466 (holotype), A, dorsal view of snout; B, precloacal and thigh regions showing arrangement of femoral and precloacal pores, and unpored scales. Scale bars: 1 mm.

FIGURE 3. Distribution of Cnemaspis kandambyi sp. nov. (triangles), C. molligodai (square) and C. podihuna (circles); locations of holotypes (in white); other locations (in black); Pallegama may represent by C. kandambyi sp. nov. (in gradient triangle). Distribution records of C. podihuna adopted from Karunaratna et al. (2011).

Tables

TABLE 1. Mensural data of type series of Cnemaspis kandambyi sp. nov.

	Holotype	Paratype	Paratype
	NMSL WHT 9466	NMSL WHT 9467	NMSL uncatalogued
SVL	21.4	22.0	23.6
TAL	23.5	4.3 (broken)	22.8 (regenerated)
TBW	2.1	2.0	2.1
HL	6.0	6.0	5.8
HW	3.9	4.0	3.7
ED	1.0	1.0	1.1
IO	0.4	0.4	0.8
IN	0.5	0.5	0.6
EE	1.5	1.7	1.8
EN	1.6	1.8	1.9
ES	2.3	2.4	2.5
EL	0.2	0.2	0.2
AG	10.2	10.6	11.4
LAL	2.5	2.9	3.2
UAL	3.0	3.1	2.8
DLM I	1.0	0.8	1.0
DLM II	1.4	1.2	1.3
DLM III	1.4	1.3	1.3
DLM IV	1.7	1.5	1.7
DLM V	1.2	1.1	1.3
TBL	3.5	3.6	4.1
FEL	4.0	4.0	3.8
DLP I	0.9	1.0	1.1
DLP II	1.6	1.7	1.7
DLP III	2.0	1.9	2.0
DLP IV	2.6	2.2	2.5
DLP V	1.7	1.8	2.0