Cyrtodactylus speciosus

Agarwal, Ishan, Mirza, Zeeshan A., Pal, Saunak, Maddock, Simon T., Mishra, Anurag & Bauer, Aaron M., 2016, A new species of the Cyrtodactylus (Geckoella) collegalensis (Beddome, 1870) complex (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Western India, Zootaxa 4170 (2), pp. 339-354 : 345

Cyrtodactylus speciosus

Fig. 3

Gymnodactylus speciosus Beddome 1870

Gymnodactylus nebulosus Boulenger 1885 (in part) Gymnodactylus collegalensis Smith 1935 (in part) Geckoella cf. speciosus Agarwal & Karanth 2015

Holotype. BMNH 1946.9 .4.88, “tope near Erode [Tamil Nadu]” (Erode, Erode District, Tamil Nadu, India, collected by R. H. Beddome).

Additional material. CES/09/ 1247–1248, two adult females, Coimbatore North Taluk , Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, India, collected by Saunak Pal, Mrugank Prabhu, V. Deepak and Ishan Agarwal, 02.03.2011 ; CES/09/ 1404 juvenile; CES/09/1405, 1408 adult males; CES/09/1406, 1407 adult females, Coimbatore North Taluk , Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, India, collected by N.S. Achyuthan, V. Deepak and Ishan Agarwal, 27.05.2012 .

Definition. A small Cyrtodactylus , snout-vent length to at least 47 mm (to 54 mm in Coimbatore material, CES/09/ 1405–1408); head moderately short, body moderately stout, limbs and digits not long, slender; two pairs of enlarged postmentals, outer pair smaller than and separated by inner pair which are in broad contact; dorsal scalation homogeneous, consisting of small, granular, roughly circular scales; ventral scales across belly unknown in holotype, 29–34 in Coimbatore material; no precloacal groove, no enlarged precloacal or femoral scales, no precloacal or femoral pores. Seven broad basal lamellae and nine narrow distal lamellae beneath 4th toe of pes in holotype (7–9 lamellae each on basal and apical series in Coimbatore material). Holotype is missing the tail and most skin on dorsum and the description of the colour pattern is after Beddome (1870), and includes variation from Coimbatore material. Dorsal pattern consisting of broad brown occipital collar that is confluent with postorbital streak and continues till the orbit (separated from postocular streak in CES/09/1404), two broad brown bands between limb insertions — one behind forelimb insertion larger than second ending just above the hindlimb insertion (bands notched slightly in most Coimbatore specimens, second band broken in CES/09/1408), lighter interspaces ~1/2 the width of bands, no stippling, no spots on flank between limbs; ground colouration the colour of milky tea on the damaged holotype (ground colour in life and preservative tan–buff). Mental, postmentals and IL 1–3 with fragmented small streaks, rest of the throat with few streaks (mental spotted in most Coimbatore specimens, rest of throat with few to moderate streaks).

Comments. Cyrtodactylus speciosus remains to be collected from the vicinity of its imprecise type locality, and a resolution of the species complexes in southern India requires topotypic material to stabilize the name, as the type and only known topotypical specimen is badly damaged. Additional material of C. cf. speciosus (not included in this paper) from ~30, 70, and 100 km from the type locality are all genetically divergent from each other (>6% uncorrected sequence divergence, 307 bp of cyt b & 1038 bp ND2, Agarwal & Karanth unpubl. data), and based on the description of the colour pattern and measurements of the holotype we tentatively assign populations from around Coimbatore to C. speciosus . The holotype of C. speciosus also falls within the variation seen in the Coimbatore population ( Fig. 2). While it is not unlikely that the animals from Coimbatore are divergent from true C. speciosus , the resolution of the group is hindered by the damaged holotype and lack of topotypic collections. Erode is a large town in Tamil Nadu and is surrounded by a largely agricultural matrix, and IA briefly surveyed these areas but did not find any Cyrtodactylus or suitable habitat.

Diagnosis. Cyrtodactylus speciosus shares the characters of the C. collegalensis complex listed in the diagnosis of C. collegalensis , which separate it from all other Cyrtodactylus species. C. speciosus can be differentiated from the Sri Lankan C. yakhuna by dorsal colour pattern (two bands from behind occiput to between hindlimb insertion, ~twice as broad as lighter interspaces vs. one or two rows of spots/bands, equal to or narrower than interspaces). C. speciosus can be differentiated from C. collegalensis by its relatively larger head (SVL/HL 3.75 ± 0.08 vs. 3.57 ± 0.13), colour pattern of head dorsum (two interorbital spots and elongate central occipital streak longer than the two occipital spots vs. two occipital spots longer than the two interorbital spots, longer or shorter than elongate central occipital streak), dorsal colour pattern (two dark bands from behind occiput to between hindlimb insertion — one beginning behind forelimb insertion and the last ending just above the hindlimb insertion, lighter interspaces ~1/2 width of bands, no stippling in interspaces vs. three pairs of dark spots that may be fused into 8-shaped markings between limb insertions — one beginning behind forelimb insertion largest and the last ending just above the hindlimb insertion smallest, lighter interspaces smaller than largest spot and larger than smallest, stippled).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Dorsal view of Cyrtodactylus collegalensis (top row, A – F) and C. speciosus (bottom row, G – L). A, holotype of C. collegalensis (BMNH 1946.8.25.28); B, CES / 09 / 1444; C, CES / 09 / 1463; D, CES / 09 / 1442; E, CES / 09 / 1443; F, C. collegalensis, CES / 09 / 1403. G, holotype of C. speciosus, BMNH 1946.9.4.88; H, presumed sketch of C. speciosus (Boulenger 1885); I, CES / 09 / 1405; J, CES / 09 / 1406; K, CES / 09 / 1407; L, CES / 09 / 1408.