Cyrtodactylus menglianensis, Liu & Rao, 2022

Liu, Shuo & Rao, Dingqi, 2022, A new species of Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from southwestern Yunnan, China, ZooKeys 1084, pp. 83-100 : 83

publication ID

https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1084.72868

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:670EC7CC-90D3-4B2E-8EDE-7C34BF70FA0A

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/6E8C0453-145B-4862-9A87-BC3F4F4344FD

taxon LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:act:6E8C0453-145B-4862-9A87-BC3F4F4344FD

treatment provided by

ZooKeys by Pensoft

scientific name

Cyrtodactylus menglianensis
status

sp. nov.

Cyrtodactylus menglianensis sp. nov.

Figures 2 View Figure 2 , 3 View Figure 3 , 4 View Figure 4 , 5 View Figure 5

Type material.

Holotype. KIZ20210713, adult male, collected on 18 July 2021 by Shuo Liu from Menglian County, Puer City, Yunnan Province, China (22°20'11"N, 99°34'29"E, 980 m elevation).

Paratypes. KIZ20210714 and KIZ20210716, two adult females; KIZ20210715, adult male; all collected on 19 July 2021 by Shuo Liu from the same locality as the holotype.

Etymology.

The specific epithet refers to Menglian County, the locality where the new species was found. We propose "Menglian Bent-toed Gecko" for the common English name and “孟连裸趾虎” ( Mèng Lián Luǒ Zhǐ Hǔ) for the common Chinese name of the new species.

Diagnosis.

Medium body size (SVL 67.7-78.1 mm in adults); ventrolateral folds present with interspersed small tubercles; seven precloacal pores in a continuous series in males, absent in females; femoral scales not enlarged; femoral pores absent; two postcloacal tubercles on each side; 17-22 lamellae under finger IV, 21-23 lamellae under toe IV; one or two rows of subcaudals enlarged; dark postocular streak and nuchal loop absent; six or seven dark irregular dorsal bands between limb insertions, most bands discontinuous.

Description of holotype.

Adult male, SVL 77.8 mm; head distinguished from neck, moderately long (HL/SVL 0.28), relatively widened (HW/HL 0.76), slightly depressed (HH/HL 0.45); two supranasals separated by one internasal; nares oval, surrounded by supranasal, rostral, first supralabial, and three postnasals; loreal region concave; snout long (SE/HL 0.43), round anteriorly, longer than diameter of orbit (OD/SE 0.63); snout scales small, round, granular, larger than those in frontal and parietal regions; eye large (OD/HL 0.27), pupils vertical; upper eyelid fringe with spinous scales; ear opening oval, small (ED/HL 0.09); rostral wider than high (RH/RW 0.58), medially divided dorsally by a suture, reaching to approximately half down rostral, in contact with first supralabial and nostrils laterally, and supranasals and internasal dorsally; mental triangular, narrower than rostral (MW/RW 0.82), slightly wider than high (ML/MW 0.94); two postmentals, enlarged, in contact posteriorly, bordered by mental anteromedially, first infralabial anterolaterally, two enlarged chin scales posterolaterally, and small chin scales posteriorly; 10/12 supralabials; 9/9 infralabials.

Body slender (AG/SVL 0.39), ventrolateral folds slightly developed with interspersed small tubercles; dorsal scales granular; dorsal tubercles round and weakly keeled, four or five times larger than the size of adjoining scales, conical, present on neck, back and tail base, each surrounded by 10 granular scales, in 19 irregular longitudinal rows at the midbody, 26 paravertebral tubercles; gular region with homogenous smooth scales; ventral scales smooth, larger than those of dorsum, round, subimbricate, largest posteriorly, in 29 longitudinal rows at midbody; precloacal groove absent; a patch of precloacal scales significantly enlarged; seven precloacal pores in a continuous series, the two on the edge round, the one in the middle pitted, others horizontally elongated; femoral scales not enlarged; femoral pore absent.

Fore and hind limbs moderately slender (ForeaL/SVL 0.17, SL/SVL 0.20); dorsal surface of forelimbs covered by a few weakly developed tubercles; interdigital webbing absent; lamellae under finger IV 22/21, under toe IV 23/22; relative length of fingers I <II <V <III <IV, relative length of toes I <II <III <V <IV.

Tail regenerated (TaL 60.8 mm); 2/2 postcloacal tubercles; dorsal tail base with tubercles; subcaudals smooth, enlarged but arranged irregularly.

Color of holotype in life.

Dorsal ground color brownish yellow; dorsal surface of head with irregular brown blotches with black edges, largest at occiput; nuchal loop absent; dorsum with many irregular brownish black blotches with black edges, forming eight transverse discontinuous bands faintly, one on the neck, one between hind limbs, and six between fore and hind limb insertions; dorsal surfaces of limbs with brown bands with black edges; a brown band with black edge on dorsal tail base, dorsal surface of regenerated tail greyish black; ventral surface of head, limbs, and body greyish white; ventral surface of regenerated tail grey; iris bronze.

Color of holotype in preservative.

The color pattern very much resembles that in life. Brownish yellow dorsal ground color turned to greyish white, the brown blotches and bands with black edges remained; ventral surface faded to pale white; iris became white.

Variations.

The paratypes resemble the holotype except that the female KIZ20210714 has a longer regenerated tail, and the female KIZ20210716 has a longer original tail with one or two rows of subcaudals enlarged, and they both have no precloacal pores; the male KIZ20210715 has a smaller body size and much shorter regenerated tail; other morphometric and meristic differences are presented in Table 2 View Table 2 . Color patterns of the paratypes also resemble the holotype except that the dark bands on the dorsum are relatively more distinct, and there are 10 black and white rings on the original tail of the female KIZ20210716.

Distribution.

The new species is currently known only from the type locality (Fig. 6 View Figure 6 ) in Menglian County, Puer City, Yunnan Province, China.

Natural history.

All specimens were collected at night on large stones or cliffs of the karst formations in a park. The surrounding habitats was karst forest, there is a plank road and a river nearby.

Comparisons.

Cyrtodactylus menglianensis sp. nov. is distinguishable from all other members of the C. chauquangensis species group by a unique combination of morphological characters. Cyrtodactylus menglianensis sp. nov. differs from C. auribalteatus Sumontha, Panitvong & Deein, 2010; C. bichnganae Ngo & Grismer, 2010; C. doisuthep Kunya, Panmongkol, Pauwels, Sumontha, Meewasana, Bunkhwamdi & Dangsri, 2014; C. dumnuii Bauer, Kunya, Sumontha, Niyomwan, Pauwels, Chanhome & Kunya, 2010; C. erythrops Bauer, Kunya, Sumontha, Niyomwan, Panitvong, Pauwels, Chanhome & Kunya, 2009; C. gulinqingensis Liu, Li, Hou, Orlov & Ananjeva, 2021; C. hekouensis Zhang, Liu, Bernstein, Wang & Yuan, 2021; C. huongsonensis Luu, Nguyen, Do & Ziegler, 2011; C. ngoiensis Schneider, Luu, Sitthivong, Teynié, Le, Nguyen & Ziegler, 2020; C. soni Le, Nguyen, Le & Ziegler, 2016; C. sonlaensis Nguyen, Pham, Ziegler, Ngo & Le, 2017; and C. zhenkangensis Liu & Rao, 2021 by not having enlarged femoral scales and femoral pores (vs having enlarged femoral scales and femoral pores).

Cyrtodactylus menglianensis sp. nov. differs from C. puhuensis Nguyen, Yang, Le, Nguyen, Orlov, Hoang, Nguyen, Jin, Rao, Hoang, Che, Murphy & Zhang, 2014 and C. taybacensis Pham, Le, Ngo, Ziegler & Nguyen, 2019 by not having enlarged femoral scales (vs having enlarged femoral scales). In addition, C. menglianensis sp. nov. differs from C. puhuensis by having more precloacal pores in males (seven vs five) and differs from C. taybacensis by having fewer precloacal pores in males (seven vs 11-13).

Cyrtodactylus menglianensis sp. nov. differs from C. cucphuongensis Ngo & Chan, 2011 by having precloacal pores in males (vs not having precloacal pores in males).

Cyrtodactylus menglianensis sp. nov. differs from C. bobrovi Nguyen, Le, Pham, Ngo, Hoang, Pham & Ziegler, 2015; C. chauquangensis Hoang, Orlov, Ananjeva, Johns, Hoang & Dau, 2007; C. houaphanensis Schneider, Luu, Sitthivong, Teynié, Le, Nguyen & Ziegler, 2020; C. otai Nguyen, Le, Pham, Ngo, Hoang, Pham & Ziegler, 2015; C. spelaeus Nazarov, Poyarkov, Orlov, Nguyen, Milto, Martynov, Konstantinov & Chulisov, 2014; and C. vilaphongi Schneider, Nguyen, Le, Nophaseud, Bonkowski & Ziegler, 2014 by not having dark postocular streak and nuchal loop (vs having very obvious dark postocular streak and not obvious nuchal loop).

Cyrtodactylus menglianensis sp. nov. differs from C. martini Ngo, 2011 by not having enlarged femoral scales (vs having indistinctly enlarged femoral scales), having fewer longitudinal ventral scale rows (26-29 vs 39-43), having more precloacal pores in males (seven vs four), and having more white rings on the original tail (10 vs 7).

Cyrtodactylus menglianensis sp. nov. differs from C. wayakonei Nguyen, Kingsada, Rösler, Auer & Ziegler, 2010 by having fewer longitudinal ventral scale rows (26-29 vs 31-35), not having precloacal pores in females (vs having precloacal pores in females), and having more white rings on the original tail (10 vs 6).

Kingdom

Animalia

Class

Reptilia

Order

Squamata

Family

Gekkonidae

Genus

Cyrtodactylus