Cnemaspis roticanai Grismer & Chan, 2010

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 : 58-60

Cnemaspis roticanai Grismer & Chan, 2010

Roti Canai Rock Gecko

Fig. 28

Holotype. ZRC 2.6860 . Type locality: “ 743 m a.s.l. on Gunung Raya , Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia (06°22.114N, 99°49.270 E)” at 790 m in elevation.

Diagnosis. Maximum SVL 47.0 mm; eight or nine supralabials; seven or eight infralabials; keeled ventral scales; 3–6 discontinuous, pore-bearing precloacal scales with round pores; 25–27 paravertebral tubercles; tubercles on flanks; tubercles in lateral caudal furrows; no ventrolateral caudal tubercles; caudal tubercles do not encircle tail; lateral caudal tubercle row absent; subcaudals keeled; median row of weakly enlarged subcaudal scales present; one or two postcloacal tubercles on each side of tail base; no enlarged femoral or subtibial scales; subtibials keeled; no enlarged submetatarsal scales on first toe; 26–29 subdigital fourth toe lamellae; light colored prescapular crescent; gular and pectoral regions, abdomen, underside of hind limbs, and subcaudal region yellow in males (Tables 6,7).

Color pattern ( Fig. 28 ). Males: dorsal ground color of head, body, limbs and tail pale-yellow; faint, brownish markings on top of head; single, diffuse, black, postorbital stripe extending to occiput and terminating at oblong, longitudinally oriented, yellow spot on nape followed by a pair of black, paravertebral spots on neck; rhomboidially shaped, brown, transverse markings between limb insertions extending onto tail as zig-zag-shaped, caudal bands; butterfly-shaped, pale-yellow interspaces between rhomboid markings; yellow, prescapular crescent followed by semi-transversely arranged, yellow bars on flanks separated by dark makings; forelimbs bearing yellowish blotches and scattered dark markings; hind limbs bearing yellowish blotches and dark markings resembling banding pattern; gular region yellowish orange; throat beige; abdomen, ventral surface of hind limbs, and subcaudal region yellow; ventral surface of forelimbs beige; all ventral scales bearing small, black stippling. Sexual dimorphism is marked in this species. Females: darker in overall coloration with much less yellow and a more contrasted dorsal pattern; dark markings on trunk appear as paravertebral blotches and in strong contrast to the pale-yellow interspaces; tail strongly banded; ventral surfaces yellowish throughout.

Distribution. Cnemaspis roticanai is known only from Gunung Raya on Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia ( Fig. 3 ). This species is expected to range more widely throughout the island.

Natural history. Cnemaspis roticanai is a scansorial species occurring in open habitats with small, widely scattered rocks in hill dipterocarp forest above 400 m in elevation ( Fig. 28 ). Grismer & Chan (2010) observed specimens on the underside of leaves, on tree trunks, and within cement drains. We hypothesize here that C. roticanai is a diurnal species being that the specimens we have observed at night were inactive and sleeping on tree trunks and the undersides of leaves. Others were found between rocks.

Relationships. Cnemaspis roticanai is the sister species of C. omari sp. nov. ( Fig. 2 ).

Material examined. Malaysia: Kedah, Pulau Langkawi, Gunung Raya LSUHC 9453 , ZRC 2.6860 – 62 (type series). Material examined since Grismer & Chan (2010) : Kedah, Pulau Langkawi, Gunung Raya LSUHC 9430–31 , 9439 , 10802 .

Argus group. The argus group contains four species with a somewhat anomalous distribution pattern ( Fig. 3 ). The basal species, Cnemaspis flavigaster Chan & Grismer occurs in central Peninsular Malaysia west of the Banjaran Titiwangsa mountains on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur in Kepong, Ulu Gombak, and Batu Caves, Selangor ( Chan & Grismer 2008) whereas the remaining three species, C. argus Dring and the sister species C. karsticola Grismer, Grismer, Wood & Chan and C. perhentianensis Grismer & Chan have restricted distributions in northeastern Peninsular Malaysia. Cnemaspis argus is known only from the mountainous region of Gunung Lawit ( Dring 1979) and Gunung Tebu, Terengganu ( Grismer et al. 2013c), C. karsticola is known from a single tower karst formation at Gunung Reng ( Grismer et al. 2008b), and C. perhentianensis is endemic to two islands in the Perhentian Archipelago, Kelantan ( Grismer & Chan 2008).

The argus group is the sister lineage to the affinis group of central Peninsular Malaysia ( Fig. 2 ) and is diagnosed by having a maximum SVL of 47.0– 65.2 mm; 7–10 supralabials; 6–10 infralabials; 6–10 contiguous, pore-bearing, precloacal scales with round pores; randomly arranged dorsal tubercles extending onto the lower flanks; 17–32 paravertebral tubercles; no caudal tubercles in lateral furrows; a lateral row of caudal tubercles; no tubercles encircling the tail; no ventrolateral caudal tubercles; no median row of enlarged or keeled subcaudal scales; 1–4 postcloacal tubercles on each side of the base of the tail; no enlarged femoral or subtibial scales; subtibials keeled; and 27–35 lamellae beneath the fourth toe.

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 28. Cnemaspis roticanai from Gunung Raya, Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia. Upper left: ventral coloration of adult male (lower) and adult female (upper) showing sexual dimorphism (LSUDPC 5192). Upper right: adult male (LSUDPC 5184) in light color pattern phase. Lower right: adult female (LSUDPC 5189) in dark color pattern phase. Lower left: microhabitat on Gunung Raya. Photographs by LLG.