Cyrtodactylus semiadii, Riyanto, Awal, Bauer, Aaron M. & Yudha, Donan Satria, 2014

Riyanto, Awal, Bauer, Aaron M. & Yudha, Donan Satria, 2014, A new small karst-dwelling species of Cyrtodactylus (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Java, Indonesia, Zootaxa 3785 (4), pp. 589-599 : 590-594

Cyrtodactylus semiadii sp.nov.

( Figures 1–3 , 4 B)

Holotype. MZB.Lace.9104, adult male, Mliwang Village, Kerek Subdistrict, Tuban District, East Java Province, Indonesia (06°50’24.5”S, 111°53’06.5”E; 66 m above sea level), collected 2 October 2012 by Awal Riyanto and Wahyu Trilaksono.

Paratypes. MZB.Lace. 9106, adult male, data as for holotype. MZB.Lace.9107, adult female, gravid with two eggs collected aproximately 100 m from holotype, 29 September 2012 by Awal Riyanto and W. Trilaksono. MZB.Lace.9105, adult male; Seladek Hill at Sawir Village, Tambakboyo Subdistrict, Tuban District, East Java Province, Indonesia, (06°49’59.4”S, 111°51’59.8”E; 86 m above sea level) collected 28 September 2012 by A. Riyanto and W. Trilaksono. MZB.Lace.10827, adult female, gravid with one egg, Srimulyo Village, Piyungan Subdistrict, Bantul District, Special Province of Yogyakarta, Indonesia (07°50’26.0”S, 110°26’58.5”E; 84 m above sea level), collected 21 August 2012 by Donan Satria Yudha and Hastin Ambar Asti.

Diagnosis. Cyrtodactylus semiadii sp. nov. may be distinguished from other congeners by the following unique combination of characters: small size (SVL up to 47.1 mm); no tubercles on forelimbs, head or occiput, weak tuberculation on dorsum and flanks; digits short; precloacal groove absent; enlarged precloacal and femoral scales absent; precloacal and femoral pores absent; tail short—approximately equal to SVL, robust, cylindrical, basal portion bearing tubercles; enlarged median subcaudal scales lacking.

Etymology. The specific epithet semiadii honors Prof. Dr. Gono Semiadi, one of the senior researchers in the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, in recognition of his kindness in providing young researchers the opportunity to participate in various biodiversity surveys.

Description of holotype ( Figure 1 ). Adult male, SVL 39.6 mm, TailL 39.2 mm; head triangular, moderately long (HeadL/SVL 0.30) and wide (HeadW/HL 0.66), somewhat depressed (HeadH/HL 0.47), distinct from neck; lores weakly inflated, prefrontal region concave, canthus rostralis smoothly rounded ( Figure 2 A); snout moderately long (SnEye/HeadL 0.40) and rounded; eye large (OrbD/HeadL 0.25); ear opening oblong, small (EarL/HeadL 0.13); eye to ear distance greater than diameter of eye (EyeEar/OD 0.83); rostral 1.7 times wider (1.8 mm) than deep (1.06 mm), incompletely divided dorsally by a median Y-shaped rostral groove, bordered posterodorsally by five large granules; nostril bordered anteriorly by rostral, dorsally by one anterior supranasal, posteriorly by five nasals, and ventrally by first supralabial; 8 supralabial scales to midpoint of orbit (10 enlarged scales to rictus) on both right and left sides; 10 infralabial scales on both left and right sides, first to third largest; scales of rostrum, lores, crown, and occiput small and granular, occiput with few small tubercles; mental triangular, nearly as wide (1.06 mm) as deep (1.11 mm), bordered laterally by first infralabial and posteriorly by paired elongate postmentals in contact anteromedially for 40% of their length; gular scales small and granular, grading posteriorly into slightly larger, flatter, throat scales, then into large, flat, imbricate pectoral and abdominal scales.

Trunk moderately elongate (TrunkL/SVL ratio 0.46) with weak ventrolateral folds; dorsal scales small and granular, interspersed with low, rounded, irregularly-arranged tubercles ( Figure 2 B); 36 flat, imbricate ventral scales between indistinct ventrolateral body folds, ventral scales larger than dorsal scales; enlarged precloacal scales absent; precloacal groove absent.

Forelimbs short (ForeaL/SVL 0.14); granular scales of forearms similar those of body; a few tubercles on dorsal base of arm; palmar scales slightly raised, smaller anteriorly than posteriorly; digits short, with inflection at basal interphalangeal joints; subdigital lamellae transversely expanded proximal to joint inflections, digits narrow distal to joints ( Figure 2 C); claws well developed, sheathed by a dorsal and ventral scale; subdigital lamellae on digits of manus: I(10), II(12), III(13), IV(13), V(12), relative lengths of manual digits: IV>III>II>V>I. Hind limbs more robust than forelimbs, tibia relatively short (CrusL/SVL 0.11), covered dorsally with granular scales; ventral hind limb scales flat, larger than dorsals; enlarged femoral scales absent, femoral pores absent; digits short, subdigital lamellae of pes transversely expanded proximal to inflected joints, digits narrow distal to joints; count of subdigital lamellae on pes: I(10), II(11), III(13), IV(15), V(13), relative length of pedal digits: IV>V>III>II>I; claws well developed, sheathed by a dorsal and ventral scale. Tail original, ratio TailL/SVL 0.99, robust basally and tapering to terminus; dorsal caudal scales granular with six small tubercles on anterior tail whorls part; a single post-cloacal spur on each side of vent; subcaudals small, flat, imbricate, and smooth rounded, no enlarged median subcaudals ( Figure 2 D).

Coloration. In life, dorsal ground color of entire body pale brownish-gray with irregular dark blotches, except on tail region. A dark temporal streak from the end of the snout, passing through the eye and extending to occiput. A relatively broad whitish streak running from the nostril to the anterodorsal corner of eye. Prefrontal region darker brown. Venter whitish. Forelimbs and hind limbs with a combination of whitish and dark brownish blotches forming vague alternating cross bands. No significant color change after preservation.

Variation. Based on the small sample, females may be somewhat larger than males. Mensural and meristic characters of the type series are presented in Table 1 . Regenerated tails in the female paratypes are extremely short and thick ( Figure 3 ).

Comparisons with other species. Although we think it likely on geographic grounds that the new species also belongs to the Sunda/Wallacea clade of Cyrtodactylus (Wood et al. 2012) , we here compare it with all other taxa in the broader group of Cyrtodactylus occurring east of the Salween.

Cyrtodactylus semiadii sp. nov. is distinguished from the vast majority of its congeners by the absence of a precloacal sulcus or groove as well as both femoral and precloacal pores in males. Among them, C. marmoratus and C. fumosus , the only other species confirmed as occurring on Java (Javan populations of the latter species are probably not conspecific with topotypical material from Sulawesi). Among congeners lacking all pores (* denotes species in which some, but not all males lack precloacal pores; ** denotes taxa known only from females, thus with unknown male pore character states) it may be differentiated from C. badenensis , C. batik Iskandar, Rachmansah & Umilaela, C. cucphuongensis Ngo & Chan , C. eisenmanae Ngo , C. grismeri Ngo , C. murua ** Kraus & Allison, C. nigriocularis* Nguyen, Orlov & Darevsky , C. oldhami* (Theobald) , C. paradoxus* Darevsky & Szczerbak , C. thirakhupti Pauwels, Bauer, Sumontha & Chanhome , and C. wallacei Hayden, Brown, Gillespie, Setiadi, Linkem, Iskandar, Umilaela, Bickford, Riyanto, Mumpuni & McGuire by the absence of enlarged median subcaudal scales.

Cyrtodactylus semiadii sp. nov. differs from C. jarakensis Grismer, Onn, Grismer, Wood & Belabut and C. semenanjungensis Grismer & Leong in lacking enlarged precloacal scales, and from C. quadrivirgatus* Taylor and C. zugi ** Oliver, Tjaturadi, Mumpuni, Krey & Richards, in lacking both enlarged precloacal and femoral scales. The questionably distinct Sumatran species Cyrtodactylus agamensis ** (Bleeker) is known only from a poreless female specimen, but possesses both the enlarged precloacal and femoral scales and the precloacal groove of the similar C. marmoratus , and is thus also clearly distinct from Cyrtodactylus semiadii sp. nov.

Cyrtodactylus jellesmae (Boulenger) , C. laevigatus Darevsky , and C. sermowaiensis (de Rooij) share with the new species porelessness, a lack of enlarged precloacal and femoral scales (although contra de Rooij 1915, Rösler et al. 2007 note “42–46 enlarged preanofemoral scales”), and small subcaudal scales. Males are unknown in C. kimberleyensis ** Bauer & Doughty from Western Australia, but it is otherwise very similar to C. laevigatus and may well also share all these character states with C. semiadii sp. nov. In comparison to C. jellesmae and C. sermowaiensis , C. semiadii sp. nov. is considerably smaller (47 mm versus> 70 mm maximum SVL) and has a lower number of subdigital lamellae ( Table 2 ) as well as relatively shorter digits. The new taxon is most similar in size, as well as features of scalation to C. laevigatus and C. kimberleyensis ( Table 2 ). From the latter species C. semiadii sp. nov. differs in having a short tail (original tail approximately equal to snout-vent length versus at least 1.18 times SVL) and irregularly arranged dorsal tubercles (versus 16–18 more-or-less regularly arranged rows of tubercles). The new species differs from C. laevigatus ( Figure 4 A) and its subspecies C. l. uniformis Auffenburg in having a thicker tail with an obvious basal constriction and more extensive caudal tuberculation (small tubercles on anterior third of original tail versus restricted to tail base only), a single pair of elongate postmentals in contact with each other posteriorly (versus postmentals not elongate) ( Figure 4 B–C), and a bolder dorsal pattern. Variable features of C. semiadii sp. nov. and its most similar congeners are compared in Table 2 .

Distribution and natural history. Known from the type locality, Mliwang village, Kerek Subdistrict and adjacent Sawir village, Tambakboyo Subdistirct, Tuban District, East Java province, Indonesia and from approximately 200 km southwest from Srimulyo village, Piyungan Subdistirct, Bantul District, Special Province of Yogyakarta ( Figure 5 ). This suggests that the species probably has a broader distribution across at least central and eastern Java. All specimens were collected on the ground between 18h00 and 21h00, presumably while foraging. The three specimens from Mliwang were collected on clay on an embankment in a corn field ( Figure 6 A) and that from Sawir was found on limestone ( Figure 6 B). The specimen from Srimulyo was collected on an embankment between a paddy field and riverbank. All known localities are in human modified habitats. Based on the presence of enlarged eggs in females, oviposition is likely to occur in August and September, although a more extended reproductive season is possible.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Holotype (MZB. Lace. 9104) showing the relatively short original tail. Scale bar = 10 mm.

FIGURE 2. Morphological features of holotype (MZB. Lace. 9104) of Cyrtodactylus semiadii sp. nov. (A) Lateral view of head, (B) Dorsum illustrating small tubercles becoming somewhat larger toward flanks. (C) Left pes showing short digits with low numbers of subcaudal scales, (D) Ventral surface of original tail illustrating small subcaudal scales. Scale bars for (A) and (C) 2 mm; for (B) and (D) 5 mm.

FIGURE 3. Gravid female paratype (MZB. Lace. 9107) of Cyrtodactylus semiadii sp. nov. illustrating life coloration and short, bulbous regenerated tail.

FIGURE 4. (A) Life photo of Cyrtodactylus laevigatus (Jimmy A. McGuire [JAM 12981] from Waisika village, Alor Timur Laut Subdistrict, Alor Distric, East Nusa Tenggara Province), showing the more slender habitus, different patterning, and somewhat more prominent tuberculation with respect to C. semiadii sp. nov. (B, C) Ventral view of head of holotype (MZB. Lace. 9104) of C. semiadii sp. nov. and paratype (MZB. Lace. 979) of C. laevigatus, respectively, showing the differences in the postmental scales between the species. Image (A) courtesy of Jimmy McGuire.

FIGURE 5. Map depicting known localities of Cyrtodactylus semiadii sp. nov. in East Java and Yogyakarta. Type locality and adjacent paratype locality in Tuban District indicated by red circle with black center, paratype locality in Yogyakarta indicated by solid red circle. Base map modified from Wikipedia.

FIGURE 6. Disturbed habitat types in which Cyrtodactylus semiadii sp. nov. has been collected: (A). Corn field on clayey soil after cutting, Mliwang, (B) field on limestone substrate, Sawir.

Tables

TABLE 1. Mensural and meristic data for the type series of Cyrtodactylus semiadii sp. nov. NA: not determinable due to postmortem damages to skin.

Holotype	Paratype	Paratype Paratype	Paratype
MZB.Lace.9104	MZB.Lace.9105	MZB.Lace.9106 MZB.Lace.9107	MZB.Lace.10827
Sex Male	Male	Male Female	Female
SVL 39.6	40.6	42.1 47.1	46.9
TrunkL 18.4	17.7	18.7 22	21.9
TailL 39.2	37.2	31.1 (regen) 26.7 (regen)	21.2 (regen)
TailW 4.4	4.1	3.5 4.9	4.8
CrusL 4.3	4.9	6 6.6	6.3
ForeaL 5.7	6.2	6.1 6.8	6.5
HeadL 12.0	13.0	12.1 13.3	13.9
HeadW 7.9	7.8	7.4 8.6	7.8
HeadH 5.6	5.3	5.3 6.0	5.5
EarL 1.5	1.0	0.9 1.3	1.1
OrbD 3	2.9	2.8 3.9	3.2
NarEye 3.3	3.2	3.1 3.1	3.5
SnEye 4.7	4.5	4.6 4.7	4.9
EyeEar 2.5	3.5	3.6 3.5	3.5
Internar 1.8	1.6	1.2 0.8	1.8
Interorba 3.5	3.4	3.0 3.5	4.5
Interorbp 5.2	5.3	3.5 5.8	5.7
Interorb 1.8	2.5	1.9 2.1	2.1
SuL 8 (10)	8 (11)	8 (10) NA	8(10)
InL 10	10	9 NA	10
VS 36	36	35 36	36
DT 16	17	16 20	20
PVT 37	39	39 40	40
Lam (Manus) 10–12–13–13–12	10–12–13–13–13	10–12–13–14–12 10–12–13–13–12	10-12-13-13-12
Lam (Pes) 10–11–13–15–13	9–11–13–14–15	10–11–14–15–15 10–12–14–15–14	10-12-14-15-14