Cnemaspis tanintharyi, Lee & Miller & Zug & Mulcahy, 2019

Lee, Justin L., Miller, Aryeh H., Zug, George R. & Mulcahy, Daniel G., 2019, The discovery of Rock Geckos Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) in the Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar with the description of two new species, Zootaxa 4661 (1), pp. 40-64 : 40-64

Cnemaspis tanintharyi sp. nov.

Tanintharyi Rock Gecko

Figs. 2–5

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:6FA94D80-F8A8-4D32-A355-602815A43CD5

Holotype. USNM 587514 (GenBank accession no. MN 104944 ), adult male collected by Daniel G. Mulcahy, Myint Kyaw Thura and Thaw Zin on 17 May 2015, between 0830–1000 h, near Payarhtan Cave , 28 km from Bokpyin town, proposed Lenya National Park, Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar (11.22945°N, 99.17611°E; 55 m elevation).

Paratypes. Adult males: USNM 594371 (GenBank accession no. MN 104946 ), collected by Daniel G. Mulcahy, Myint Kyaw Thura, and Thaw Zin on 19 May 2016, 0845–1045 h, near Nint Tenku village , proposed Lenya National Park extension, Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar (11.45189°N, 99.22590°E; 54 m elevation) ; USNM 594372–594374 (GenBank accession nos. MN104947 –49 respectively), collected by Grant Connette and Katherine J. LaJeunesse Connette on 22 May 2016, 1620–2200 h, same location as the holotype. One of these specimens , USNM 594373, is immature and was only included in the molecular analysis.

Diagnosis. Cnemaspis tanintharyi sp. nov. is a diminutive member of the C. kandiana group distinguished from all other members of the group by the combination of the following morphological characters: 1) a maximum SVL of 29.6 mm; 2) each postmental bordered by 2–4 scales; 3) four spine-like ventrolateral tubercles on flank; 4) gular scales smooth; 5) pectoral scales keeled, abdominal scales smooth; 6) ventral scales smooth; 7) 2–4 precloacal pores; 8) 4–5 femoral pores on each leg; 9) subcaudal scales smooth, scales on median row enlarged and smooth; 10) coloration of the gular region beige, dark gray-brown with dark blue hueing towards throat; 11) 6–7 supralabials; 12) 5–7 infralabials; 13) 15–18 subdigital lamellae on the 4 th toe; 14) 21–23 ventral scales at midbody.

Description of the holotype. Adult male ( USNM 587514) in good condition, with some of skin missing from the back and anterior portion of the tail. Lateral insertions along venter for gonadal examination and tissue retrieval, testes pigmented marbled black. SVL 28.9 mm, TailL 32.1 mm, TailW 2.6 mm, BrachiumL 3.8 mm, ForearmL 4.6 mm, AxillaGroinL 11.8 mm, ThighL 5.6 mm, CrusL 5.4 mm, HeadL 8.8 mm, HeadW 4.6 mm, HeadD 2.7 mm, EyeD 1.6 mm, EyeEar 2.0 mm, SnEye 3.6 mm, NarEye 3.1, InterorbD 2.6 mm, EarL 0.5 mm, InternarD 0.9 mm, HeadL/SVL 30.4%, HeadW/SVL 15.9%, HeadD/HeadL 26.1%, SnEye/HeadL 40.9%, EyeD/HeadL 18.2%.

Head oblong dorsally, moderately sized, narrow, highly flattened, distinct from neck; snout moderate in proportions, slightly concave in lateral view; rostral scale concave, divided by a median groove in dorsal view, posteroventrally in contact with the first supralabial; rostral contacted posteriorly by the nostril and dorsally by two enlarged supranasals; nostril round, dorsally oriented; scales along snout and occipital regions granular, slightly elevated, scales on snout larger than scales on occipital region; from eye, approximately five or six scale rows blocking contact with supralabials; seven supralabials; mental scale subtriangular, wider than long, in contact along its posteriolateral edge with two large postmental scales and one smaller medial postmental; lateral postmental scales bordered posteriorly by four smooth scales, medial scale bordered by only three; scales on gular region smooth; seven infralabials, both supra and infralabial rows decrease in size posteriorly.

Body slender and elongate; ventrolateral furrow separating dorsal scales from ventral scales; dorsal tubercles keeled, round, slightly enlarged, separated from each other by 3–6 scales; 17 paravertebral tubercles form a straight line; four ventrolateral spine-like tubercles; dorsal scales small, weakly keeled, slightly raised, granular, smaller than ventral scales; pectoral scales keeled, ventral scales on midbody and abdominal region smooth; ventrolateral scales smooth, round, slightly elevated; 23 ventral scales at midbody; three precloacal pores, arranged in a circular patch; four femoral pores arranged in a single row on each hindleg, completely separated from precloacal pores. Ventral scales on brachium keeled, smooth under thigh; digits slender, elongate, lacking webbing, bearing distinct recurved claws; 18 subdigital lamellae entire on the 4 th toe; relative length of toes 4> 3> 5> 2> 1; no significantly enlarged submetatarsal scale on toes.

Tail base swollen, latter half appears regenerated; two postcloacal openings, one on each side, presumably openings of hemipenial sheaths; one ventrolateral row of nine enlarged spiny tubercles; caudal tubercles whorled, present anteriorly, extending the full length of the tail; each caudal tubercle bordered by five scales laterally; dorsal caudal scales keeled, slightly pointed; subcaudal scales smooth; enlarged medial subcaudal row present, approximately 1.5–2.0x as large as surrounding scales. All scales on regenerated part of tail strongly keeled.

Coloration in preservative. After formalin fixation and three years of preservation the dorsum is brown dorsally; a series of irregularly shaped dark brown paravertebral markings occur along the body transforming into irregularly shaped dark-brown caudal bands; a pair of dark-brown round poorly defined spots starting at nape and terminating posterior to the hindlimbs on anterior portion of the tail; scattered mottling of gray and white spots, especially along tubercles; area around eyelids bluish; scattered broken dark-brown bands on limbs and toes. Top of head brown, labial scales mainly gray-brown, edged with white; dark brown postorbital stripe present. Venter light-gray; mid-pectoral and midbody region immaculate bordered laterally with gray mottling; limbs and abdominal regions with scattered gray mottling and dark colored scale edges; subdigital lamellae gray-brown; underside of regenerated subcaudal region gray brown; underside of throat and gular region gray-brown, edges of scales white; postmental region immaculate, silver in color.

Coloration in life. Based on a photograph of the holotype ( Fig. 4 ), ground color light brown bearing scattered cream-colored mottling on dorsal scales and tubercles; pairs of irregularly shaped dark-brown, well-defined blotches, unevenly arranged along midbody; ground color of head brown with dark-brown mottling; iris yellow; ground color of limbs tan, overlain with brown irregularly shaped bands along thigh and forearm; digits with small well-defined brown bands; ventrolateral spine-like tubercles on tail and midbody yellow.

Description of the paratypes and variation. Paratypes largely match coloration and scalation of holotype. Detailed comparisons in scale morphology and measurements are provided in Table 1 . Notably, USNM 594374 has two enlarged postmentals, with both scales contacting each other medially. Only two or three posterior genial scales bordering each postmental. USNM 594371 has four postmentals, two of which are enlarged and border the mental and two smaller postmentals along the midline with four or five genial scales bounding each postmental. The dorsal coloration of the paratypes in preservative is quite variable. In addition to the row of round dark brown blotches observed in the holotype, the paratypes USNM 594372 and USNM 594374 have a row of light gray irregularly shaped dorsal body blotches extending from the nape to the anterior portion of the tail along with a small gray vertebral stripe separating each blotch. Light-colored blotches are also present in paratype USNM 594372, but are faded and more poorly defined than in other two specimens. The coloration of the paratypes were not recorded in life, but are assumed to be similar to the holotype.

Comparisons. We compare the species Cnemaspis tanintharyi sp. nov. to all other members of the Cnemaspis kandiana group from southern Thailand, Sumatra and islands off its western coast and the Bay of Bengal. Further comparisons can be found in Table 3. C . tanintharyi sp. nov. is distinguished from Cnemaspis phuketensis Das & Leong, 2004 by having an enlarged medial subcaudal row (versus subequal), presence of both precloacal and femoral pores in males (versus both absent) and smooth gular scales (versus keeled). From the adjacent species C. thayawthadangyi sp. nov., C. tanintharyi sp. nov. is distinguished by 21–23 ventral scales at midbody (versus 18–20), ventral scales on pectoral, abdominal, subcaudal and thigh regions smooth (versus all keeled), HeadD 26.1–32.5% of HeadL (versus 34.4–36.5%) and a gular coloration that is beige, dark gray-brown with dark-blue hueing towards throat (versus gular coloration with irregularly-shaped dark-gray streaks). From species of Cnemaspis in the Bay of Bengal, C. tanintharyi sp. nov. can be distinguished from C. andersonii by the presence of smooth gular scales (versus weakly keeled), keeled pectoral scales (versus smooth), the presence of enlarged medial subcaudals (versus subcaudals equal sized) and a blotched coloration with dark-edged blotches sometimes present (versus coloration plain brown, rather immaculate) and from C. wicksi by having 6–7 supralabials (versus 5 supralabials), 15–18 subdigital lamellae on the 4 th toe (versus 14), the presence of smooth gular scales (versus keeled) and a blotched color pattern (versus no prominent features on color pattern).

The presence of smooth gular scales distinguishes C. tanintharyi sp. nov. from all members of the C. kandiana species group found in Sumatra and adjacent islands (versus keeled in Cnemaspis aceh Iskandar, McGuire & Amarasinghe, 2017 , Cnemaspis dezwaani Das, 2005 , Cnemaspis jacobsoni Das, 2005 , Cnemaspis minang Iskandar, McGuire & Amarasinghe, 2017 , Cnemaspis modiglianii Das, 2005 , Cnemaspis pagai Iskandar, McGuire & Amarasinghe, 2017 , Cnemaspi tapanuli Iskandar, McGuire & Amarasinghe, 2017 and Cnemaspis whittenorum Das, 2005 except for C. andalas Iskandar, McGuire & Amarasinghe, 2017 . C. tanintharyi sp. nov. is distinguished from C. andalas by having 2–4 precloacal pores (versus six), 15–18 subdigital lamellae on the 4 th toe (versus 18–20) and by four spine-like tubercles on the flank (versus six).

Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the type locality of this species situated in the Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar. We recommend the English common name “ Tanintharyi Rock Gecko”.

Distribution & natural history. Cnemaspis tanintharyi sp. nov. is known from just two localities in the proposed Lenya National Park and its proposed extension in the Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar. It may also exist in adjacent habitat in Southwest Thailand (see discussion). Both localities are situated near karst outcrops, with the surrounding habitat consisting of lowland tropical rainforest dominated by dipterocarp trees. Specimens were collected on karst outcrops and low down on the tree buttress of large dipterocarps. The immature specimen was found at dusk on a karst formation (G. Connette, pers. comm.). The type specimen was collected inside the margins of a cave during the day and the Nint Tenku specimen was collected during the morning from the buttress of a large dipterocarp tree, while running up the buttress after raking leaf litter. Like other species of the Cnemaspis kandiana group, this species probably uses caves, crevices, or leaf-litter as shelter. It is sympatric with C. siamensis at one locality (Nint Tenku).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Cnemaspis tanintharyi sp. nov. Holotype. USNM 587514. Dorsal (A) and Ventral (B) views after preservation. Scale Bar = 10 mm. Photographs by Esther M. Langan.

FIGURE 3. Cnemaspis tanintharyi sp. nov. Holotype. USNM 587514. Ventral view of cloacal, femoral and caudal region (A), underside of forefoot (B), underside of hindfoot (C), ventral (D) dorsal (E) and lateral (F) views of the head. Scale bars = 1 mm. Photographs by Esther M. Langan.

FIGURE 4. Cnemaspis tanintharyi sp. nov. Holotype. USNM 587514. Photographed in life (A) with view of the habitat surrounding the Type Locality (B). Photograph A by Daniel G. Mulcahy, Photograph B by Bonnie B. Blaimer.

FIGURE 5. Variation in the paratypes, USNM 594371 (A), USNM 594372 (B) and USNM 594374 (C), of Cnemaspis tanintharyi sp. nov. Photographs by Justin L. Lee.