Cnemaspis amba, Khandekar & Thackeray & Agarwal, 2019
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4656.1.2 |
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publication LSID |
lsid:zoobank.org:pub:23E2B306-B51A-4323-8628-B7DF5C64575F |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/061BFD2D-8463-4B35-96C0-F00C244BFD9F |
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taxon LSID |
lsid:zoobank.org:act:061BFD2D-8463-4B35-96C0-F00C244BFD9F |
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treatment provided by |
Plazi |
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scientific name |
Cnemaspis amba |
| status |
sp. nov. |
Cnemaspis amba sp. nov.
Figs. 6 C&D View FIGURE 6 , 7–10 View FIGURE 7 View FIGURE 8 View FIGURE 9 View FIGURE 10 ; Table 5 & 6.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:061BFD2D-8463-4B35-96C0-F00C244BFD9F
Holotype. NCBS-BH690 ( VG 0407 ), SVL 33.1 mm, adult male; collected near Kokan Darshan Point , Manoli village , near Amba (16.928° N 73.796° E; ca. 820 m asl.), Kolhapur District , Maharashtra, India, by Akshay Khandekar and Abhilash Kadam, on 27 March 2018. GoogleMaps
Paratypes. BNHS 2542 View Materials ( VG 0409 ) , SVL 29.3 mm, adult male; NCBS-BH691 ( VG 0408 ) , SVL 32.7 mm, adult female; same collection data as holotype GoogleMaps , BNHS 2543 View Materials (AK 581) , SVL 31.6 mm, BNHS 2544 View Materials (AK 582) , SVL 30.7 mm, adult females; same location data as holotype, collected by Swapnil Pawar and Tejas Thackeray, on 12 September 2018 .
Etymology. The specific epithet is a toponym for Amba in Kolhapur District of Maharashtra, the type and only known locality for this species.
Suggested Common Name. Amba dwarf gecko
Diagnosis and comparison with Indian congeners: A small-sized Cnemaspis , SVL less than 34.0 mm (n =5). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous, weakly keeled, granular scales intermixed with large, strongly keeled, conical tubercles, 11–14 longitudinal rows, 17–22 tubercles in paravertebral rows; spine-like scales absent on flanks; ventral scales on belly smooth, subimbricate, 22–24 scales across the mid-body; 141–149 longitudinal scales between mental to anterior border of cloaca; subdigital scansors smooth, entire, unnotched; lamellae under fourth digit of pes 18–20; males with two or three femoral pores on each thigh, separated by 24–26 poreless scales; dorsal side of tail with enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles forming whorls; subcaudals smooth, not enlarged.
Cnemaspis amba sp. nov. can be distinguished from all other Indian congeners on the basis of the following differing or non-overlapping characters: spine-like scales absent on flanks (versus present on flanks in C. amboliensis , C. assamensis , C. flaviventralis , C. goaensis , C. jerdonii , C. koynaensis sp. nov. C. littoralis , C. monticola , C. mysoriensis and C. nilagirica ); scales on dorsal aspect of trunk heterogeneous (versus homogeneous in C. adii , C. assamensis , C. australis , C. boiei , C. indica , C. jerdonii , C. kolhapurensis , C. littoralis , C. mysoriensis , C. nilagirica and C. sisparensis ); original tail with smooth imbricate median row of unenlarged subcaudals (versus smooth enlarged median row of subcaudals in C. adii , C. agarwali , C. boiei , C. goaensis , C. gracilis , C. heteropholis , C. indica , C. jerdonii , C. kolhapurensis , C. nairi , C. nilagirica , C. ornata , C. shevaroyensis , C. sisparensis , C. thackerayi , and C. wynadensis ; C. amboliensis , C. australis , and C. goaensis with keeled subcaudals); absence of keeled scales on the venter or gular regions (versus keeled scales on the venter or gular region in C. australis , C. monticola and C. nilagirica ); males lacking precloacal pores and having two or three femoral pores on each side, separated by 24–26 poreless scales (versus only precloacal pores present in C. anamudiensis , C. beddomei , C. maculicollis , C. nairi , C. ornata ; males with both femoral and precloacal pores in C. adii , C. agarwali , C. amboliensis , C. australis , C. goaensis ; C. gracilis , C. mysoriensis , C. otai , C. shevaroyensis , C. thackerayi , C. yercaudensis ; and males with a continuous series of 26–28 precloacal-femoral pores in C. kolhapurensis ; males without femoral and precloacal pores in C. assamensis ; males with four femoral pores in C. girii , eight in C. jerdonii , six in C. heteropholis , four or five in C. kottiyoorensis , and C. limayei , 14–18 in C. littoralis , seven or eight in C. sisparensis , 4–6 in C. wynadensis .
C. amba sp. nov. morphologically similar to C. ajijae , C. girii , and C. mahabali ; from which it can be distinguished by having 22–24 ventral scales across the mid-body (versus 29–30 in C. ajijae ; 26–28 in C. girii ; 26–27 in C. mahabali ); by having 141–149 longitudinal ventral scales (versus 131–134 in C. ajijae ; 133–139 in C. girii ; 121–125 in C. mahabali ); presence of enlarged tubercle row on lower flanks (versus enlarged tubercle row absent on lower flanks in C. ajijae , C. girii , and C. mahabali ). Additionally, C. amba sp. nov. is 19.3 % divergent from C. ajijae ; 11.3 % divergent from C. girii and 11.0 % divergent from C. mahabali in uncorrected pairwise ND2 sequence divergence ( Table 2 View TABLE 2 ).
Description of the holotype. Adult male in good state of preservation except for a 2.5 mm long incision in the ventral side of the mid-body for liver tissue sample ( Fig. 7 View FIGURE 7 ). SVL 33.1 mm, head short (HL/ SVL 0.25), wide ( HW / HL 0.63), not strongly depressed ( HD /HL 0.40), distinct from neck. Loreal region slightly inflated, canthus rostralis not prominent. Snout half of head length ( ES /HL 0.49), longer than eye diameter ( ED / ES 0.38); scales on snout and canthus rostralis large, weakly keeled, juxtaposed; larger than those on forehead and interorbital region; occipital and temporal region with much smaller granules, intermixed with larger, roughly rounded, tubercles ( Fig. 8A View FIGURE 8 ). Eye small ( ED /HL 0.18); with round pupil; orbit with extra-brillar fringe scales that are largest anteriorly; supraciliaries not elongate. Ear-opening deep, vertical, small ( EL /HL 0.05); eye to ear distance greater than diameter of eye ( EE / ED 1.81) ( Fig. 8C View FIGURE 8 ). Rostral much wider (1.5 mm) than long (0.6 mm), incompletely divided dorsally by a strongly developed rostral groove for more than half of its length; single enlarged supranasal on each side, roughly similar in size to postnasals, separated from each other by marginally smaller single internasal and a two much smaller scales on the snout; rostral in contact with first supralabial, nasal, supranasal and internasal; nostrils oval, each surrounded by postnasals, supranasal, rostral and first supralabial; two row of scales separate the orbit from the supralabials ( Fig. 8C View FIGURE 8 ). Mental enlarged, subtriangular, slightly wider (1.7 mm) than long (1.4 mm); two pairs of postmentals, first pair large, roughly rectangular, a single enlarged gular scale prevents contact of left and right first postmentals, bordered by mental, first infralabial, second postmentals and two enlarged chin scales; second postmentals slightly smaller than first postmentals, bordered by first and second infralabials, first postmentals and four enlarged chin scales; three enlarged gular scale prevents contact of left and right second postmentals; chin scales bordering postmentals juxtaposed and flattened, smooth, smaller than second postmentals, rest granular, much smaller, smooth; Infralabials bordered below by a row of slightly enlarged scales, decreasing in size posteriorly ( Fig. 8B View FIGURE 8 ). Supralabials to angle of jaw nine (on left) and seven (on right), and seven (on left) and five (on right) at midorbit; first supralabial largest, decreasing in size posteriorly; eight infralabials to angle of jaw on each side, and six (on left) and five (on right) at mid-orbit position; first infralabial largest, decreasing in size posteriorly ( Fig. 8C View FIGURE 8 ). Extra-brillar fringe scales 14–16 on each side, interorbital scale rows across narrowest point of frontal eight; 27–29 scale rows between left and right supraciliaries at mid-orbit ( Fig 8A View FIGURE 8 ).
Body relatively slender( BW / SVL 0.19), trunk less than half of SVL ( AGL / SVL 0.39) without ventrolateral folds and spine-like scales on lower flank. Dorsal scales on trunk heterogeneous, weakly keeled, granular scales intermixed with much larger, strongly keeled, conical tubercles. Tubercles in approximately 12 longitudinal rows at mid-body; 20 tubercles in paravertebral row from above forelimb insertion to the hind limb insertion; scales on nape slightly smaller than those on paravertebral rows, smaller still on occiput. Ventral scales slightly larger than granular scales on dorsum, those on belly smooth, subimbricate, slightly rounded, subequal from chest to vent; ventral scale rows across mid-body 22; 145 scales from mental to anterior border of cloacal opening; scales on pectoral region slightly smaller than those on belly, flat and subimbricate, smaller still on throat; gular region with much smaller, flattened granules with those on chin bordering postmentals, enlarged, juxtaposed and flattened ( Fig. 6D View FIGURE 6 & 8B View FIGURE 8 ). Precloacal pores absent, three femoral pores on left and two on right side separated by 24 poreless scales ( Fig. 8D View FIGURE 8 ).
Scales on palm and sole, smooth, flat and roughly circular; scales on dorsal aspect of manus and pes heterogenous, upper arm slightly larger than those on dorsum, strongly keeled and subimbricate; those near forelimb insertion, much smaller, granular, weakly keeled; scales on dorsal aspect of forearm smaller than those on upper arm, weakly keeled, flat and roughly rounded; scales on elbow weakly keeled, subimbricate and similar in size to those on upper arm; dorsal aspect of hand predominantly bearing small, flattened, weakly keeled and imbricate scales. Ventral aspect of upper arm with smooth, subimbricate scales; forearm and wrist with larger, weakly keeled, subimbricate scales. Scales on dorsal aspect of thigh larger than those on mid-body dorsum, strongly keeled, imbricate except those near hind-limb insertion which are much smaller, weakly keeled and subimbricate. Scales on dorsal side of knee and shank slightly smaller than those on dorsum of thigh, weakly keeled, subimbricate; dorsal side of foot predominantly bearing flattened, strongly keeled, imbricate scales; scales on ventral aspect of thigh and shank similar in size of mid-body ventral scales, smooth and subimbricate. ( Fig. 7 A&B View FIGURE 7 ). Forelimbs and hind-limbs moderately slender, long ( LAL / SVL 0.14), (CL/ SVL 0.17); digits long, with a strong slightly recurved claws, distinctly inflected, distal portions laterally compressed conspicuously. Series of unpaired subdigital lamellae on basal portion of digits, separated from narrower distal subdigital lamellae at first interphalangeal joint; proximal lamellae series: 2–4–5–5–4 (right manus; Fig. 8E View FIGURE 8 ), 2–4–5–6–4 (right pes; Fig. 8F View FIGURE 8 ), 2–4–5–5–4 (left manus), 2–4–5–6–3(left pes); distal lamellae series: 8– 9–12–13–10 (right manus; Fig. 8E View FIGURE 8 ), 9–10–12–13 –12 (right pes; Fig. 8F View FIGURE 8 ), 8– 9–12–13–10 (left manus), 9–10–12–12 –13 (left pes). Relative length of digits (measurements in mm in parentheses): IV (3.3)> III (3.1)> II (2.9)> V (2.8)> I (2.0) (left manus); IV (4.3)> V (3.8)> III (3.7)> II (3.2)> I (1.8) (left pes).
Tail almost entire except the tip, which is missing, cylindrical, relatively slender, flattened beneath, base distinctly swollen when viewed ventrally, total tail length 29.3 mm ( Fig. 7 C&D View FIGURE 7 ). Dorsal scales at tail base granular, weakly keeled, similar in size and shape to those on mid-body dorsum, gradually becoming larger, flatter, pointed, subimbricate posteriorly, intermixed with slightly enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles forming whorls; 6–9 tubercles on first 2–5 whorls. Scales on ventral aspect roughly twice the size to those on dorsal, imbricate, smooth, without a series of enlarged sub-caudal scales; those on tail base slightly smaller, imbricate and smooth, a single enlarged, keeled, postcloacal spur on each side ( Fig. 8D View FIGURE 8 ).
Colouration in life. ( Fig. 10A View FIGURE 10 ) Dorsal ground colour of head, body, limbs and tail dull brown-grey; head with scattered darker brown markings, brille dull orange pupil black, iris golden-red. Radiating line from orbit forming an indistinct preorbital streak on snout; dull orange and dark grey alternating bands on labials; two indistinct brown postorbital streaks, the upper merging with its counterpart from the other orbit to form an indistinct zig-zag band on occiput, small orange spots on occiput and temporal region. A single large central black ocellus outlined by lighter tubercles on nape. Dorsum with three light vertebral blotches outlined anteriorly by brown markings between limb insertions; smaller orange and yellow spots on rest of dorsum and flank; four indistinct, small orange-yellow blotches on flank in a straight line; spines on the lower flank yellow. Dorsum of limbs with light orange spots and indistinct brown bands, digits with alternating dark and orange bands; dorsum of original portion of tail with orange tubercles and indistinct brown bands, regenerated portion grey. Ventral surfaces off-white, mottled with brown on gular region, belly, under limbs and tail base, no dark markings on underside of tail; postcloacal spur and spines on the lateral aspect of the tail close to the cloaca light orange.
TABLE 5. Mensural (in mm) data for the type series of Cnemaspis amba sp. nov. Abbreviations are listed in Materials and Methods. * = tail incomplete.
Cnemaspis amba sp. nov.
Variation and additional information from type series. Mensural data for the type series is given in Table 5. There are three females and one male specimens ranging in size from 29.3 mm to 32.7 mm. All paratypes resemble the holotype except as follows: the number of lamellae on digit I of the manus ranges from 10 or 11 and on digit IV from 15–18; on digit I of the pes ranges from 11, on digit IV from 18–20 and on digit V from 15–18. NCBS-BH 691, BNHS 2542 View Materials and BNHS 2544 View Materials with nine and BNHS 2543 View Materials with eight supralabials on either side up to angle of jaw; NCBS-BH691 and NCBS-BH642 with six and BNHS 2543 View Materials with seven supralabials on either side up to midorbit, and BNHS 2544 View Materials has seven supralabials on left and eight on right up to midorbit; BNHS 2542 View Materials and BNHS 2544 View Materials with eight infralabials on either side up to angle of jaw, and NCBS-BH691 has seven infralabials on left and eight on right side whereas BNHS 2543 View Materials with eight infralabials on left and seven on right side up to angle of jaw. NCBS- BH691 and BNHS 2542 View Materials have 20 tubercles in paravertebral rows, and NCBS-BH643 and BNHS 2544 View Materials have 22 and 17 tubercles in paravertebral rows respectively; NCBS-BH691 and BNHS 2544 View Materials have 12 rows of dorsal tubercles and BNHS 2542 View Materials , and BNHS 2543 View Materials have 11 and 14 rows of dorsal tubercles respectively. Ventral scale counts in longitudinal and transverse series vary from 141 in NCBS-BH691 to 149 in BNHS 2542 View Materials , and 22 in BNHS 2542 View Materials to 24 in NCBS-BH691 and BNHS 2543 View Materials respectively. Male paratype, NCBS-BH671 has three femoral pores on each thigh and 26 poreless scales between them. Three paratypes—NCBS-BH691, BNHS 2542 View Materials and BNHS 2544 View Materials with incomplete tail; BNHS 2544 View Materials with complete tail, slightly longer than body (TL/ SVL 1.13 ) .
Distribution and natural history. Cnemaspis amba sp. nov. is so far known only from the type locality (Kokan Darshan Point, Manoli village, Amba) at an elevation of ca. 820 m asl. (Fig. 1). This species was encountered during a few hours of fieldwork along a perennial stream in daytime (1500h) on moss-covered rocks and trees below ~ 2 m height. In late-March, the male holotype ( NCBS-BH 690) and a female paratype ( NCBS-BH 691) were collected from inside two adjoining crevices on a laterite rock. Some crevices in the area also contained a few hatched and unhatched Cnemaspis eggs. On a subsequent visit to the same locality in mid-monsoon, we observed that the crevices in the rocks were filled with rain water and occupied by terrestrial crabs ( Ghatiana sp.), and individuals of Cnemaspis amba sp. nov. were predominantly on moss covered tree trunks. Sympatric lizards at the type locality include Hemidactylus frenatus , Hemidactylus sp., Cyrtodactylus (Geckoella) deccanensis (Günther) , Eutropis carinata , E. macularia , Lygosoma punctata , Monilesaurus rouxii , and Calotes versicolor .
Miscellaneous notes on NWG Cnemaspis . The GPS coordinates for the type localities of Cnemaspis ajijae , C. limayei and C. mahabali ( Sayyed et al. 2018) do not match the given localities and elevation. The corrected coordinates for the three species are as follows ( AS, pers. comm.): C. ajijae (17.9263°N, 73.6566°E), C. limayei (16.3678°N, 73.8044°E) and C. mahabali (18.4582°N, 73.393°E).
TABLE 5. Mensural (in mm) data for the type series of Cnemaspis amba sp. nov. Abbreviations are listed in Materials and Methods. * = tail incomplete. Cnemaspis amba sp. nov.
| Holotype | Paratypes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specimen No. | NCBS-BH690 | NCBS-BH691 | BNHS 2542 | BNHS 2543 | BNHS 2544 |
| Sex | M | F | M | F | F |
| SVL | 33.1 | 32.7 | 29.3 | 31.6 | 30.7 |
| TL | 29.3* | 6.4* | 2.7* | 35.9 | 3.7* |
| TW | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 3 |
| LAL | 4.9 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| CL | 5.7 | 5.4 | 5.3 | 5.5 | 5.5 |
| AGL | 13 | 14.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 13.2 |
| BH | 3 | 3.4 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 3.7 |
| BW | 6.6 | 6.9 | 5.3 | 6.1 | 6.3 |
| HL | 8.5 | 7.8 | 8.1 | 7.4 | 7.3 |
| HW | 5.4 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 5.1 | 4.9 |
| HD | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 3.3 |
| ED | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1.5 |
| EE | 2.9 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.4 |
| ES | 4.2 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 3.5 |
| EN | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 2.6 | 2.7 |
| IN | 0.9 | 1 | 1 | 0.8 | 0.9 |
| IO | 2.5 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 1.6 | 2.2 |
| EL | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
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