Cnemaspis pemanggilensis Grismer & Das, 2006

Grismer, Lee, Wood, Perry L., Anuar, Shahrul, Riyanto, Awal, Ahmad, Norhayati, Muin, Mohd A., Sumontha, Montri, Grismer, Jesse L., Onn, Chan Kin, Quah, Evan S. H. & Pauwels, Olivier S. A., 2014, Systematics and natural history of Southeast Asian Rock Geckos (genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887) with descriptions of eight new species from Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, Zootaxa 3880 (1), pp. 1-147 : 111-112

Cnemaspis pemanggilensis Grismer & Das, 2006

Pemanggil Island Rock Gecko

Fig. 57

Holotype. ZRC 2.6043 . Type locality: “ Batu Buau , a small rocky hill behind Kampung Buau on the west side of Pulau Pemanggil, Johor, West Malaysia ” (02°34.44 N, 104°19.53 E) at 100 m in elevation.

Diagnosis. Maximum SVL 76.0 mm; 10–13 supralabials; 8–10 infralabials; keeled ventral scales; no precloacal pores; 30–37 paravertebral tubercles; body tubercles randomly arranged, weak to absent on flanks, absent from lateral caudal furrows; ventrolateral row of caudal tubercles present anteriorly; lateral row of caudal tubercles present; caudal tubercles encircle tail; subcaudals keeled, bearing an enlarged median row of keeled scales; one or two postcloacal tubercles on each side of tail base; no enlarged femoral or subtibial scales; distal submetatarsal scales of fourth toe enlarged; subtibials keeled; 27–34 subdigital fourth toe lamellae; small, yellow spots on flanks (Tables 6,7).

Color pattern in life ( Fig. 57 ). Ground color of head, body, limbs, and tail grey; dark, bifurcating, medial stripe on snout; single, dark, preorbital stripe; three dark, postorbital stripes with dorsalmost extending onto nape and forming a tripartite band; middle stripe extends onto nape forming a second tripartite band posterior to and larger than the first; ventralmost stripe extends onto upper portions of forelimb insertions; dark, transversely arranged spots extend from nape to base of tail; distinctive, yellowish spots occur on flanks invading lateral portions of abdominal region; weak, banding pattern on limbs; dark, diffuse banding on anterior portion of tail; ventral surfaces beige bearing dark and light spots. During the day, the dorsal ground color is nearly solid black with virtually no discernable pattern. At night, the dorsal ground color changes to light grey which greatly accentuates a prominent series of dark, transverse, body bands and head stripes.

Distribution. Cnemaspis pemanggilensis is known only from the island of Pemanggil ( Grismer & Das 2006; Grismer et al. 2006; Grismer 2011b; Fig. 4 ).

Natural history. The habitat on Pulau Pemanggil is severely degraded and has no discernable primary forest ( Youmans et al. 2002). Nonetheless, the cave-like systems formed by the piling up of large, granite boulders ( Fig. 57 ) on top of one another maintain the microhabitats and refugia necessary to support a dense population of Cnemaspis pemanggilensis ( Grismer & Das 2006) . According to Grismer (2011a), lizards are found in nearly every cave system at all elevations from sea level to 250 meters. During the day, lizards remain inside the caves on all vertical and inverted surfaces where they are extremely wary and rapidly move into deep crevices and cracks at the slightest provocation. At night, however, lizards will venture out along the cave openings and on large boulders immediately outside the caves and become much more approachable.

Relationships. Cnemaspis pemanggilensis is the sister species to C. kendallii (Figs. 2,5).

Material examined. West Malaysia: Johor, Pulau Pemanggil ZRC 2.6043 – 51 (type series). Material examined since Grismer & Das (2006): West Malaysia: Johor, Pulau Pemanggil LSUHC 4458 , 4460 , 4464 , 4476 , 4495 , 8011–16 .

Figures

FIGURE 4. Distribution of the species in the Pattani and Southern Sunda clades. Stars indicate type localities.

FIGURE 57. Upper: adult male Cnemaspis pemanggilensis (LSUDPC 2578) from Pulau Pemanggil, Johor, Peninsular Malaysia in the dark color pattern phase. Lower: habitat on Pulau Pemanggil. Photographs by LLG.