Cnemaspis nuicamensis Grismer & Ngo, 2007

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 : 46

Cnemaspis nuicamensis Grismer & Ngo, 2007

Nui Cam Hill Rock Gecko

Fig. 20

Holotype. UNS 37 . Type locality: “ Nui Cam Hill , Tinh Bien District, An Giang Province, Vietnam (10°29.7759 N, 105°00.4419 E)” at 100 m in elevation.

Diagnosis. Maximum SVL 48.2 mm; 7–9 supralabials; six or seven infralabials; smooth ventral scales; 3–6 pore-bearing, precloacal scales separated medially by 1–4 poreless scales; 16–21 paravertebral tubercles; tubercles linearly arranged and present on flanks; caudal tubercles not restricted to a single paravertebral row nor encircling tail; tubercles in lateral caudal furrows occasionally anteriorly; ventrolateral caudal tubercles present anteriorly; lateral caudal tubercle row absent or present only anteriorly; subcaudals smooth and bearing a median row of enlarged scales; 2–4 postcloacal tubercles on each side; no enlarged femoral or subtibial scales; subtibials smooth; no enlarged submetatarsal scales on first toe; 27–33 subdigital fourth toe lamellae; dark, elongate mid-gular marking (Tables 6,7).

Color pattern ( Fig. 20 ). Dorsal ground color dull-yellow, body overlain with large, reddish brown blotches and offset, black, paravertebral blotches; limbs with reddish brown and pale yellow, alternating bands; poorly defined, reddish brown, caudal bands not encircling original tail; top of head and snout with reddish brown reticulum enclosing dull white blotches; scattered, dark spots on top of head; three thin, dark, reddish brown, postorbital stripes infused with black and edged below in white, uppermost not extending onto shoulder region; all ventral surfaces gray, immaculate; gular region bearing a dark, mid-gular line.

Distribution. Cnemaspis nuicamensis is known only from the type locality of Nui Cam Hill 22.5 km south of Chau Doc in Tinh Bien District of An Giang Province, Vietnam near the border of Cambodia ( Fig. 3 ).

Natural history. Nui Cam Hill is part of the Bay Nui Mountains, which are surrounded by the vast, agricultural lowlands of the Mekong Delta flood plain. Nui Cam Hill is the tallest (710 m) in this range of mountains and is dominated by old growth, secondary, semi-deciduous forest and highly disturbed forest. Lizards were all observed during the day on the surface of granite rocks or within rock cracks. Within this microhabitat, Cnemaspis nuicamensis is far more common on vertical surfaces in the vicinity of streams than on rocks within the forest ( Fig. 20 ). Grismer & Ngo (2007) noted that lizards presented tail displays upon escape and no lizards were observed on rocks within disturbed forest.

Relationships. Cnemaspis nuicamensis is the sister species to C. tucdupensis ( Fig. 2 ).

Material examined. Vietnam: An Giang Province, Tinh Bien District, Nui Cam Hill UNS 37 , 38 (type series). Material examined since Grismer & Ngo (2007) : Vietnam; An Giang Province, Tinh Bien District, Nui Cam Hill LSUHC 8246 , 8646–52 , 9549–55 .

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 20. Upper; adult male Cnemaspis nuicamensis (LSUDPC 3136) in the light color pattern phase. Lower: Granite microhabitat of C. nuicamensis at Nui Cam Hill, An Giang Province, Vietnam. Photographs by LLG.