Cnemaspis narathiwatensis, Grismer, Lee, Sumontha, Montri, Cota, Michael, Grismer, Jesse L., Wood, Perry L., Pauwels, Olivier S. G. & Kunya, Kirati, 2010
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.275935 |
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DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6205211 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03CB5E24-FFD1-CB71-1595-F8D9FAC57F4B |
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treatment provided by |
Plazi |
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scientific name |
Cnemaspis narathiwatensis |
| status |
sp. nov. |
Cnemaspis narathiwatensis sp. nov.
Narathiwat Rock Gecko
Djing Djok Niew Yaow Narathiwat Figures 19 View FIGURE 19 , 20 View FIGURE 20
Holotype. Adult male ( THNHM 1436) from Waeng District, Narathiwat Province, Thailand. Exact locality, collector, and date of collection unknown.
Paratypes. Paratype THNHM 1338 is from the same locality as the holotype and no other data are known. Paratype THNHM 12435 was collected at Bang Lang National Park, Bannang Sata District, Yala Province on 17 June 2002 by Tanya Chan-ard and Yodchaiy Chuaynkern.
Diagnosis. Adult males reaching 43.2 mm SVL, adult females reaching 37.3 mm SVL; nine or 10 supralabials; 7–9 infralabials; gulars weakly keeled; forearm, subtibials, ventrals, subcaudals, and dorsal tubercles keeled; tubercles on body linearly arranged; 28 or 29 paravertebral tubercles; no ventrolateral caudal tubercles; caudal tubercles do not encircle tail; caudal tubercles within lateral, caudal furrow; no keeled or enlarged median row of subcaudals; 3–6 pore-bearing, precloacal scales arranged in a chevron and separated by a single, non-pore-bearing, precloacal scale; pores round; two or three postcloacal tubercles; shield-like subtibials and enlarged, submetatarsal scales absent; 24–26 subdigital lamellae on fourth toe; no dark, longitudinal, gular markings or blotches; head not yellow in adult males; no dark neck patch enclosing a white to yellow ocellus; dark shoulder patch enclosing white ocellus; no prominent, yellow to white, prescapular crescent or transverse bars on flanks. These differences are summarized across all species in TABLEs 1 View TABLE 1 and 2 View TABLE 2 .
Description of holotype. Adult male; SVL 43.2 mm; head oblong in dorsal profile, moderate in size (HL/ SVL 0.29), somewhat narrow (HW/SVL 0.19), flat (HD/HL 0.43), distinct from neck; snout short (ES/HL 0.46), concave in lateral profile; postnasal region constricted medially; raised scales of rostrum raised, keeled, larger than similarly shaped scales on occiput; moderate, supraorbital ridges; shallow frontonasal sulcus; canthus rostralis smoothly rounded; eye large (ED/HL 0.22); extra-brillar fringe scales small in general but slightly larger anteriorly; pupil round; ear opening oval, taller than wide; rostral concave dorsally, dorsal 75% divided by longitudinal groove; rostral bordered posteriorly by two supranasals, an azygous postrostral of similar size, and nostrils, bordered laterally by first supralabials; 9R,10L raised supralabials of similar size, but smallest posteriorly; 9R,L infralabials, decreasing gradually in size posteriorly; nostrils small, elongate, oriented posteriorly, bordered posteriorly by small, granular, postnasal scales; mental large, triangular, medially concave, extending to level of second infralabials, bordered posteriorly by four postmentals, lateral two largest; gular and throat scales raised, weakly keeled, somewhat pointed, juxtaposed.
Body slender, elongate; small, weakly keeled, dorsal scales equal in size throughout body, intermixed with numerous, large, multi-keeled, longitudinally arranged tubercles; tubercles extend from nape to base of tail and are smallest anteriorly; 28 or 29 paravertebral tubercles; tubercles on flanks; pectoral and abdominal scales slightly raised, subimbricate, keeled; abdominal scales same size as pectoral scales, larger than dorsals; six pore-bearing, precloacal scales arranged in a chevron (3-3) separated by a single, non-pore-bearing scale; pores round; forelimbs moderately long, slender, dorsal scales keeled; ventral scales of forearm smooth, juxtaposed to subimbricate; palmar scales smooth, flat, subimbricate; digits long with an inflected joint; claws recurved; subdigital lamellae unnotched; subdigital lamellae wide throughout length of digits, bearing a larger scale at digital inflections; interdigital webbing generally absent; fingers increase in length from first to fourth with fifth same length as fourth; hind limbs longer and thicker than forelimbs; dorsal scales keeled, raised, juxtaposed; ventral scales of thigh weakly keeled; subtibials strongly keeled, larger than dorsal tibials; plantar scales smooth, flat, subimbricate; no enlarged submetatarsal scales beneath first metatarsal; digits elongate with an inflected joint; claws recurved; subdigital lamellae unnotched; lamellae wide throughout length of digits except at base where scales are more granular; enlarged scale at digital inflections; interdigital webbing absent; toes increase in length from first to fourth with fourth and fifth nearly equal in length; 24–26 subdigital lamellae on fourth toe; caudal scales arranged in segmented whorls; dorsal, caudal scales low, weakly keeled, juxtaposed anteriorly; moderate, middorsal, caudal furrow; moderate, lateral, caudal furrow; no median row of slightly enlarged, subcaudal scales; four scales per caudal segment; subcaudals keeled; paravertebral, dorsolateral, and lateral rows of large, keeled, caudal tubercles of equal size; caudal tubercles do not encircle tail, present in lateral, caudal furrow; two postcloacal tubercles; tail approximately 1.2% times SVL; anterior 23.9 mm original, remainder regenerated.
Coloration (in alcohol). Dorsal ground color of head, body, limbs and tail light brown; top of head bearing small, brown markings with two dark, diffuse, postorbital stripes; lower postorbital stripe extends onto upper portion of forelimb; upper postorbital stripe wider, incomplete, extending onto occiput and nearly meeting opposing, upper, postorbital stripe; shoulder region dark, enclosing a whitish ocellus composed of large tubercles followed posteriorly by a lightly colored, postscapular marking in turn followed by a series of light markings on flanks which fade posteriorly; five faint, pairs of small, dark, paravertebral markings on trunk between forelimb insertion and base of tail; tubercles on base of tail light-colored, forming rings; limbs generally uniform brown bearing small, randomly arranged, diffuse markings; prominent, dark band on wrist; digits bearing dark bands; all ventral surfaces uniform beige with fine, dark stippling in each scale; throat darker; subcadal region bearing whitish rings.
Variation. Differences in squamation and morphometrics are presented in TABLE 8 View TABLE 8 . The paratypes (THNHM 1338) generally approach the holotype in all aspects of coloration and pattern ( Fig. 19 View FIGURE 19 ). THNHM 1338 is a female and lacks the dark, shoulder patches and yellow to white ocelli; the white, postscapular marking; and the light markings on flanks. The lack of postscapular markings and the markings on the flanks may be due to the extremely faded nature of the color pattern of this specimen or sexual dimorphism. A living, uncataloged female from Hala-Bala, Narathiwat Province ( Fig. 20 View FIGURE 20 ) also lacks a dark shoulder patch enclosing a white ocellus. This indicates that this species is sexually dimorphic for this character. The color pattern of the male (THNHM 12435; Fig. 20 View FIGURE 20 ) is well preserved and bears all the diagnostic characters of the holotype. It also shows an additional white spot on the lower, lateral region of the nape and more prominently displays the white rings in the subcaudal region. Darker banding on the tail is also more prominent.
Distribution. Cnemaspis narathiwatensis sp. nov. is known only from the district of Waeng, Narathiwat Province and Bang Lang National Park, Bannang Sata District, Yala Province, Thailand ( Fig. 1 View FIGURE 1 ).
Natural history. Specimens have been observed at night sheltering in rocky crevices between 200–500 m in elevation (Siriporn Tong-aree, in lit. 2010). This may indicate this species is a diurnal rocky microhabitat specialist.
Etymology. The specific epithet narathiwatensis is named after the Thai Province, Narathiwat in reference to the type locality.
Comparisons. Cnemaspis narathiwatensis sp. nov. is differentiated from all species of Cnemaspis except C. affinis , C. biocellata , C. kumpoli , C. mcguirei , and C. pseudomcguirei in having a black shoulder patch enclosing a white to yellow ocellus. Its smaller maximum SVL (43.2 mm) clearly separates it from the larger C. kumpoli (SVL 63.0 mm) and C. mcguirei (SVL 65.0 mm). It is separated from C. affinis by having, as opposed to lacking, tubercles in the lateral caudal furrow; from C. biocellata by having keeled, as opposed to smooth subtibials and subcaudals; and from C. pseudomcguirei by having pore-bearing, precloacal scales separated into two series as opposed to being continuous. Other differences in squamation and color pattern are scored across all species in TABLES 1 View TABLE 1 and 2 View TABLE 2 .
THNHM 1338 THNHM 1436 THNHM 12435
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