Cyrtodactylus bobrovi, Nguyen, Truong Quang, Le, Minh Duc, Pham, Anh Van, Ngo, Hai Ngoc, Hoang, Chung Van, Pham, Cuong The & Ziegler, Thomas, 2015

Nguyen, Truong Quang, Le, Minh Duc, Pham, Anh Van, Ngo, Hai Ngoc, Hoang, Chung Van, Pham, Cuong The & Ziegler, Thomas, 2015, Two new species of Cyrtodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the karst forest of Hoa Binh Province, Vietnam, Zootaxa 3985 (3), pp. 375-390 : 385-387

Cyrtodactylus bobrovi sp. nov.

( Figs. 3 , 4 )

Holotype. IEBR A.2015.29 (HVC 2014.1), adult male, collected on 21 May 2014 by C. V. Hoang, in karst forest near Hau 3 Village (20o25.034’N, 105o23.107’E, elevation 440 m a.s.l.), Ngoc Lau Commune, within Ngoc Son— Ngo Luong NR, Lac Son District, Hoa Binh Province, northwestern Vietnam.

Paratypes. VNMN A.2015.61 (HVC 2014.2), adult male, the same data as the holotype; IEBR A.2015.30 (HB.2014.96), adult female, collected on 19 April 2014 by C. T. Pham and H. N. Ngo, in karst forest near Khu Village (20o27.838’N, 105o18.423’E, elevation 618 m a.s.l.), Ngoc Son Commune; VFM 2015.1 (HB 2014.203), adult female, collected on 9 October 2014 by T.Q. Nguyen and C. T. Pham in karst forest near Cho Village (20o25.070’N, 105o19.060’E, elevation 195 m a.s.l.), Tu Do Commune, within Ngoc Son—Ngo Luong NR, Lac Son District Hoa Binh Province, northwestern Vietnam.

Diagnosis. The new species differs from other members of the genus Cyrtodactylus from Indochina by a combination of the following characters: medium size (SVL up to 96.4 mm); ciliaria 33–37, dorsal tubercles in 12– 14 irregular rows; 40–45 ventral scale rows; ventrolateral folds indistinct without interspersed tubercles; precloacal pores absent in females, 5 in males, in a continuous row; enlarged femoral scales absent; 1–3 postcloacal tubercles; subcaudals slightly enlarged; lamellae under toe IV 21 or 22; head and neck with dark blotches; nuchal loop discontinuous; five or six dorsal brown bands between limb insertions.

Description of holotype. Adult male, snout-vent length (SVL) 77.6 mm; body slender, elongate (AG/SVL 0.38); head distinctly distinguished from neck, elongate, depressed (HL/SVL 0.28, HW/HL 0.66, HH/HL 0.41); loreal region concave; snout long (SE/HL 0.42), round anteriorly, longer than diameter of orbit (OD/SE 0.64); snout scales small, round, granular, larger than those on frontal and parietal regions; eye large (OD/HL 0.27), pupils vertical; upper eyelid fringe with spinuous scales; ear oval-shaped, small (ED/HL 0.06); rostral wider than high with a short medial suture, bordered by first supralabial, nostril and supranasal on each side; supranasals in contact medially; nares round, surrounded by supranasal, rostral, first supralabial, and three postnasals; mental triangular, as wide as rostral (RW 3.2 mm, MW 3.1 mm); postmentals two, enlarged, in broad contact posteriorly, bordered by mental anteriorly, first infralabial laterally, and an enlarged chin scale posteriorly; supralabials 11/10; infralabials 10/10.

Dorsal scales granular; dorsal tubercles round, conical, present on occipital region and back, each surrounded by 8–9 granular scales, in 12 or 13 irregular longitudinal rows at midbody; ventral scales smooth, medial scales 2 or 3 times larger than dorsal scales, round, subimbricate, largest posteriorly, in 41 or 42 longitudinal rows at midbody; lateral skin folds indistinct without tubercles; gular region with homogeneous smooth scales; 212 ventral scales between mental and cloacal slit; precloacal groove absent; enlarged femoral scales absent; two rows of enlarged scales present in posterior region of pore-beared scales; femoral pores absent, precloacal pores 5, in a continuous row, pore-bearing scales enlarged.

Fore and hind limbs moderately slender (ForeaL/SVL 0.17, CrusL/SVL 0.20); forelimbs dorsally covered by few slightly developed tubercles; hindlimb dorsally covered by distinctly developed tubercles; fingers and toes without distinct webbing; each claw bordered by two scales; subdigital lamellae: finger I 14 (with 4 basally broadened lamellae), finger II 17 (5), finger III 20 (6), finger IV 20 (6), finger V 19 (6), toe I 14 (4), toe II 18 (6), toe III 19 (6), toe IV 22 (8), toe V 23 (7).

Tail regenerated (TaL 56.8 mm); postcloacal tubercles 2/3; dorsal surface of tail base bearing distinct tubercles.

Coloration in preservative. Ground color of dorsal head and back greyish brown; a narrow brown band present in snout region; dorsal head with dark brown marking; a dark stripe extending from posterior corner of eye rearwards to above tympanum and two large blotches on neck, forming a broken nuchal loop posteriorly; labials brown with cream bars; neck with some large dark blotches; dorsum with five transverse dark brown bands between fore- and hind-limb insertions, edged in white anteriorly and posteriorly, dorsolateral region with some dark brown blotches; dorsal surface of fore and hind limbs with dark blotches and bars; original part of tail with a dark brown band, edged in white posteriorly, regenerated part dark grey without bands; chin, throat, chest, belly and lower limbs cream; ventral surface of regenerated tail dark grey without bands. For coloration in life see Fig. 3 .

Sexual dimorphism and variation. The females differ from the males by having a slender body, the absence of precloacal pores and hemipenial swellings at the tail base. Two females have complete tails with slightly enlarged subcaudals. The nuchal band is discontinuous in the holotype but continuous in the paratypes. For other morphological characters see Tables 3 ,4.

Distribution. Cyrtodactylus bobrovi is currently known only from the type locality, Ngoc Son—Ngo Luong NR in Hoa Binh Province, Vietnam ( Fig. 6 ).

Etymology. We name this new species in honor of Dr. Vladimir V. Bobrov, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, in recognition of his remarkable contributions towards lizard research in Vietnam. We suggest the following common names: Bobrov’s Bent-toed Gecko (English), Thạch sùng ngón bô-b-rôp (Vietnamese).

Natural history. Specimens were found at night between 16:40 and 22:30. The surrounding habitat was disturbed evergreen forest of medium/small hardwoods and shrubs at elevations between 195 and 618 m a.s.l. Three specimens were found on limestone cliffs near cave entrances, approximately 0.5–0.8 m above the ground and one specimen (IEBR A.2015.30) was collected on a tree trunk approximately 0.5 m above the forest floor. The humidity was approximately 75–90% and the air temperature ranged from 23 to 30o C. The female paratypes did not contain developed eggs.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Cloacal region of the holotype of Cyrtodactylus otai sp. nov. in preservative. Photo T. Q. Nguyen.

FIGURE 4. The male holotype (IEBR A. 2015.29) of Cyrtodactylus bobrovi sp. nov. in life. Photos C. V. Hoang.

FIGURE 6. Map showing the type localities of Cyrtodactylus otai (1: Hang Kia—Pa Co Nature Reserve) and Cyrtodactylus bobrovi (2: Ngoc Son—Ngo Luong Nature Reserve) in Hoa Binh Province, northwestern Vietnam.