Cnemaspis nigridia ( Smith, 1925 )

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 : 100

Cnemaspis nigridia ( Smith, 1925)

Black Rock Gecko

Fig. 51

Heteronota Kendallii Gray, 1845:174 (in part)

Gonatodes affinis Shelford, 1901:49

Gonatodes nigridius Smith, 1925:22

Cnemaspis nigridius Brongersma, 1934:165 ; Manthey & Grossmann, 1997:214; Cox, van Dijk, Nabhitabhata & Thirakhupt, 1998:90; Auliya 2006:180

Cnemaspis cf. nigridia Chan-ard, Grossmann, Gumprecht & Schulz, 1999:104

Holotype. BM 1946.8 .22.90. Type locality: “Mt. Gadin” = Gunung Gading , Sarawak, East Malaysia (01°41.16 N, 109°50.35 E) at approximately 100 m in elevation.

Diagnosis. Maximum SVL 75.5 mm; 10 or 11 supralabials; 9–11 infralabials; ventral scales weakly to moderately keeled; 10–16 contiguous, pore-bearing, precloacal scales with round pores; 39–43 paravertebral tubercles; tubercles semi-linear to randomly arranged, absent from flanks and lateral caudal furrows; ventrolateral caudal tubercles present; lateral row of caudal tubercles present; caudal tubercles not encircling tail; subcaudals keeled but bearing an enlarged median row of smooth scales; 2–4 postcloacal tubercles on each side of tail base; no enlarged femoral or subtibial scales; submetatarsal scales of first toe enlarged; subtibials keeled; 26–29 subdigital fourth toe lamellae; a pair of large, round, black spots in shoulder region; yellow to white bars on flanks; wide, black and dull-yellow caudal bands (Tables 6,7).

Color pattern in life ( Fig. 51 ). Dorsal coloration of head, body and tail dark brown overlain with large, oval, black spots on anterior portion of body and nape; cream- colored, vertebral markings on nape and dorsum; thin, semi-transversely oriented, yellow bands on body and flanks; limbs bearing wide, dark and yellowish alternating faint bands; yellow caudal bands containing dark pigmentation; all ventral surfaces dark-gray.

Distribution. Cnemaspis nigridia is known from the type locality of Gunung Gading as well as Gunung Pueh, Gunung Beremput, and the Bau Limestone Area ( Smith 1925; Naming & Das 2004; Das 2006), Sarawak, East Malaysia ( Fig. 4 ).

Natural History. We have observed Cnemaspis nigridia only at night on the surfaces of large granite boulders in the vicinity of streams within old lowland secondary forest in forest ( Fig. 51 ). Surveys during the day resulted in finding only C. kendallii in these areas. In all the locations from which this species has been reported except the Bau Limestone Area (which may be erroneous, see below) it is restricted to granite boulders.

Remarks. Naming & Das (2004) report Cnemaspis nigridia as occurring on karst formations in the Bau Limestone Area. However, it is not clear if specimens were actually examined as there is no character support for their identification or voucher specimens listed. Only the habitat generalists C. kendallii and C. peninsularis sp. nov. and C. flavigaster occur on both karst and granite and we suspect the Bau population may not be C. nigridia but the karst-adapted C. paripari which occurs in that region ( Grismer & Chan 2009).

Relationships. Cnemaspis nigridia is the sister species of C. paripari from northwestern Borneo ( Fig. 2 ).

Material examined. East Malaysia: Sarawak, Gunung Gading LSUHC 9167–70.

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 4. Distribution of the species in the Pattani and Southern Sunda clades. Stars indicate type localities.

FIGURE 51. Cnemaspis nigridia from Gunung Gading, Sarawak, East Malaysia. Upper left: adult female (LSUDPC 4882) in dark color pattern phase. Upper right: adult male (LSUDPC 4344) in light color pattern phase. Lower: granite boulder microhabitat at Gunung Gading. Photographs by LLG.