Cnemaspis flavigaster Chan & Grismer, 2008

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 : 60-61

Cnemaspis flavigaster Chan & Grismer, 2008

Orange-bellied Rock Gecko

Fig. 29

Cnemaspis affinis Boulenger 1912:39

Cnemaspis kumpoli Dring 1979:223

Holotype. HC 00282. Type locality: “the canopy walk trail at Forest Research Institute Malaysia ( FRIM), state of Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia (3°14’23.04”N, 101°37’59.80” E)” at 120 m in elevation.

Diagnosis. Maximum SVL 50.1 mm; nine or ten supralabials; 8–10 infralabials; smooth ventral scales; seven or eight contiguous pore-bearing precloacal scales with round pores; 21–24 paravertebral tubercles; tubercles on flanks; tubercles absent from lateral caudal furrows; no ventrolateral caudal tubercles; lateral caudal row of tubercles present; caudal tubercles do not encircle tail; subcaudals smooth with no enlarged, median scale row; one or two postcloacal tubercles on each side of tail base; no enlarged femoral or subtibial scales; subtibials keeled; enlarged submetatarsal scales on first toe; 29–34 subdigital fourth toe lamellae; wide, black, oblique stripe in shoulder region; distinct black and white bands on tail; pectoral region, abdomen, ventral surface of hind limbs, and subcaudal region orange in males (Tables 6,7).

Color pattern ( Fig. 29 ). Dorsal ground color brown to dark grey; sides of the head bearing yellow markings; three faint, postorbital stripes radiate from eye; three dark spots across the occiput anteriorly with another elliptical, medial spot posteriorly; paired, paravertebral spots on nape; dark, dorsolateral line extending from nape to forelimb insertion and onto brachium; paired, paravertebral, dorsal spots on body alternating with large, whitish blotches extending from shoulder to base of tail; another series of spots on flanks; flanks bear irregularly shaped, yellow blotches; dorsal surface of limbs bear irregularly shaped, dark and light markings; black and dull white bands nearly encircle tail; undersides of head and limbs mottled with fine, dark stippling; throat whitish; and chest, abdomen and underside of tail orange in males and beige in females. Coloration lightens considerably at night, highlighting the blotched dorsal pattern.

Distribution. Cnemaspis flavigaster is known only from the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia, Batu Caves, Selangor ( Chan & Grismer 2008), and is newly reported here from Ulu Gombak, Selangor ( Fig. 3 ).

Natural history. Cnemaspis flavigaster is a scansorial species restricted to granite rocks or karst ( Flower 1899; Grismer & Chan 2008; Fig. 29 ) in lowland, old secondary forest and is only occasionally seen on tree trunks or fallen logs but never on leafy vegetation ( Grismer 2011a). Grismer (2011a) noted that C. flavigaster is quite wary while abroad during the day on the shaded sides of rocks and deep within small alcoves. At night however, lizards venture farther out into open areas on the rocks and are more stationary. Grismer et al. (2010c) outlined a number of examples where sympatric species of Cnemaspis seem to be partitioning their habitat by having different activity periods, body sizes, substrate preferences or varying combinations of each. Inconsistent with these observations was finding C. flavigaster at Ulu Gombak in syntopy on granite boulders with C. peninsularis sp. nov., Cnemaspis peninsularis sp. nov., however, is a habitat generalist and its presence on other substrates at Ulu Gombak may be enough to not preclude strong competition for resources. At Batu Caves, C. flavigaster has been observed at the entrance to Dark Cave.

Relationships. Cnemaspis flavigaster is the basal species of the argus group ( Fig. 2 ).

Material examined. Malaysia: Selangor, Kepong , Forest Research Institute of Malaysia HC 00282, 00286; ZRC 2.6708 – 11 (type series). Material examined since Chan & Grismer (2008) : Malaysia: Selangor, Kepong , Forest Research Institute of Malaysia LSUHC 6562 , 8835–36 ; Ulu Gombak LSUHC 10380 .

Figures

FIGURE 2. Maximum-likelihood phylogram (–InL 73957.608688) of the species of the genus Cnemaspis with Bayesian posterior probabilities (BPP) and maximum-likelihood (ML) bootstrap values, respectively based on the concatenated 3 gene dataset. Black circles are nodes supported by BBP and ML values greater than 0.95 and 70, respectively. Gray circles are nodes supported only by ML values greater than 70. White circles are nodes supported only by BPP values greater than 0.95. The distribution maps on the right delimit the ranges of the four major clades.

FIGURE 3. Distribution of the species and species groups in the Ca Mau and Northern Sunda clades. Stars indicate type localities.

FIGURE 29. Cnemaspis flavigaster from FRIM, Kepong, Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia. Upper left: adult male (LSUDPC 4173) in the dark color pattern phase. Upper right: ventral view of adult male (LSUDPC 4181). Photographs by LLG. Middle left: adult female (LSUDPC 4601) in the dark color pattern phase. Photograph by CKO. Middle right: adult male (LSUDPC 4671) in the light color pattern phase. Lower left: subadult (LSUDPC 4178) in dark color pattern phase. Lower right; karst microhabitat at the Batu Caves, Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia. Photographs by LLG.