Cnemaspis chanardi Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya, 2010

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 : 52-54

Cnemaspis chanardi Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya, 2010

Chan-ard’s Rock gecko

Fig. 25

Gonatodes siamensis Smith, 1930:16 (in part)

Cnemaspis siamensis Smith, 1935:71 ; Taylor, 1963:740 (in part)

Holotype. THNHM 6983 . Type locality: “ Ban Chong , Chong, Nayong District, Trang Province, Thailand …between 400 and 600 m a.s.l. ”

Diagnosis. Maximum SVL 40.1 mm; 7–10 supralabials; 6–8 infralabials; keeled ventral scales; 6–8 discontinuous pore-bearing precloacal scales with round pores; 20–30 paravertebral tubercles; tubercles on flanks; no tubercles in lateral caudal furrows; ventrolateral caudal tubercles absent anteriorly; caudal tubercles not encircling tail; lateral caudal tubercle row present; subcaudals keeled; median row of enlarged subcaudal scales present; one postcloacal tubercle on each side of tail base; no enlarged femoral or subtibial scales; subtibials keeled; no enlarged submetatarsal scales on first toe; 25–30 subdigital fourth toe lamellae; yellowish, prescapular crescent; gular region, belly, underside of hind limbs, and subcaudal region yellow in males (Tables 6,7).

Color pattern ( Fig. 25 ). Dorsal ground color of head, body, limbs and tail gray; top of head bearing small, diffuse, faint, darker colored markings giving it a somewhat mottled appearance; dark postorbital stripes faint; large, round, whitish markings on nape; trunk uniformly gray except for lightly colored tubercles on body; forelimbs mottled bearing a slight banding pattern; ventral surface of gular region, abdomen, hind limbs and tail yellow; abdomen and hind limbs sometimes pale gray; fine, dark stippling on all ventral surfaces, most dense on belly.

Distribution. Cnemaspis chanardi occurs in the foothills of the Nakhon Si Thammarat and Sankalakhiri Mountains and lowland regions from the southern terminus of the Isthmus of Kra in Donsak District, Surat Thani Province, southward to Khao Chong and Nayong district, Trang Province. From the foothills of these mountains, C. chanardi extends westward through the lowlands to at least Khlong Thom District, Krabi Province ( Fig. 3 ). Cnemaspis chanardi is not known to occur in the foothills or lowlands east of the crests of the Nakhon Si Thammarat and Sankalakhiri mountains ( Fig. 3 ). Grismer et al. (2010a) considered the presence of C. chanardi (as opposed to the geographically more proximate C. siamensis ) on Ko Tao Island approximately 85 km off the coast from Muang District, Chumpon Province, ( Fig. 3 ), consistent with the geological history of this part of Peninsular Thailand. The island chain consisting of Ko Tao and the intervening islands Ko Samui and Ko Phangan, are offshore extensions of the Nakhon Si Thammarat Mountains to which they were connected during the last glacial maximum ( Sathiamurthy & Voris 2006) and lie to the east of the Isthmus of Kra ( Fig. 3 ). It is likely that C. chanardi also occurs on Ko Samui and Ko Phangan.

Natural history. Grismer et al. (2010a) and Taylor (1963) noted that Cnemaspis chanardi is a diurnal, scansorial species that utilizes large, open, above-ground substrates (i.e. tree trunks and boulders; Fig. 25 ) and does not occupy habitats that do not contain both trees and rocks. Lizards are occasionally found beneath small rocks. Cnemaspis chanardi ranges from near sea level at Khlong Thom to just under 600 m at Khao Chong. Smith (1930) reported specimens from Khao Whip (=Khao Wang Hip), Nakhon Si Thammarat Province but gave no elevation.

Remarks. Based on the geographically outlying southernmost paratype LSUHC 9564 from the Phuphaphet Cave, Satun Province, Thailand, Grismer et al. (2010a) considered this locality to be southern extent of the known range of Cnemaspis chanardi but posited that its range probably continued approximately 45 km further south to the Banjaran Nakawan mountains on the Thai-Malaysian border. However, genetic data from LSUHC 9565 from the same cave and from LSUHC 9978–79 from the Banjaran Nakawan mountains in Perlis, Malaysia (considered to be C. roticanai by Grismer [2011a]) indicate these populations are conspecific, fall outside of C. chanardi and C. roticanai , and are most closely related to the latter. Therefore, we consider the Phuphaphet Cave and Perlis populations to be the new species C. omari sp. nov. described below. We remove LSUHC 9564 from the type series of C. chanardi and consider C. roticanai to be endemic to Langkawi Island as was originally considered ( Grismer & Chan 2010; Fig. 3 ).

Relationshsips. Cnemaspis chanardi is the sister species of the lineage containing C. omari sp. nov. and C. roticanai Grismer & Chan ( Fig. 2 ).

Material examined. Thailand: Trang Province, Nayong District, Ban Chong, Chong , FMNH 176863 , THNHM 6983 (holotype) ; Surat Thani Province, Ban Nasan District, Dad Fa Waterfall in Tai Rom Yen National Park CUMZ-R-2009, 6, 24-6, Donsak District , near Donsak Pier MS 395; Kanchanadit District, Petphanomwung Cave ZMKU Rep-000313, KZM 009; Ko Tao Island USNM 76143–44 ; Krabi Province, Khlong Thom District, Khao Nor Chuchi , Khlong Thom THNHM 12434 , 12439–40 ; Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Lan Saka District, Khao Luang National Park THNHM 1334-35 , 14111 , Nopphitam District, Krung Nang Waterfall in Khao Nan National Park , THNHM 10705 , Khao Nan National Park , THNHM 10115 , Tha Sala District , Khao Nan National Park THNHM 10135 , Nopphitham District, Ban Yod Leong , THNHM 10383 , Thum Panra District; Thum Thong Panra , PSUZC-RT 2010.53 – 54 .

Figures

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 25. Left: tree hole microhabitat of Cnemaspis chanardi at the Phuphaphet Cave area, Satun Province, Thailand. Upper right: adult male C. chanardi (LSUDPC 8304) from Dad Fa Waterfall, Surat Thani Province, Thailand in the dark color pattern phase. Middle right: adult female (LSUDPC 8288) from Khao Luang National Park, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Thailand in the dark color pattern phase. Lower right: ventral view of adult male (LSUDPC 8301) from Dad Fa Waterfall, Surat Thani Province, Thailand. Photographs by MS.