Description of a new species of Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827 (Reptilia, Gekkonidae) from India with redescriptions of the holotypes of C. gubernatoris (Annandale, 1913) and C. himalayicus (Annandale, 1906)
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: A new species of the genus Cyrtodactylus Gray is described from the eastern Himalayan region of West Bengal state, India. The new species is assigned to the C. peguensis species group and is readily distinguished from its regional congeners by a unique combination of morphological characters. These include dorsal scalation comprising small granules intermixed with enlarged, feebly keeled, weakly pointed tubercles arranged in 15–22 fairly regular longitudinal rows at midbody; 11–14 subdigital lamellae beneath the first digit and 17–23 beneath the fourth digit; nine precloacal pores and 6–9 femoral pores in males; 10–12 supralabials; and nine infralabials. Molecular analyses based on mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) sequence data further support the distinctiveness of the new species, which exhibits 11.8–19.8% uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence from its closest congeners. Specifically, it differs from C. gubernatoris by 11.8–12.0% and from C. bhupathyi by 18.5–19.8%, while showing divergences exceeding 20.5% from other congeners examined. In addition to the description of the new species, detailed redescriptions of the holotypes of two regional congeners, C. himalayicus and C. gubernatoris , are provided based on direct examination. The discovery of this new taxon highlights the underestimated diversity of Cyrtodactylus in the eastern Himalayas and underscores the importance of integrated morphological and molecular approaches in resolving species boundaries within this speciose gecko genus.
Source: ZooKeys
Authors: Sumidh Ray, Bharath Bhupathi, Suvrajyoti Chatterjee, Ritesh Das, Pratyush P. Mohapatra
Institutions: Zoological Survey of India, Indian Museum, Fakir Mohan University
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $754
OpenAlex ID: W7159654425
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