Cnemaspis vandeventeri Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya, 2010

Vandeventer’s Rock Gecko

Fig. 66

Gonatodes siamensis Smith, 1925:22 ?

Cnemaspis siamensis Smith, 1935:72; Taylor, 1963:743

Cnemaspis siamensis (?) Pauwels et al., 2000:129

Holotype. THNHM 8261. Type locality “ Khlong Naka Wildlife Sanctuary (9°26.0N, 98° 35.0E), Kapur District, Ranong Province; Thailand ” at approximately 11 m in elevation.

Diagnosis. Maximum SVL 44.7 mm; eight or nine supralabials; 7–9 infralabials; keeled ventral scales; four pore-bearing precloacal scales with round pores; 25–29 paravertebral tubercles; body tubercles randomly arranged, absent from flanks; tubercles absent from lateral caudal furrows; no ventrolateral row of caudal tubercles; lateral row of caudal tubercles present; caudal tubercles do not encircle tail; subcaudals keeled, bearing a weakly keeled, enlarged median scale row; 1–3 postcloacal tubercles on each side of tail base; no enlarged femoral, subtibial or submetatarsal scales; subtibials keeled; 24–28 subdigital fourth toe lamellae; yellowish, prescapular crescent; gular region, throat, pectoral region, underside of limbs, belly, and subcaudal region orange (Tables 6,7).

Color pattern (Fig. 66). Dorsal ground color of head, body, limbs and tail brown; top of head bearing small, faint, brown markings and postorbital stripes; series of small, light-colored, vertebral blotches extend from nape to level of hind limb insertions; yellowish, prescapular crescent followed by a series of irregularly shaped, lightcolored blotches on flanks; limbs faintly mottled with diffuse, dark markings; all ventral surfaces cream-colored, immaculate except for small, individual stipples in each scale.

Distribution. Cnemaspis vandeventeri is restricted to the west side of the Tenasserim Mountains and the contiguous Phuket Mountains along the west coast of southern Peninsular Thailand (Grismer et al. 2010a; Fig. 3). It ranges from the Khlong Naka Wildlife Sanctuary in the north, southward approximately 58 km to Khlong Had Sompen, Ranong and onto Phuket Island. Pauwels et al. (2000) collected two specimens (MNHN 1999.7707–08) from Phang-Nga Wildlife Breeding Station, Phang-Nga located west of the Phuket Mountains that they referred to as C. siamensis which could have also been C. vandeventeri . Unfortunately, the specimens could not be located (P. David, in lit. 2009). Cnemaspis vandeventeri may extend farther north along the western flanks of the Tenasserim Mountains into Myanmar.

Natural history. Cnemaspis vandeventeri has been observed on or within vegetation at night in lowland vegetation as well as on granite rocks suggesting it is a habitat generalist (Fig. 66).

Relationships. The distribution of Cnemaspis vandeventeri in Peninsular Thailand would align it with members of the siamensis group (Fig. 3). Unlike the northern sister species of this group C. huaseesom and C. siamensis, C. vandeventeri is restricted to the northwestern edge of the Isthmus of Kra and has the yelowish, prescapular crescent that diagnoses the monophyletic lineage composed of C. chanardi, C. omari sp. nov., and C. roticanai that occurs south of the Isthmus Kra, suggesting it may be more closely related to these species (Table 6).

Material examined. Thailand: Ranong Province, Kapur District, Khlong Naka Wildlife Sanctuary THNHM 8260–1; Muang District, Ranong Province, Khlong Had Sompen, CUMZ-R- 2009,6,24–11. These represent the type series .