Cyrtodactylus taynguyenensis, Nguyen, Sang Ngoc, Le, Thanh-Ngan Thi, Tran, Thi Anh Dao, Orlov, Nikolai L., Lathrop, Amy, Macculloch, Ross D., Le, Thuy-Duong Thi, Jin, Jie-Qiong, Nguyen, Luan Thanh, Nguyen, Tao Thien, Hoang, Dat Duc & Che, Jing, 2013

Nguyen, Sang Ngoc, Le, Thanh-Ngan Thi, Tran, Thi Anh Dao, Orlov, Nikolai L., Lathrop, Amy, Macculloch, Ross D., Le, Thuy-Duong Thi, Jin, Jie-Qiong, Nguyen, Luan Thanh, Nguyen, Tao Thien, Hoang, Dat Duc & Che, Jing, 2013, Phylogeny of the Cyrtodactylus irregularis species complex (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Vietnam with the description of two new species, Zootaxa 3737 (4), pp. 399-414 : 406-409

Cyrtodactylus taynguyenensis sp. nov.

Holotype ( Fig. 3 ). ROM 32120, an adult male collected on 22 Sept 1997 at Krong Pa Village, K’Bang District, Gia Lai Province, Vietnam ( Fig. 1 ), 14.3413889 N, 108.4794444 E, about 850 m a.s.l. by Robert W. Murphy, Nikolai L. Orlov, Amy Lathrop, Leslie A. Lowcock, and Ho Thu Cuc.

Paratypes ( Fig. 3 ). ROM 32116–32119 and 32121–32122, 3 female and 4 male adults; ROM 32124 subadult male; collected on 19–25 Sept. 1997. Other data are the same as for the holotype.

Diagnosis. Size medium, snout-vent length (SVL) 60–85 mm; body moderately robust; tail longer than SVL, subcaudals small, not transversely enlarged; enlarged femoral scales absent; males with six preanal pores arranged in “Λ” formation; upper labials 8–9; lower labials 8–9; narrow subdigital lamellae on fourth toe 17–21, ventral scales 42–49.

Description of holotype. Adult male, SVL 71 mm. Head relatively depressed (HeadH/HeadW ratio 0.61), distinct from neck. Row of 9 upper labials continuous with row of small scales extending to corner of mouth, first five larger than others. Lower labials 9, anterior five larger than others. Rostral large, with an inverted Y-shaped groove along the vertical midline, in contact with nostril. Mental nearly triangular, posteriorly in contact with two large postmentals. Throat scales adjacent to lower labials and postmentals larger than other throat scales. Head scales small, granular, with scattered tubercles in occipital and temporal areas. Supraciliary scales large. Ear opening oval, obliquely oriented, much smaller than eyes (mean EarL/OrbD ratio 0.29).

Body elongate (TrunkL/SVL ratio 0.43), ventrolateral folds unclear. Dorsal scales small, granular, not homogeneous. Dorsal and lateral tubercles round, conical, keeled, not in rows. Ventral scales fairly large, smooth, flattened, juxtaposed, round to hexagonal. Midbody transverse ventral scale rows 45.

Dorsal surface of limbs with granular scales and strongly keeled conical tubercles. Basal subdigital lamellae narrow, irregular, largest at joints of digits. Distal subdigital lamellae narrow, SDLP4 20 and SDL4A 17. Digits unwebbed. Preanal scales large, flattened and imbricate; about 15 scales, larger than surrounding scales. Six preanal pores arranged as Λ-shaped. Enlarged femoral scales and preanal groove absent. Tail round in crosssection, longer than SVL (TL/SVL ratio 1.32). Subcaudals small, not transversely enlarged, but size greater than lateral and dorsal caudal scales. Dorsum of proximal tail with enlarged conical tubercles. Postanal region strongly swollen, with two lateral tubercles.

Color in life ( Fig. 4 ). Dorsum light brown with black irregular blotches bordered by light brown edges. Dorsal and lateral tubercles at the edge of the blotches yellow to white. Head brown with dark brown blotches, a U-shaped dark brown nuchal band is continuous from eye to eye. Eyelids yellowish brown to yellow. Iris brown with black vertical pupil. Labial scale series covered in yellow blotches. Original tail creamy-white with 10 black transverse bands.

Color and pattern in preservative. The color was slightly faded but the pattern is unchanged. Dorsum brown with dark brown blotches. The light edges around blotches absent in preservative. The mid-dorsal pattern of irregular blotches, tending to form stripes along body. On the right side of midline, the blotches are in contact forming a dark dorsal line. Top of head with dark brown blotches that are less distinct on the snout. Labials and tubercles that were yellow are white in preservative. Loreal area darker brown. Throat, venter and ventral surfaces of limbs cream-colored.

Variation. Table 3 summarizes variation in size and squamation. There is considerable variation in the dorsal pattern from a random assortment of small blotches (ROM 32116) to distinct dark transverse bands extending partially on to the flanks (ROM 32118 and ROM 32124). In between these two extremes are ROM 32117 and ROM 32119 with less distinct, irregular transverse bars and ROM 32119 and ROM 32121 with blotches arranged in a longitudinal series, similar to the holotype ( Fig. 3 ). The nuchal dark bar is interrupted in two of the paratypes (ROM 32118, 32121), and complete in the others. Original tails are banded with 8–11 transverse bands, ROM 32118 had one band interrupted along the dorsal midline. Regenerated tails of paratypes (ROM 32119 and 32124) are uniformly brown with no bands.

Comparison. The Cyrtodactylus irregularis species complex differs from all other Southeast Asian Cyrtodactylus by the following combination of characters: dorsal color pattern irregular, subcaudal scales small, 4– 8 preanal pores, and femoral scales, if present, isolated from preanal scales (Smith 1921, 1935; David et al. 2004; Heidrich et al. 2007; Nazarov et al. 2008, 2012; Ngo & Bauer 2008; Rösler et al. 2008; Geissler et al. 2009).

Within the irregularis group, Cyrtodactylus taynguyenensis sp. nov. can be distinguished by the following characters. Cyrtodactylus taynguyenensis sp. nov. clearly differs from C. bidoupimontis , C. bugiamapensis , C. cattienensis , C. huynhi , C. irregularis , and C. ziegleri by the absence of enlarged femoral scales. The new species differs from C. cryptus by having a smaller number of preanal pores (6 vs. 9–11) as well as dorsal pattern (blotched vs. 35 dark transverse bands with yellow margins and dark spots), and differs from C. pseudoquadrivirgatus by the absence of preanal pores in females (versus minute pores; Rösler et al. 2008: 53). Cyrtodactylus taynguyenensis sp. nov. differs from C. buchardi by a higher number of ventral scale rows (42–49 vs. 30), higher number of subdigital lamellae under fourth toe (17–21 vs. 12), ratio of tail length to snout-vent length (longer vs. shorter), and shape of nuchal band (reaching vs. not reaching the posterior margin of the eyes).

Etymology. The specific epithet taynguyenensis refers to the Vietnamese name for the Central Highlands, Tây Nguyên, where the new species was discovered.

Habitat description. Geckos were observed in the vicinity of Krong Pa village at elevations ranging from about 700 to 900 m a.s.l. All geckos were found at night on the surface of rocks or on large tree trunks near streams or dry riverbeds. Most of the area immediately surrounding the village consists of coffee and dry rice plantations.

Cyrtodactylus taynguyenensis sp. nov. mainly occurs in mature rainforest having a closed canopy and multilevel structure involving five tiers as follows:

Upper crown layer is formed by trees from the families Dipterocarpaceae, Leguminosae , Moraceae , and others attaining a height of 40–50 m and more. Few trees attain this level and their crowns are usually not closed but rather significantly raised above the main canopy;

Dominant crown consists of trees more than 20 m in height. The canopy is completely closed and is almost impenetrable to sunlight. This speciose layer is composed mainly of plants of families Caesalpiniaceae , Mimosaceae , Papilionaceae , Sapindaceae , Meliaceae , Magnoliaceae , among others.

Undercrown layer consists of trees of 8–15 m tall that do not form a closed canopy. These plants occur in the Clusiaceae , Ulmaceae , Miristicaceae, Annonaceae , Flacourtiaceae as well as young trees of the first two tiers are also included into this layer, among others.

Bush layer is formed by trees and shrubs of 2–8 m in height. They can form small assemblies, but more often they are solitary. Dominant representatives species occur in the Rubiaceae , Apocynaceae , Rutaceae , Araliaceae , Euphorbiaceae, Palmae , and Scitaminaceae.

Fern-tree and grass layer rises up to about 2 m. It is comprised of species in the Filicalles, Acanthaceae , Araceae , Zinziberaceae, Liliaceae , and others.

In pristine areas, a powerful network of vines binds all tiers together. These vines often reach a diameter of 30 cm. Epiphytes, including orchids and ferns, are abundant. Herbaceous vegetation is sparse. Leaf litter covers large areas of soil free of vegetation.

Distribution. Cyrtodactylus taynguyenensis sp. nov. is known only from the vicinity of Krong Pa Village, K’ Bang District, Gia Lai Province, Vietnam.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Sampling locations of the Cyrtodactylus irregularis species complex. Black and white circles represent samples from type and paratype locality, respectively, of corresponding species. White triangles represent undescribed taxa. Locality details are in Table 1. The insert is a map of Indochina and South China with a rectangle indicating the study area.

FIGURE 3. Type series of Cyrtodactylus taynguyenensis sp. nov.

FIGURE 4. Cyrtodactylus taynguyenensis sp. nov. in life, day-color (individual not preserved).

Tables

TABLE 3. Measurements (in mm) and pholidosis of the types series of Cyrtodactylus taynguyenensis sp. nov. Paratypes ROM 32119 and 32124 have regenerated tails. See Materials and Methods for abbreviations. Missing data for SLB owes to damage from extracting liver tissues. Min-max (mean ± S. D.) in measurement for adults only.

Character	ROM 32116 Paratype	ROM 32117 Paratype	ROM 32118 Paratype	ROM 32119 Paratype	ROM 32120 Holotype	ROM 32121 Paratype	ROM 32122 Paratype	ROM 32124 Paratype	min-max (mean±S.D.)
Sex	Female	Male	Male	Male	Male	Female	Female	Submale
SVL	85	60	69	70	71	65.4	72	52.8	60–85 (70.3±7.7)
TL	92	66	67	-	94	70	77	-	66–94 (77.7±12.5)
HeadL	23.3	16.6	19.2	17.5	18.4	18.3	20	14.9	16.6–23.3 (19±2.2)
HeadW	15.9	10.8	12.5	13.4	13.7	11.3	13.2	10.3	10.8–15.9 (13±1.7)
HeadH	8.6	4.5	7	8.2	8.3	6.7	8.4	6.22	4.5–8.6 (7.4±1.5)
OrbD	4.8	3	4.5	4.1	4.2	4.1	4.5	3.4	3–4.8 (4.2±0.6)
SnEye	9.1	5.4	7.6	7.3	7.6	7.5	8.6	6.4	5.4–9.1 (7.6±1.1)
EyeEar	7.1	4.6	5.9	6.2	6.3	5.6	6.7	4.8	4.6–7.1 (6.1±0.8)
EarL	1.9	0.8	1.7	1.4	1.2	1.7	1.94	1.3	0.8–1.94 (1.5±0.4)
TrunkL	39.7	24.4	29.8	29.8	30.7	30.3	35.25	25.3	24.4–39.7 (31.4±4.8)
ForeL	12.3	9.1	9.6	11.9	11.8	10.2	11.6	7.8	9.1–12.3 (10.9±1.3)
FemurL	17.1	12.5	11.8	14.4	14.6	13.1	15.01	10.4	11.8–17.1 (14.1±1.8)
CrusL	15.5	10.1	11.4	13.3	13.8	11.9	14.9	9.5	10.1–15.5 (13±1.9)
LF4	7.8	5.2	4.7	6.2	6.5	5.6	6.3	5.4	4.7–7.8 (6.0±1.0)
LT4	9.0	5.9	7.5	9.3	9.4	7.4	7.6	6.2	5.9–9.4 (8.0±1.3)
V	46	42	46	43	45	49	46	-	42–49 (45.3±2.3)
SLB	-	-	-	225	230	-	-	-	–
SL	9	8	8	8	9	8	9	-	8–9 (8.4±0.5)
IL	9	8	8	8	9	8	8	-	8–9 (8.3±0.5)
PP	0	6	6	6	6	0	0	6	6
EFS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
FP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
SDL4A	5+12	6+8	5+8	7+11	5+12	6+12	5+11	6+11	13–18 (16.3±1.8)
SDL4P	6+13	7+12	8+9	6+15	6+14	7+12	5+12	6+12	17–21 (18.6±1.4)
TubL	not in rows	not in rows	not in rows	not in rows	not in rows	not in rows	not in rows	not in rows
TubW	not in rows	not in rows	not in rows	not in rows	not in rows	not in rows	not in rows	not in rows