Cnemaspis tropidogaster (Boulenger, 1885)

Mendis Wickramasinghe, L. J. & Munindradasa, D. A. I., 2007, Review of the genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Sauria: Gekkonidae) in Sri Lanka with the description of five new species, Zootaxa 1490 (1), pp. 1-63 : 21-23

Cnemaspis tropidogaster (Boulenger, 1885)

Syntypes. NMSL 2004.11.01 , Adult male, 32.64 mm SVL, from Kanneliya , Galle, Sri Lanka, (N 06º 15’ 13.2” E 080º 19’ 20.4”, elevation 140m), 11.05.2003, collected by L. J. Mendis Wickramasinghe ; NMSL 2004.11.2 , Adult male, 30.82 mm SVL, from Kanneliya , Galle, Sri Lanka, 11.05.2003 ; NMSL 2004.11.03 , Adult male, 29.62 mm from Kanneliya, Galle, Sri Lanka, 11.05.2003 ; NMSL20060801 , Adult male 28.47 mm SVL, from, Waratalgoda Athweltota , Rathnapura, Sri Lanka, (N 06º 32’ 21.2” E 080º 18’ 25.5”, elevation 386m), 21.02.2006, collected by L. J. Mendis Wickramasinghe.

Diagnosis. A small-sized Cnemaspis (snout to vent length 28–33 mm in an adult males), which can be distinguished from all known congeners by the following combination of characters: postmentals separated by a small scale; nostrils are not in contact with first supralabial; 5–6 supra labials to angle of mid-orbit position and end of jaw at 8–9 supra labials; 36–38 interorbitals; throat scales keeled; 72–78 dorsal tubercles; dorsal tubercles small, rounded, pentagonal or hexagonal; intermixed with groups of large (3–4 in a transverse row), slightly carinated tubercles at the mid region of the body; lower part of flank with spine-like tubercles; upper part of flank with subconical scales; gular scales keeled; 28 midventrals; ventral keeled and imbricate; mid subcaudals small; 3–5 preanal pores; 4–5 femoral pores on each side; 11–12 subdigital lamellae and 4 basal lamellae in the 4 th finger; 11–13 subdigital lamellae and 5 basal lamellae in the 4 th toe.

Description of NMSL 2004.11.01. Adult male (figs. 11, 15B, 19B, 23B, 27B and 31B) snout to vent length 32.64 mm, head depressed and narrow (HD / HLJ 0.37), head elongated and large (HLJ / SVL 0.28), distinct from the neck. Snout long (SE / HW 0.75), longer than the eye width (EW / SE 0.45). Eye relatively large (EW / HLJ 0.22). Ear opening small (EL / HLJ0.06), inter ear distance is greater than the width of the eye (EE / EW 2.70).

Rostral is large with a groove penetrating half of the scale. There are three internasals, with the mid scale being large in size to the nostril, and the other two are larger. The supranasal and postnasal consist of a smooth circular scale each and are bigger than the nostril, larger than the mid internasal, but smaller than the other two. The head is covered with circular, elongated, pentagonal or hexagonal shaped tubercle scales from snout to posterior margin of interorbital area and with small granulated scales up to the neck. The size of tubercle scales becomes progressively smaller from the snout to interorbital area. There are 32 interorbital scales of which mid scales are a little shorter and smaller than that of upper area. The scales in the parietal area are smaller than interorbital scales. The supraciliaries are slightly larger than upper interorbital scales. The nostril is oval, and is not connected with the supralabials. The nostril and the first supralabial are separated by a postnasal. The loreal region is convex and is covered with 15 large, circular or elongated, carinated tubercle scales. There are nine supralabials at the base of the jaw, with six at the mid orbit point. The first supralabial is slightly larger than the second, third and forth of which the size is similar. The rest becomes progressively small. The dorsal tubercles are smaller than the upper interorbitals and are rounded, pentagonal or hexagonal in shape, and are different in size. There are 74 dorsal tubercles, intermixed with groups of large (3–4 in a transverse row), slightly carinated tubercles at the mid region of the body. The spine-like tubercles present on the lower part of flank are larger than the subconical tubercles present on the upper part of flank. The dorsal part of forelimb and hindlimb is covered with flushed, comparatively large scales, with a keel. The dorsal tail is covered with large carinated tubercles intermixed with periodic transverse rows of sub-trihedrals. The mental scale is large and sub-triangular. A pair of circular, pentagonal or hexagonal postmentals (smaller than the mental) is present on either side. The first postmental pair is separated by a small scale, and is connected with the first infralabial. The second postmental pair is smaller, and is connected with the first and second infralabials. There are eight infralabials towards the jaw end, with five of them towards the mid orbit point. The first three infralabials are equal in size and the rest becomes progressively smaller towards the anterior end. The ear holes are oval shaped, bigger than nostrils, but smaller than eyes. There are 24 scales between the eye and ear. The scales in the throat are having keels, circular or elongated in shape, the anterior scales being larger than the posterior scales. The gular scales are having keels. The mid ventral area consists of 28 scales with keels, which are smaller than the postmentals. The scales in ventral portion of fore and hind limbs are having keels, with the scales in the hind limb being relatively larger than those of the forelimb. There are five femoral pores and four preanal pores present. The preanal is smaller than anal scales. There are 76 subcaudals. The mid subcaudals are moderately larger than the other scales in the tail. The mid subcaudals are of elongated overlapping diamond in shape. The keels are present in subcaudals. The digits are slender, elongated and clawed. The distal sub-digital formulae include 4>3>5>2>1 (fingers) and 4>3>5>2>1 (toes) ( Fig. 27.B .).

Colour in life. Body colour in the dorsal side is light brown. A transverse black band is present in the interorbital area. Dark brown spots are scattered in the dorsal snout. The supraciliaries are light yellow. The eye pupil is circular and black with the surrounding is being yellow. The lateral view of the head and neck consists of three black lines (one from nasal to mid eye in loreal region, the other along lower parietal and the third from back of eye to neck on temporal region) in a light brown background with white or yellow or black spots in supralabial, yellow or white in lower jaw and lower neck areas. The ventral view of the throat is light grey with irregular black or yellow markings in ventral jaw. There are three stripes on upper arm and three on lower arm of dark brown in colour, in a brown background. The black stripe formula of 2,3,4,4 and 3 is present on fingers in a white background. The ventral view of lower and upper arm is grey with black scale boundaries in upper arm. The mid dorsal area of the body is light brown, with irregular transverse black markings, while the last one is being a ‘W’, between fore and hind limbs. The white or yellow or black spots are present in a light brown background in the flank in mid lateral view. The mid ventral view is grey in colour. There are three dark brown stripes on each femur and tibia in a brown background. The black stripe formula of 2,3,4,5 and 4 is present on toes in a yellow background. The ventral femur and tibia is grey in colour with brown scale boundaries. The original part of the tail is reddish brown in colour, with 12 transverse marks of black, of which the mark at the base is arrow head shaped. The ventral tail is brown in colour.

Colour in alcohol. All black in life is turned in to brown, and yellow has turned in to grey and the rest is conserved.

Remarks. C. tropidogaster is congener with C. samanalensis sp. nov. from morphological characters. However, C. tropidogaster can easily be distinguished from C. samanalensis by the SVL, presence of groups of large scales (3–4) in transverse rows in dorsal body; of presence of non-prominent spine-like tubercles, the intraorbital, dorsal tubercle and ventral counts, and also from morphometric analysis.

Figures

FIGURE 27. The ventral view of the hand, foot and tail of, A. C. samanalensis sp. nov. 36.91 mm SVL (NMSL20061501) and B. C. tropidogaster 32.64 mm SVL (NMSL2004.11.1).