Cnemaspis grismeri Wood, Quah, Anuar & Muin, 2013

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 : 78-80

Cnemaspis grismeri Wood, Quah, Anuar & Muin, 2013

Grismer’s Rock Gecko

Figs. 41 , 42

Cnemaspis mcguirei Grismer 2011a:349 .

Holotype. LSUHC 10996 . Type locality: “ Gua Asar , Bukit Kepala Gajah limestone massif, Lenggong, Perak, Malaysia (5°07.53’N, 100°58.82’E)” at 78 m in elevation.

Diagnosis. Maximum SVL 50.6 mm; eight supralabials and infralabials; ventral scales keeled; 8–10 discontinuous, pore-bearing precloacal scales with round pores; 27–32 paravertebral tubercles; body tubercles not linearly arranged, present on flanks; tubercles present in lateral caudal furrows; ventrolateral caudal tubercles present anteriorly; lateral row of caudal tubercles present; caudal tubercles not encircling tail; all subcaudals keeled, no enlarged median scale row; two or three postcloacal tubercles on each side of tail base; no enlarged femoral or subtibial scales; subtibials keeled; no submetatarsal scales on first toe; 25–31 subdigital fourth toe lamellae; two ocelli in the shoulder region in males; wide, white to yellow postscapular band; yellow bars on flanks; nearly immaculate white bands on tail (Tables 6,7).

Color pattern (Figs. 41,42). Dorsal ground color grey to brown; head and body overlain with irregularly shaped, small, dark and yellowish flecks giving an overall mossy appearance; cream to yellowish markings on top of head; thin, dark, postorbital stripe extending onto nape; paired, elongate, medial, yellowish markings on nape followed by small, indistinct, black shoulder patches enclosing two yellow ocelli, ocellus dorsal to forelimb insertion distinct and another anterior to forelimb insertion weak; shoulder patch edged posteriorly by wide, offset, postscapular band that is yellow laterally and white medially; irregularly shaped, offset, paravertebral, yellowish markings on dorsum extend to base of tail; distinct, transversely elongate, yellow bars on flanks; diffuse, brown and white bands encircle tail posteriorly, bands yellowish anteriorly; posterior portion of tail regenerated and uniform dark brown; irregularly shaped yellowish to dull white markings on limbs; dark and light diffuse bands encircling digits; ventral surfaces of head, body, and limbs dull beige, immaculate, darkening laterally; subcaudal region suffused with pigment, not immaculate.

Distribution. Cnemaspis grismeri is known only from the type locality at Gua Asar, Bukit Kepala Gajah limestone massif, Lenggong, Perak, Malaysia ( Wood et al. 2013; Fig. 3 ).

Natural history. Cnemaspis grismeri is a lowland species found on the inner walls of limestone caves, cave entrances, karst walls outside of caves, and outcroppings in the lowland karst forest surrounding limestone massifs at Gua Asar and Gua Kijang ( Fig. 42 ). Wood et al. (2013) reported that C. grismeri is diurnal but only observed lizards moving about in cracks and on shadowed surfaces of karst boulders. Lizards are wary and quickly enter into retreats when approached. Their behavior is similar to that of its upland closest relative C. mcguirei that resides on granite boulders at Bukit Larut, Perak ( Grismer 2011a). At night, the color of C. grismeri lightens considerably and lizards have been observed sleeping on leaves in low vegetation near the karst walls and on vines and the aerial roots of fig trees next to the limestone walls ( Wood et al. 2013). Gravid females bearing two eggs have been found during July.

Relationships. Cnemaspis grismeri is the sister species of C. mcguirei ( Fig. 2 ) and both are closely associated with the Banjaran Bintang Mountains ( Fig. 1 ), C. grismeri being the lowland form and C. mcguirei the upland species. A parallel phylogeographic pattern occurs in the upland Cyrtodactylus bintangtinggi Grismer, Wood, Quah, Anuar, Muin, Sumontha, Norhayati, Bauer, Wangkulangkul, Grismer & Pauwels and C. bintangrendah Grismer, Wood, Quah, Anuar, Muin, Sumontha, Norhayati, Bauer, Wangkulangkul, Grismer & Pauwels ( Grismer et al. 2012, 2014) from the same localities.

Material examined. Malaysia: Perak, Lenggong LSUHC 9969–73 , 10941–44 , 10996 (type series) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution of the Sundaland Rock Gecko genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 in Southeast Asia. The northern outlier is C. laoensis Grismer 2009.

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 41. Cnemaspis grismeri from Gua Asar, Bukit Kepala Gajah, Lenggong, Perak, Malaysia. Upper: adult female (LSUDPC 6693) in the dark color pattern phase. Lower: adult male (LSUDPC 6696) in the dark color pattern phase. Photographs by ESHQ.

FIGURE 42. Upper: juvenile Cnemaspis grismeri (LSUDPC 6695) from Gua Asar, Bukit Kepala Gajah limestone massif, Lenggong, Perak, Malaysia in light color pattern phase. Lower: karst microhabitat of at Gua Asar. Photographs by ESHQ.