Cyrtodactylus phuocbinhensis, Nguyen, Sang Ngoc, Le, Thanh-Ngan Thi, Tran, Thi Anh Dao, Orlov, Nikolai L., Lathrop, Amy, Macculloch, Ross D., Le, Thuy-Duong Thi, Jin, Jie-Qiong, Nguyen, Luan Thanh, Nguyen, Tao Thien, Hoang, Dat Duc & Che, Jing, 2013

Nguyen, Sang Ngoc, Le, Thanh-Ngan Thi, Tran, Thi Anh Dao, Orlov, Nikolai L., Lathrop, Amy, Macculloch, Ross D., Le, Thuy-Duong Thi, Jin, Jie-Qiong, Nguyen, Luan Thanh, Nguyen, Tao Thien, Hoang, Dat Duc & Che, Jing, 2013, Phylogeny of the Cyrtodactylus irregularis species complex (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Vietnam with the description of two new species, Zootaxa 3737 (4), pp. 399-414 : 409-411

Cyrtodactylus phuocbinhensis sp. nov.

Holotype ( Fig. 5 ). ITBCZ 1529, an adult male collected on 28 September 2011 at Phuoc Binh National Park, Ninh Thuan Province, Vietnam, coordinates around 12°04’N, 108°45’E, 646–1136 m a.s.l. ( Fig. 1 ) by Tran Thi Anh Dao, Le Thi Thuy Duong, and Le Thi Thanh Ngan.

Paratype. ITBCZ 1518, an adult female, collected on 23 September 2011. Other information same as that of the holotype.

Diagnosis. Size medium, SVL 46.0– 60.4 mm; body moderately elongated with two dark brown stripes or blotches on dorsum; interrupted nuchal band reaching the posterior margin of eyes; tail longer than SVL, subcaudals small, not transversely enlarged; five enlarged femoral scales; male with seven preanal pores in Λshaped; upper labials 9–11, lower labials 9–10; narrow subdigital lamellae on fourth toe 17–19; transverse ventral scale rows 43–47.

Description of holotype. Adult male, SVL 60.4 mm. Head relatively depressed (HeadH/HeadW ratio 0.57), distinct from neck. Upper labials 9, continuous with a row of small scales extending to angle of mouth. Lower labials 9, also continuous with another small scale row extending to angle of mouth. Head scales small and granular, intermixed with much larger tubercles in occipital and temporal areas. Supraciliary scales large. Ear opening oval, obliquely oriented, diameter nearly half that of the eye (average EarL/OrbD ratio 0.42).

Body elongate (TrunkL/SVL ratio 0.42) with weak ventrolateral folds. Dorsal scales small, granular, and intermixed with much larger round tubercles. The posterior part of body, especially between thighs and base of tail, with conical or subtrihedral keeled tubercles. Dorsal and lateral tubercles round, conical, not in rows. Belly with fairly large, smooth, flattened, juxtaposed, round to hexagonal scales. Midbody ventral scale rows between the lateral folds 47. Dorsal surfaces of limbs with granular scales intermixed with keeled conical tubercles. Subdigital lamellae well developed, as broad as the digit, widest in joint of digits, 19 lamellae under fourth toe. Digits unwebbed. Preanal scales large, flattened, concentrated in large group between thighs. Preanal pores seven, arranged as Λ-shaped series. Enlarged femoral scales five, without pores, separated from the preanal scales by smaller scales; one femoral scale sunken at the center. Preanal groove absent. Tail round in cross-section, longer than snout-vent length (TL/SVL ratio 1.26). Subcaudals small, not transversely enlarged, larger than lateral and dorsal caudal scales. Proximal tail with enlarged conical or subtrihedral tubercles dorsally and laterally. Postanal region strongly swollen, with lateral tubercles.

Color in life. Upper side of head bronzy brown with dark brown spots on occiput. Upper lip with creamy white spots, Iris bronzy green with black vertical pupil surrounded by orange edge. Distal edge of the eyelid golden. An interrupted dark brown nuchal band present from posterior margin of eye extending posteriorly into dorsolateral stripes highlighted in golden brown, these stripes break up near the level of the groin, making the dorsal pattern striped. Venter white to brownish. Tail with 10 black rings.

Color in preservative. The pattern was not changed, but the color was slightly faded. Eyes became dark with milk-white pupil; distal edge of the eyelid white.

Variation. The female paratype is smaller than the holotype (46.0 vs. 60.4 mm SVL), preanal pits are absent in females. Instead of pits, six preanal scales in the female were sunken. Nuchal band also interrupted. Dorsal pattern of the paratype blotched, not forming stripes, but instead forming diffuse transverse dorsal bands. Table 4 summarizes variation in size and squamation.

Comparison. Cyrtodactylus phuocbinhensis sp. nov. differs from all other members of the C. irregularis group by the following characters. It clearly differs from C. banaensis , C. buchardi , C. cryptus , C. pseudoquadrivirgatus , and C. taynguyenensis sp. nov. by the presence of enlarged femoral scales. The new species differs from C. bidoupimontis by smaller size (SVL 46–60.4 vs. 74–86.3), smaller number of enlarged femoral scales (5 vs. 6–8), and shape of nuchal band (interrupted vs. intact). The new species differs from C. bugiamapensis by number of enlarged femoral scales (5 vs. 6–10), the arrangement of preanal pores (Λ-shaped vs. additional pores below the Λ-shaped row), and the shape of nuchal bands (separated and continuous with dorsal pattern vs. continuous or medially interrupted by a narrow line). Cyrtodactylus phuocbinhensis sp. nov. might differ from C. cattienensis by the absence of a continuous nuchal band, and the presence of sunken femoral scale (vs. smooth); this character needs confirmation based on additional specimens. It differs from C. huynhi by the absence of femoral pores (3–8 pores in C. huynhi ), the absence of preanal pores in females, and the shape of the nuchal band (interrupted vs. continuous). Cyrtodactylus phuocbinhensis sp. nov. differs from C. irregularis by smaller size (SVL 46–60.4 vs. 79–80 mm), smaller number of enlarged femoral scales (5 vs. 7–8), absence of pits in femoral scales, and shape of the nuchal band (interrupted vs. continuous). The new species differs from C. ziegleri by having smaller size (SVL 46–60.4 vs. 84.6–93 mm), larger number of ventral scales (43–47 vs. 33–39), smaller number of enlarged femoral scales (5 vs. 8–10), and absence of femoral and preanal pores in females.

Etymology. The specific epithet phuocbinhensis is derived from Phước Bình National Park, where the new species was collected.

Habitat description. The two geckos were collected at night on rocks and trees along streams at the elevation of 646–1136 m a.s.l.

Distribution. Cyrtodactylus phuocbinhensis sp. nov. is known only from Phuoc Binh National Park, Ninh Thuan Province, Vietnam.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Sampling locations of the Cyrtodactylus irregularis species complex. Black and white circles represent samples from type and paratype locality, respectively, of corresponding species. White triangles represent undescribed taxa. Locality details are in Table 1. The insert is a map of Indochina and South China with a rectangle indicating the study area.

FIGURE 5. Holotype of Cyrtodactylus phuocbinhensis sp. nov. in life.

Tables

TABLE 4. Measurements (in mm) and pholidosis of the type series of Cyrtodactylus phuocbinhensis sp. nov. The paratype has a regenerated tail. See Materials and Methods for abbreviations.

Character	ITBCZ 1529 Holotype	ITBCZ 1518 Paratype	Character	ITBCZ 1529 Holotype	ITBCZ 1518 Paratype
SVL	60.4	46.0	V	47	43
TL	76.1	-	SLB	184	182
HeadL	19.1	15.7	SL	9	11
HeadW	12.2	9.0	IL	9	10
HeadH	7.0	5.5	PP	7	sunken
OrbD	3.8	3.5	EFS	5	5
SnEye	7.3	5.7	FP	0	0
EyeEar	5.0	4.4	SDL4A	21	16
EarL	1.6	1.0	SDL4P	19	17
TrunkL	25.1	19.3	TubL	not in rows	not in rows
ForeL	9.5	7.7	TubW	not in rows	not in rows
FemurL	11.7	7.9	Sex	Male	Female
CrusL	11.5	8.5
LF4	5.1	3.7
LT4	6.2	4.8