Dravidoseps jawadhuensis, Agarwal & Thackeray & Khandekar, 2024

Agarwal, Ishan, Thackeray, Tejas & Khandekar, Akshay, 2024, A non-adaptive radiation of viviparous skinks from the seasonal tropics of India: Systematics of Subdoluseps (Squamata: Scincidae), with description of a new genus and five cryptic new species, Vertebrate Zoology 74, pp. 23-83 : 23

publication ID	https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/vz.74.e110674
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:335FBFDD-E543-40CA-8014-0E16A7977586
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/D9A6A3BD-173D-4D7C-B4C5-2FF1901434AC
taxon LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:act:D9A6A3BD-173D-4D7C-B4C5-2FF1901434AC
treatment provided by	Vertebrate Zoology by Pensoft
scientific name	Dravidoseps jawadhuensis
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Dravidoseps jawadhuensis sp. nov.

Figures 9E View Figure 9 , 14 View Figure 14

Chresonymy.

Lygosoma cf. pruthi - Ganesh and Arumugam (2016)

Lygosoma pruthi - Ganesh and Aengals (2018)

Subdoluseps pruthi - Ganesh et al. (2021).

Holotype.

NRC-AA-8274 (CES 09/930), adult male, from near Beeman falls (12.60174°N, 78.84590°E; elevation ca. 450 m asl.), Jawadhu Hills, Vellore District, Tamil Nadu State, India, collected by Ishan Agarwal and team on 12th July 2009.

Paratype.

BNHS 2569 (AK 850), subadult, from Beeman falls car parking (12.60513°N, 78.86947°E; elevation ca. 580 m asl.), same data as holotype except collected by Akshay Khandekar, Ishan Agarwal, Swapnil Pawar, Tejas Thackeray and team on 4th June 2019.

Etymology.

The specific epithet is a toponym for the Jawadhu Hills in Vellore District of Tamil Nadu State, the type and currently only known locality for the new species.

Suggested common name.

Jawadhu leaf-litter skink.

Diagnosis.

A medium-sized skink snout to vent length up to 47 mm (n = 2). Seven supralabials and six infralabials up to angle of mouth; fifth supralabial elongate and below eye; two post-supralabials; seven or eight supraciliaries; one or two elongated nuchals on either side, in contact with each other behind parietal; 65 or 66 scales in paravertebral rows; 30-32 scales around mid-body; 66-68 ventral scales; 12 or 13 enlarged precloacal scales; scales on lateral sides of tail base smooth, 22 or 23 scales around the tail. Subdigital lamellae unpaired, smooth on manus and smooth to weakly keeled on pes; six or seven lamellae under digit I of manus and five or six under digit I of pes; 11 lamellae under digit IV of manus and, 16 or 17 under digit IV of pes. Dorsum dark brown with black markings; thick black stripe from rostrum to tail speckled with light spots; males with yellow on lower parts of forebody and flanks; supralabials with white streak; venter glossy off-white with some darker markings.

Comparisons.

Dravidoseps jawadhuensis sp. nov. can be diagnosed from known congeners based on the following characters: five PoSbO on each side (versus three or four in Dravidoseps gingeeensis sp. nov., four (rarely three or five on one side) in D. nilgiriensis comb. nov., four on each side in D. goaensis comb. nov. and in D. pruthi comb. nov.); 12.5 ± 0.71 (12-13) SPCLR (versus 9.2 ± 0.60 (8-10) in D. nilgiriensis comb. nov., 10.0 ± 0.00 (10) in D. pruthi comb. nov., and 8.3 ± 0.76 (8-10) in D. goaensis comb. nov.); presence of unkeeled scales on tail base (versus keeled scales on tail base in D. goaensis comb. nov.); two PoSL on either side (versus single on either in D. pruthi comb. nov.); one or two Nu on either side and Sb Nu absent (versus a single Nu on either side and three Sb Nu in D. gingeeensis sp. nov.); 22 or 23 RTS (versus 21 RTS in D. gingeeensis sp. nov.). Dravidoseps jawadhuensis sp. nov. is diagnosed against the new species described below as part of their respective descriptions.

Description of the holotype.

Adult male (SVL 45.7 mm) in good state of preservation except more than half of the tail missing (Fig. 14A, B View Figure 14 ). Head short (HL/SVL 0.16), wide (HW/HL 0.77), not strongly depressed (HH/HL 0.55), indistinct from neck. Loreal region not inflated, canthus rostralis indistinct. Snout almost half head length (ES/HL 0.44), two times eye diameter (ES/ED 2.00). Rostral almost twice as wide (1.7 mm) as long (0.9 mm), in broad contact with supranasals posteriorly and supralabial I and nasals on either side; supranasals marginally separated from each other below rostral by frontonasal, in contact with frontonasal posteriorly, nasals and anterior loreals laterally; frontonasal much wider (1.7 mm) than long (1.2 mm), in contact with supranasals anteriorly, prefrontals and frontal posteriorly, anterior loreals laterally; prefrontals relatively small, widely separated on midline, in contact with frontonasal anteriorly, frontal, first supraocular and first supraciliary posteriorly, anterior and posterior loreals laterally. Frontal elongate, roughly bell-shaped, widest anteriorly at the point where prefrontals and first supraocular connect; in contact with frontonasal anteriorly, frontoparietals posteriorly, prefrontals and first two supraoculars on either side; four supraoculars and one small post-supraocular and postocular on either side; frontoparietals in medial contact posterior to frontal, in contact with second, third, and fourth supraoculars anterolaterally and parietals and interparietal posteriorly. Interparietal large, roughly diamond-shaped, slightly projecting posteriorly, eyespot in posterior projection; postinterparietal absent; parietals large, in medial contact posterior to interparietal, in contact anteriorly with frontoparietals, fourth supraocular, and post-supraocular, two nuchal scales posteriorly, first secondary temporal laterally; a single enlarged, elongate, nuchal scale on either side in median contact posterior to parietals (Fig. 14C View Figure 14 ). Nasals small, trapezoidal, widely separated, in contact with rostral anteriorly, supranasal dorsally, anterior loreal posteriorly, first supralabial ventrally; nostril in center of nasal; anterior loreal slightly taller (0.8 mm) than wide (0.5 mm); posterior loreal larger than anterior loreal and slightly wider (0.9 mm) than tall (0.7 mm); a single small supra-preocular, an upper and lower preocular, and a single sub-preocular present on either sides (Fig. 14E View Figure 14 ). Eye small (ED/ HL 0.22) with round pupil; lower eyelid with enlarged, transparent central window; eight supraciliaries on left and seven on right, anterior supraciliary largest, bordered by prefrontal anteriorly, first supraocular dorsally, and pre-supraocular, upper preocular and posterior loreal laterally; posterior superciliary elongate and projecting dorsomedially, bordered by fourth supraocular dorsally, post-supraocular posteriorly, and first post-subocular laterally; five post-suboculars on either side; a single primary temporal, two secondary temporals, and three tertiary temporals on either side; seven supralabials, fifth elongate and in broad contact with pre-subocular, last post-subocular and five small scales on lower eyelid below eye on left and four on right side; two post-supralabials on either side; six infralabials on either side; two scales separating post-supralabial and external ear opening; external ear opening small (EL/HL 0.07), oval, bearing three anterior lobules on either side; tympanum deep (Fig. 14E View Figure 14 ). Mental twice wide (2.0 mm) as long (1.0 mm); a single large postmental in contact with first and second infralabials on either side; three enlarged pairs of chin shields posterior to postmental; anterior pair large (1.4 mm), roughly rectangular, in medial contact with each other below postmental and bordered by second and third infralabials, middle pair of chin shields, and by a single median gular scale on either side; middle pair largest (1.7 mm), roughly rectangular, separated from each other by two longitudinally arranged gular scales, bordered by third and fourth infralabials, posterior pair, and four gular scales on either side; posterior pair smallest (0.9 mm), roughly square, separated from each other by five transversely arranged gular scales, bordered by fourth and fifth infralabials and three gular scales on either side; rest of the gular scales much smaller than postmentals, cycloid and imbricate, two or three rows bordering infralabials slightly smaller and elongate (Fig. 14D View Figure 14 ).

Body relatively slender (BW/AGL 0.27), elongate (AGL/SVL = 0.59); dorsal scales on body smooth, cycloid, imbricate; ventrals similar to dorsals except subequal from chest to vent, marginally larger on pectoral and precloacal region; 65 scales in paravertebral rows; 30 scales around mid-body; 68 ventral scales; 13 enlarged precloacal scales (Fig. 14A, B View Figure 14 ). Limbs, robust, short (FL/SVL = 0.07; CL/SVL = 0.09), widely separated when adpressed; dorsal scales wider and slightly larger than ventral scales; palmar scales raised; plantar scales large, raised, coarse granules; all digits short, scales on dorsal surfaces in single row, subdigital lamellae unpaired, smooth on manus and smooth to weakly keeled on pes; lamellae series: 6-8-11-11-8 left manus (Fig. 14F View Figure 14 ), 6-10-15-17-12 left pes (Fig. 14G View Figure 14 ), 6-8-10-11-8 right manus, 5-11-14-17-12 right pes. Relative length of digits (measurements in mm in parentheses): IV (2.3)> III (2.2)> II (1.6)> V (1.4)> I (0.7) (left manus); IV (4.9)> III (4.1)> V (3.1)> II (2.4)> I (1.5) (left pes).

Tail original, cylindrical, more than half broken and lost; dorsal and ventral scales smooth, cycloid, imbricate, similar to those on body dorsum; scales on lateral tail base smooth, 22 scales around the tail (Fig. 14A, B View Figure 14 ).

Colouration in life (Fig. 9E).

Dorsal ground colouration of body, head and tail dark brown; head with a few dark blotches on and between supraoculars; dorsal scales of body and tail finely outlined by dark brown, centre of scales with dark markings forming indistinct stripes; limbs darker than body dorsum and with light spots; a thick dark black stripe running from rostrum through orbit and onto flank and tail with scattered light spots; supralabials with a white streak; two or three rows of scales below the dark band between ear opening and mid-body yellow; ventral regions glossy cream with fine dark stripes.

Variation and additional information.

Mensural and meristic data for the subadult paratype (SVL = 32.5 mm) is given in Table 8 View Table 8 . It resembles the holotype male (NRC-AA-8274) in overall morphology and head scalation except for the following variation: supranasals in contact with each other behind rostral; seven SC present on either side; anterior pair of CS separated from each other below postmental; and tail tip collected in molecular grade ethanol for DNA extraction.

Distribution and natural history.

Dravidoseps jawadhuensis sp. nov. is known only from the type locality (in and around Beeman falls), Jawadhu Hills in Vellore District, Tamil Nadu, India (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 ). The new species was collected between elevations of 450-580 m from moist deciduous forests with scattered open rocky patches (Fig. 11E View Figure 11 ). The holotype was observed active at ~ 1130 hrs at the mouth of an ant burrow in a patch of deciduous forest with leaf litter. The subadult paratype was collected during the day time (1130 hrs) and was found under a rock surrounded by dry leaf-litter along a path leading towards Beeman fall. Sympatric lizards recorded were Calodactylodes aureus , Cnemaspis cf. mysoriensis , Cn. otai Das & Bauer, Cyrtodactylus (Geckoella) cf. collegalensis , Hemidactylus frenatus , H. cf. graniticolus , H. leschenaultii , Eutropis carinata , E. macularia , Calotes versicolor , and Psammophilus dorsalis .

Reproduction.

Unknown, there are no females in the type series.

Note.

We found the following discrepancies in mensural and meristic characters of specimen CES 09/930 as against the data provided by Ganesh et al. (2021) as Subdoluseps pruthi : TL (13.6* mm versus 31.22 mm; * = tail incomplete), HL (7.6 mm versus 6.27 mm), PVS (65 versus 62), RBS (30 versus 34) VS (68 versus 69), and LamT4 (17 versus 16) (Table 8 View Table 8 ).