Cyrtodactylus pulchellus Gray

Grismer, Lee, Wood, Perry L., Quah, Evan S. H., Anuar, Shahrul, Muin, Abdul, Sumontha, Montri, Ahmad, Norhayati & Bauer, Aaron M., 2012, A phylogeny and taxonomy of the Thai-Malay Peninsula Bent-toed Geckos of the Cyrtodactylus pulchellus complex (Squamata: Gekkonidae): combined morphological and molecular analyses with descriptions of seven new species, Zootaxa 3520, pp. 1-55 : 9-10

Cyrtodactylus pulchellus Gray

Penang Island Bent-toed Gecko Fig. 4

Cyrtodactylus pulchella Gray, J.E. 1827:56 . A synopsis of the genera of saurian reptiles, in which some new genera are indicated, and the others reviewed by actual examination. Philosophical Magazine 2: 54–58. Type locality.— “ India ” restricted without comment to “ Singapore ” ( Gray 1845:173) and further restricted here to Penang Island, Peninsular Malaysia (see below).

Gymnodactylus pulchellus Duméril and Bibron 1836:423 ; Günther 1864:113; Cantor 1847:631; Stoliczka 1873:118; Boulenger 1885:47; Flower 1896:863 (in part), 1899:626 (in part); Boulenger 1912:37 (in part); Smith 1930:13 (of Boulenger 1912).

Diagnosis.– Adult males reaching 114.1 mm SVL, adult females reaching 113.3 mm SVL; 9–11 supralabials, 8–10 infralabials; tubercles of dorsum moderately large, strongly keeled and widely separated with no intervening smaller tubercles; no tubercles on ventral surface of forelimbs, gular region, or in ventrolateral body fold or these regions may be weekly tuberculated; 33–43 paravertebral tubercles; 22–26 longitudinal rows of dorsal tubercles; 29–34 rows of ventral scales; 21–26 subdigital lamellae on fourth toe; 33–39 femoro-precloacal pores in males; dorsum not bearing scattered, white tubercles; four dark body bands with a body band/interspace ratio of 0.75–1.25; 8–10 dark caudal bands on original tail; white caudal bands in adults immaculate; and posterior portion of tail hatchlings and juveniles not white ( Table 4 ). These characters are scored across all species of the Cyrtodactylus pulchellus complex in Table 6 .

SVL=snout-vent length; w=weak; 0=absence; 1=presence; /=data unavailable.

Distribution.– Cyrtodactylus pulchellus is endemic to Penang Island (= Pulau Pinang), Penang, Peninsular Malaysia ( Fig. 3 ).

Remarks. – In his description of Cyrtodactylus pulchellus, Gray (1827) listed the type locality as “ India ” which, without comment, he later amended to “ Singapore ” ( Gray 1845). Cantor (1847:633) noted that “no authenticated record exists of this species ever having been observed in Bengal” (fide Duméril & Bibron 1836) and further indicates that the specimen described by Gray (1827) and others, he (Cantor) had apparently examined and were “from the hills of Prince of Wales Island ( Pulo Pinang)” and at the time of his writing prior to 1843 were in his personal collection. Additionally, confirmed records of this species in Singapore have never existed despite the extensive collections made on that island since the turn of the 20th Century (see Grismer 2011:81–87 for a review). We examined close-up, high resolution, digital color photographs (LSUDPC 6051–55) of the holotype (BM XXII.91.a; an adult female) which had diagnostic characters in accord with those of C. pulchellus sensu lato ( Table 4 ) in having large, widely separated dorsal tubercles with no intervening smaller tubercles, 36 paravertebral tubercles, and lacking lightened centers in the body bands separating it from C. astrum sp. nov.; moderately large strongly keeled dorsal tubercles separating it from C. lekaguli sp. nov., C. astrum sp. nov. C. langkawiensis sp. nov., C. bintangtinggi sp. nov., and C. trilatofasciatus sp. nov.; no tubercles on ventral surface of forelimbs, gular region, or in the ventrolateral body fold separating it from C. macrotuberculatus ; and four body bands the same width as the interspaces separating it from C. trilatofasciatus sp. nov. Therefore, in conformity with the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature’s (ICZN 1999), Recommendation 76A.2 which states that “a type locality that is found to be erroneous should be corrected”, we herein restrict the type locality of Cyrtodactylus pulchellus to Penang Island, Penang, Peninsular Malaysia.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Distribution of the species of the Cyrtodactylus pulchellus complex. Closed circles represent localities from which specimens have been examined genetically and / or morphologically (see appendix and Table 1). Closed squares are localities from which specimens have been only examined morphologically or photographically (see appendix). Closed stars represent the type localities from where specimens have been examined genetically, morphologically and photographically. 1. Suwankuha Cave, Muang District, Phang-nga Province, Thailand. 2. Petch Phanomwung Cave, Kanchanadit District, Surat Thani Province, Thailand. 3. Phuket Island 4. Khao Chong waterfall, Khao Chamao, Khaochong District, Trang Province, Thailand. 5. Phattalung Province, Thailand. 6. Rattabhumi District, Songkhla, Thailand. 7. La-ngu District, Satun Province, Thailand (three squares). 8. Gua Wang Burma, Perlis State Park, Perlis, Malaysia (two circles). 9. Wang Kelian, Perlis, Malaysia. 10. Adang Island, Satun Province, Thailand. 11. Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia (two stars). 12. Gua Kelam and Bukit Chabang, Malaysia (two circles). 13. Kuala Perlis, Perlis, Malaysia. 14. Chuping, Perlis, Malaysia. 15. Bukit Wang, Kedah, Malaysia. 16. Ulu Muda, Kedah, Malaysia. 17. Gunung Jerai and Hutan Lipur Sungai Tupah, Kedah, Malaysia (two circles). 18. Bukit Palong, Perak, Malaysia. 19. Ulu Paip, Kedah, Malaysia. 20. Bukit Mertajam, Penang, Malaysia. 21. Pulau Pinang, Penang, Malaysia. 22. Lengong Valley, Perak, Malaysia. 23. Bukit Panchor, Penang, Malaysia. 24. Bukit Larut, Perak, Malaysia. 25. Bukit Pondok, Perak, Malaysia. 26. Ringlet, Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia. 27. Gunung Bubu, Perak, Malaysia. 28. Fraser’s Hill, Pahang, Malaysia. 29. Genting Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia. 30. Gunung Angsi, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. P = Tham Phung Chang Cave, Phang-nga City, Muang District, Phang-nga Province, Thailand. U = Nakon Si Thammarat Province; specific locality unknown.

FIGURE 4. Cyrtodactylus pulchellus from Penang Island, Penang, Malaysia. Upper left: LSUDPC 5435; adult male from the Botanical Gardens (photo by L. Grismer). Upper right: LSUDPC 6315; juvenile from Penang Hill (photo by E. Quah). Lower left: LSUDPC 6316; adult female from Air Terjun Titi Kerawang (photo by E. Ouah). Lower right: granite rock-forest microhabitat of C. pulchellus at Air Terjun Titi Kerawang (photo by E. Quah).

Tables

TABLE 4. Morphological data of Cyrtodactylus pulchellus from Pulau Pinang, Penang, Malaysia. m = male; f = female;

	6668	6726	6727	LSUHC 6728 6729 6785	9967	9968	10022	2.117	ZRC 2.5197 2.4854	2.4857
Sex	/	m	m	m f m	/	m	m	f	m f	f
Supralabials	10	10	11	9 11 9	11	10	9	10	10 10	11
Infralabials	10	10	10	10 9 8	9	9	10	10	10 9	10
Tubercles on ventral surface of forelimbs	0	0	0	0 0 0	0	w	0	0	0 0	0
Tubercles in gular region Ventrolateral fold tuberculate	0 0	0 0	0 0	0 0 0 0 0 0	0 0	w w	0 0	0 0	0 0 0 0	0 0
No. of paravertebral tubercles	35	35	38	38 40 37	38	35	38	33	41 43	42
No. longitudinal rows of tubercles No. of ventral scales	22 33	23 /	25 31	24 22 22 33 34 30	23 29	26 30	22 31	24 33	22 24 34 32	22 32
Proximal subdigital lamellae square	0	0	0	0 0 0	0	0	0	/	0 0	0
No. of subdigital lamellae on 4th toe	21	24	23	21 21 22	22	23	22	/	26 26	25
No. of femoro-precloacal pores	/	35	39	34 / 36	/	33	38	/	36 /	/
Bands on base of thigh No. body bands	w 4	0 4	0 4	0 1 0 4 4 4	0 4	0 4	0 4	0 4	0 0 4 4	m 4
Band/interspace width No. dark bands on original tail	1.00 10	1.00 /	0.75 /	1.00 1.25 1.00 9 / 9	1.00 8	1.00 /	1.00 /	/ /	/ / / /	/ /
Hatch./juv. with white tail tips	/	/	/	/ / /	/	/	/	/	/ /	/
SVL	68.3	108.7	114.1	105.2 113.3 106.0	66.8	110.9	111.7	/	113.8 /	/