Cnemaspis monachorum Grismer, Norhayati, Chan, Belabut, Muin, Wood & Grismer, 2009

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 : 27-34

Cnemaspis monachorum Grismer, Norhayati, Chan, Belabut, Muin, Wood & Grismer, 2009

Monks’ Rock Gecko

Figs. 9 , 10

Holotype. ZRC 2.6774 . Type locality: “ Wat Wanaram , Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia (06°20.275 N, 99°52.507 E)” at 35 m in elevation.

Diagnosis. Maximum SVL 35.1 mm; seven or eight supralabials; 5–7 infralabials; ventral scales smooth; three, contiguous, pore-bearing precloacal scales with round pores; 2–20 paravertebral tubercles; body tubercles randomly arranged, absent from flanks and lateral caudal furrows; no ventrolateral caudal tubercles; lateral row of caudal tubercles present anteriorly; caudal tubercles not encircling tail; subcaudals smooth bearing a medial row of enlarged scales; one or two postcloacal tubercles on each side of tail base; no enlarged femoral, subtibial or submetatarsal scales; subtibials smooth; 24–30 subdigital fourth toe lamellae; gular region, throat, and abdomen in males yellow; faint, dark, lineate, mid-gular marking present (Tables 6,7).

Color pattern in life (Figs. 9,10). Dorsal ground color brown; head, body, and limbs overlain with small, irregularly shaped, somewhat randomly arranged, black and cream colored spots varying somewhat in size; light dorsal blotches in general paravertebral arrangement; markings on top of head smaller than those on body; dark markings in caudal region tend to form bands that encircle tail; anterior gular region yellowish, most pronounced on mental scale; faint, dark, midgular stripe present; pectoral region and anterior, abdominal region orangish yellow; remainder of ventral surfaces of body and limbs beige bearing faint, dark, stippling.

Distribution. Cnemaspis monachorum is known only from the Langkawi Archipelago where it inhabits the islands of Langkawi (Grismer et al. 2009) and reported here for the first time from the smaller satellite island of Langgun ( Fig. 4 ).

Natural history. On Pulau Langkawi, Grismer (2011a) noted that Cnemaspis monachorum is a lowland, saxicolous species known only from the karst outcropping of Wat Wanaram near the town of Kuah in a region dominated by a mixture of primary coastal and lowland dipterocarp forest. Cnemaspis monachorum is a small, swift, agile species abroad only during the day, climbing on the fragmented boulders along the periphery of karst formations as well as along the base of karst cliffsides near the edges of cracks. Lizards are wary and will rapidly retreat into a crack while curling their tail above their back and waving it from side to side. During the night, lizards are not abroad and only occasionally observed deep within limestone cracks. Cnemaspis monachorum is the smallest species of Cnemaspis and possibly associated with this small size is that gravid females carry only a single egg whereas females of all other Cnemaspis carry two eggs. Gravid females have been observed in October. On Pulau Langgun, C. monachorum is also diurnal and common throughout the island on the limestone rocky hillsides as well as the cliff faces that edge Tasik (lake) Langgun ( Fig. 10 ). During August, no gravid females were found on Pulau Langgun suggesting that October may be the beginning of the reproductive season.

Relationships. Cnemaspis monachorum is the basal lineage of the Pattani clade ( Fig. 2 ).

Material examined. Malaysia: Kedah; Pulau Langkawi LSUHC 9118 , ZRC 2.6774 – 76 (type series). Material examined since Grismer et al. (2009) : Malaysia: Kedah; Pulau Langkawi LSUHC 9115–17 ; Pulau Langgun LSUHC 10807–11 .

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 9. Adult male Cnemaspis monachorum (LSUDPC 6502) from Pulau Langgun of the Langkawi Archipelago, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia in the dark color pattern phase. Photograph by LLG.

FIGURE 10. Cnemaspis monachorum (LSUDPC 6502) from the Langkawi Archipelago, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia. Upper and middle left: ventral color pattern of male (upper; LSUDPC 8275) and female (middle; LSUDPC 8274) from Pulau Langgun. Photographs by ESHQ. Upper right: adult male (LSUDPC 4701) from Wat Wanaram, Pulau Langkawi in the dark color pattern phase. Lower left: adult female (LSUDPC 4846) from Wat Wanaram in the dark color pattern phase. Lower right: karst microhabitat on Pulau Langgun. Photographs by LLG.