Cnemaspis selamatkanmerapoh Grismer, Wood, Mohamed, Chan, Heinz, Sumarli, Chan & Loredo, 2013

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 : 90

Cnemaspis selamatkanmerapoh Grismer, Wood, Mohamed, Chan, Heinz, Sumarli, Chan & Loredo, 2013 a

Merapoh Rock Gecko

Fig. 47

Holotype. Adult male ( LSUHC 11016) “collected on 23 June 2013 by L. Lee Grismer at 2200 hrs at 23 m from Gua Gunting, Merapoh, Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia (4°42.069 N, 101°58.512 E)”.

Diagnosis. Maximum SVL 43.4 mm SVL; 10 supralabials; nine or 10 infralabials; keeled ventrals; at least one, round precloacal pore in males; 30 paravertebral tubercles; dorsal body tubercles semi-randomly arranged; tuberculation weak on flanks; caudal tubercles not encircling tail; lateral caudal tubercles not within lateral caudal furrows; ventrolateral caudal tubercles absent; subcaudals keeled; no enlarged, median subcaudal scale row; three postcloacal tubercles; no enlarged femoral, subtibial, or submetatarsal scales; subtibials keeled; and 31–33 subdigital lamellae on fourth toe (Tables 6,7). Cnemaspis selamatkanmerapoh sp. nov. lack diagnostic color pattern characteristics.

Color pattern in life ( Fig. 47 ). Dorsal ground color grey; top of head bearing small dark spots; thin, dark postorbital stripes meeting medially on occiput and turning anteriorly; rostrum and supralabial region greenish; paired, light colored, paravertebral, blotches extend from nape to base of tail where they transform into light colored caudal bands, blotches united on nape and shoulder region into a single blotch; flanks bearing dark mottling and yellowish spots; limbs darkly mottled with a faint banding pattern; overall color of venter unicolor beige with all scales bearing black stippling. There is no sexual dimorphism in color pattern and coloration lightens considerably at night.

Distribution. Cnemaspis selamatkanmerapoh is known only from the type locality of Gua Gunting, Merapoh, Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia ( Fig. 2 ). Grismer et al. (2013a) reported finding eggs on the connected karst outcrop Gua Goyang.

Natural History. Grismer et al. (2013a) noted that Cnemaspis selamatkanmerapoh is a lowland, diurnal species found only on karst substrate. Specimens were observed approximately 1 m above the ground along the perimeter of an extensive karst system surrounded by a limestone forest ( Fig. 47 ) and lizards often position themselves adjacent to cracks into which they can escape if threatened. A gravid female carrying two eggs was collected during June.

Relationships. Cnemaspis selamatkanmerapoh is the sister species of C. hangus sp. nov. ( Fig. 2 ).

Material examined. Malaysia: Pahang; Mearpoh, Gua Gunting LSUHC 11015–16 (type series).

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 47. Upper: adult male holotype (LSUHC 11016) Cnemaspis selamatkanmerapoh in the dark color pattern phase. Lower: microhabitat at Gua Goyang, Merapoh, Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia. Photographs by LLG.