Cyrtodactylus makwanpurgadhiensis Bhattarai, Gautam, Neupane, Khandekar, Thackeray, Agarwal, Olson, Hogan & Wright, 2025, sp. nov.
Year: 2025
Type: other
Abstract: Cyrtodactylus makwanpurgadhiensis sp. nov. Figs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Tables 2, 3 Type material examined. Holotype. • NHM 2025/383 (SB 078), adult male, collected from on the walls of Makwanpurgadhi Fort (27°24.799'N, 85°8.690'E; ca 1050 m a. s. l.), Makwanpur District, Bagmati Province, Nepal; collected by Santosh Bhattarai on 10 July 2024. Paratypes. • NHM 2025/384 (SB 079), NHM 2025/385 (SB 080), NHM 2025/386 (SB 081), NHM 2025/387 (SB 082), NHM 2025/388 (SB 083), NHM 2025/389 (SB 086) bear the same locality and collection data as holotype. Diagnosis. A medium- sized Cyrtodactylus, snout to vent length up to 78.7 mm. Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous; smooth granular scales intermixed with fairly regularly arranged rows of enlarged, feebly keeled, weakly pointed tubercles; a weak ventrolateral fold on lower flank; 18–20 rows of dorsal tubercles at midbody, 32–40 tubercles in paravertebral rows; ventral scales subequal from chest to vent, smooth, subcircular, and subimbricate with rounded end; 38–41 scales across belly at midbody, 76–90 longitudinal scales between axilla to groin, 167–195 longitudinal scales from mental to cloaca; subdigital scansors smooth, unnotched, and mostly entire; 12–14 lamellae under digit I of manus and pes, 16–18 lamellae under digit IV of manus and 19–23 lamellae under digit IV of pes; a series of nine precloacal pore-bearing scales contiguous with 10 or 11 enlarged precloacal scales in males (n = 4); female lack pores but have 7–9 pitted homologous scales, and 11–13 enlarged precloacal scales (n = 3); dorsal scales on non-regenerated tail homogeneous, fairly regularly arranged, smooth, subcircular, flattened, and subimbricate, and larger than granular scales at dorsal midbody, gradually becoming larger posteriorly and dorsolaterally; a few scattered enlarged tubercles present on the tail base; subcaudal scales in median series smooth, variable in size and shape, and not enlarged; variegated dorsal pattern, original tail bearing 10–13 alternating dark and light bands. Genetic divergence. Cyrtodactylus makwanpurgadhiensis sp. nov. is nested within the Nepalese clade of the Mountain subclade of the khasiensis group. It differs from members of the Nepalese clade by ≥ 14.5 % uncorrected ND 2 sequence divergence (Table 1). Comparisons with regional congeners. Cyrtodactylus makwanpurgadhiensis sp. nov. can be differentiated from all regional congeners based on the following differing or non-overlapping characters: no femoral pores and nine precloacal pores in males (vs femoral pores present in C. chitwanensis, C. fasciolatus, C. gubernatoris, and C. nepalensis; three or four precloacal pores in C. annapurnaensis, 6–9 in C. cayuensis, five in C. chamba, 10 in C. himalayicus, 7–11 in C. kamengensis, 4–9 in C. lawderanus, seven or eight in C. martinstolli; seven or eight precloacal pores and one or two pores below precloacal row in C. karanshahi); length of original tail> SVL (vs length of original tail 80 mm in C. cayuensis, C. chitwanensis, C. fasciolatus, and C. martinstolli); 32–40 tubercles in paravertebral rows (vs 49–58 PVT in C. kamengensis); 12–14 lamellae under digit I of manus and pes, 16–18 lamellae under digit IV of manus (vs. 14 or 15 under digit I of manus and pes and 18–20 under digit IV of manus in C. martinstolli). Cyrtodactylus makwanpurgadhiensis sp. nov. is distinguished from the other new species described in this paper as part of its description below. Description of the holotype. Adult male in good state of preservation except tail bent towards left, and a 4.0 mm long incision in sternal region for tissue collection (Fig. 3 A – D). SVL 66.8 mm, head short (HL / SVL 0.24), wide (HW / HL 0.69), not strongly depressed (HD / HL 0.38), distinct from neck. Loreal region inflated, canthus rostralis indistinct. Snout half of head length (ES / HL 0.44), twice the eye diameter (ES / ED 2.00); scales on snout and canthus rostralis oval, subequal, smooth, much larger than those on forehead and interorbital region; scales on forehead similar to those on snout and canthus rostralis except slightly smaller; scales on interorbital, occipital, and temporal regions heterogeneous, composed of granular scales intermixed with enlarged, feebly keeled, rounded tubercles (Fig. 4 A). Eye small (ED / HL 0.22), with vertical pupil having crenulated margins; supraciliaries short, larger anteriorly; 15 interorbital scale rows across narrowest point of frontal; 47 scale rows between left and right supraciliaries at mid-orbit (Fig. 4 A, C). Ear opening small, oval, deep (EL / HL 0.10); eye to ear distance much greater than diameter of eye (EE / ED 1.36) (Fig. 4 C). Rostral ~ 2 × wider (2.8 mm) than high (1.5 mm), incompletely divided dorsally by a strongly developed rostral groove for ~ 1 / 2 of its height; a single enlarged, roughly rectangular supranasal on each side,> 5–6 × the size of upper postnasal, separated from each other behind rostral by a single much smaller internasal scale; rostral in contact with supralabial I, nostril and supranasal, and internasal on either side; nostrils oval, surrounded by three postnasals, supranasal, rostral, and supralabial I on either side; three subequal postnasals on either side; two rows of scales separate orbit from supralabials (Fig. 4 C). Mental enlarged, subtriangular, slightly wider (2.8 mm) than high (2.4 mm); two pairs of postmentals, inner pair roughly triangular, slightly shorter (1.7 mm) than mental, in weak contact with each other below mental (0.3 mm); inner pair bordered by mental, infralabial I, outer postmental on either side and additionally by 11 slightly enlarged chin shields below; outer postmentals roughly rectangular, much smaller (0.8 mm) than inner pair, bordered by inner postmentals, infralabials I and II, and four chin shields on either side, 11 enlarged gular scales between left and right outer postmentals; all chin shields bordering postmentals flattened, subequal, subcircular, smooth, and much smaller than outermost postmentals; scales on rest of throat, granular, much smaller, smooth, and subcircular (Fig. 4 B). Infralabials bordered below by a row or two of slightly enlarged, much elongated scales, decreasing in size posteriorly. Eleven supralabials to angle of jaw on either side and eight at midorbital position on left and seven on right side; supralabial I largest, gradually decreasing in size posteriorly; ten infralabials to angle of jaw on left and nine on right side, and seven at midorbital position on either side; infralabial I largest, gradually decreasing in size posteriorly (Fig. 4 C). Body relatively slender (BW / AGL 0.34), trunk slightly less than half of SVL (AGL / SVL 0.45) with weak ventrolateral fold (Fig. 5 A – C). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous; smooth granular scales intermixed with fairly regularly arranged rows of enlarged, feebly keeled, weakly pointed tubercles; granular scales gradually increasing in size towards each flank, largest on mid-flank; granular scales on occiput slightly smaller than paravertebral granular scales; enlarged tubercles in ~ 19 longitudinal rows at midbody; 33 tubercles in paravertebral rows (Fig. 5 A). Ventral scales much larger than granular scales on dorsum, subequal from chest to vent, smooth, subcircular and subimbricate with rounded end; scales on precloacal region distinctly enlarged; midbody scale rows across belly 41; 195 scales from mental to anterior border of cloaca and 87 scales between limb insertions (Fig. 5 B). A continuous series of nine precloacal pores; femoral pores absent (Fig. 4 D). Scales on palm and soles, smooth, oval or subcircular, subequal and more or less flattened; scales on dorsal aspects of limbs heterogenous; composed of slightly smaller, smooth, subimbricate scales intermixed with enlarged, weakly keeled, weakly pointed tubercles which are slightly larger on thigh and shank than lower arm, enlarged tubercles absent on upper arm; scales on ventral aspect of upper arm smooth, granular, slightly smaller than granular scales on body dorsum, scales on ventral aspect of lower arm much larger than those on upper arm, smooth, subcircular, weakly conical to flattened, and subimbricate; ventral aspect of thigh and shank with enlarged, smooth, roughly rounded, flattened, subimbricate scales, slightly larger and oval on the shank but otherwise similar in size to those on body ventrals (Fig. 3 A, B). Forelimbs and hindlimbs slightly long, slender (LAL / SVL 0.14; CL / SVL 0.17); digits long, with a strong, recurved claw, distinctly inflected, distal portions laterally compressed conspicuously. Digits with mostly unpaired lamellae, separated into a basal and narrower distal series by a single, much enlarged lamella at inflection; basal lamellae series: (5-6 - 6 - 6 - 6 right manus, 3-6 - 7 - 8 - 7 right pes), (5-6 - 5 - 6 - 6 left manus, Fig. 4 E; 3 – 6 – 7 – 9 – 6 left pes, Fig. 4 F); distal lamellae series: (9-10 - 12 - 12 - 11 right manus, 10-11 - 13 - 12 - 14 right pes), (9-10 - 12 - 12 - 11 left manus, Fig. 4 E; 10 –11 – 14 – 13 – 13 left pes, Fig. 4 F). Relative length of digits (measurements in mm in parentheses): IV (5.8)> III (5.4)> V (5.1)> II (4.9)> I (3.6) (left manus); IV (7.3)> III (6.9)> V (6.3)> II (5.4)> I (3.6) (left pes). Tail original, subcylindrical, slender, entire, slightly longer than body (TL / SVL 1.20) (F
Authors: Bhattarai, Santosh, Gautam, Bivek, Neupane, Bishal Prasad, Khandekar, Akshay, Thackeray, Tejas, Agarwal, Ishan, Olson, Ashley R., Hogan, Fiona, Wright, Wendy
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7082972244
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