Description of a new diminutive, rupicolous species of day-gecko (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Cnemaspis) from southern Sri Lanka

Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4565 (2) ◽  
pp. 223 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUDESH BATUWITA ◽  
ISHAN AGARWAL ◽  
AARON M. BAUER

A new species of Cnemaspis is described from southern Sri Lanka. Cnemaspis ingerorum sp. nov. was previously confused with C. kumarasinghei. The new species differs from C. kumarasinghei in having a lower number of ventral scales across midbody, scales on ventral sides of forelimb and hind-limb smooth (versus keeled) and dorsal caudal scales unkeeled (versus keeled). Additionally, Cnemaspis ingerorum sp. nov. has a 4.5% uncorrected ND2 sequence divergence from C. kumarasinghei and is also geographically separated from this species. Existing molecular data supports C. silvula as the sister species of the new form, however, it differs from C. silvula by the absence of keeled pectoral and abdominal scales and dorsal scales, and the absence of keeled (versus keeled) subcaudal scales. 

2021 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 723-746
Author(s):  
L. Lee Grismer ◽  
Chatmongkon Suwannapoom ◽  
Parinya Pawangkhanant ◽  
Roman A. Nazarov ◽  
Platon V. Yushchenko ◽  
...  

The first integrative taxonomic analysis of the Cyrtodactylus brevipalmatus group of Southeast Asia recovered two newly discovered populations from the Tenasserim Mountains in Suan Phueng District, Ratchaburi Province, Thailand as a new species described here as C. rukhadeva sp. nov. Based on 1397 base pairs of the mitochondrial gene NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2), C. rukhadeva sp. nov. is the well-supported sister species to a clade containing three undescribed species, C. ngati, and C. cf. interdigitalis with a large uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence from other species in the brevipalmatus group ranging from 15.4–22.1%. Cyrtodactylus elok and C. brevipalmatus are recovered as poorly supported sister species and the well-supported sister lineage to the remainder of the brevipalmatus group. Cyrtodactylus rukhadeva sp. nov. is putatively diagnosable on the basis of a number of meristic characters and easily separated from the remaining species of the brevipalmatus group by a number of discrete morphological characters as well as its statistically significant wide separation in multivariate morphospace. The discovery of C. rukhadeva sp. nov. continues to underscore the unrealized herpetological diversity in the upland forests of the Tenasserim Mountains and that additional field work will undoubtedly result in the discovery of additional new species.


Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4545 (3) ◽  
pp. 389 ◽  
Author(s):  
SURANJAN KARUNARATHNA ◽  
AARON M. BAUER ◽  
ANSLEM DE SILVA ◽  
THILINA SURASINGHE ◽  
LANKANI SOMARATNA ◽  
...  

A new species of Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 is described from Nilgala Savannah Forest in Sri Lanka. The new species is diagnosed from all other congeners by the following suite of characters: small body size (SVL< 33 mm), dorsal scales on trunk homogeneous, one pair of post mentals separated by a single small chin scale, ventral scales on trunk smooth, subimbricate, 17–19 scales across the belly. Subdigitals scansors smooth, entire, unnotched; lamellae under digit IV of pes 17 –18. Males with femoral pores on each thigh but lacking precloacal pores. Median row of subcaudals smooth, subimbricate, enlarged and in an irregular series of subhexagonal scales. This new species had been previously confused with Cnemaspis alwisi Wickramasinghe & Munidradasa, 2007. The new species differs from Cnemaspis alwisi by having 122–129 ventral scales (versus 146–152), 7–8 supralabials (versus 8–10), and relatively shorter SVL ranging between 31.5–32.9 mm (versus 37.8–39.9 mm). Further, the new species is genetically divergent from Cnemaspis alwisi, the species that it closely resembles by 13.5% and 7.8% from its sister species in the ND2 gene. The present discovery highlights the need for dedicated herpetofaunal explorations in Sri Lanka, especially the intermediate bioclimatic zone and associated cave systems and rock outcrops. 


ZooKeys ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 935 ◽  
pp. 25-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula C. RodrÍguez-Flores ◽  
Enrique Macpherson ◽  
Annie Machordom

Hendersonida parvirostrissp. nov. is described from Papua New Guinea. The new species can be distinguished from the only other species of the genus, H. granulata (Henderson, 1885), by the fewer spines on the dorsal carapace surface, the shape of the rostrum and supraocular spines, the antennal peduncles, and the length of the walking legs. Pairwise genetic distances estimated using the 16S rRNA and COI DNA gene fragments indicated high levels of sequence divergence between the new species and H. granulata. Phylogenetic analyses, however, recovered both species as sister species, supporting monophyly of the genus.


Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4382 (1) ◽  
pp. 121 ◽  
Author(s):  
FERNANDO J. M. ROJAS-RUNJAIC ◽  
EDWIN E. INFANTE-RIVERO ◽  
PATRICIA E. SALERNO ◽  
FABIO LEONARDO MEZA-JOYA

A new species of Hyloscirtus, belonging to the H. bogotensis species Group, is described from the Venezuelan and Colombian slopes of the Sierra de Perijá. The new species can be readily distinguished from its congeners by the combination of the following characters: mental gland present, disc-shaped and small; ulnar, outer, and inner tarsal folds present; calcar tubercle absent; whitish stripes on external border of upper eyelids and supratympanic folds, longitudinally on the mid-dorsum, on supracloacal fold, outer ulnar folds, inner and outer tarsal folds, and also on dorsal internal surface of shanks. We estimate phylogenetic relationships based on mtDNA (spanning fragments of 12S rRNA, tRNA-Val and 16S rRNA), of all Hyloscirtus species available in Genbank, as well as the new species described herein, H. callipeza, H. jahni, and H. platydactylus, all of which have not been previously sequenced. Our molecular data support the hypothesis of the new species as sister species of H. callipeza and indicates that H. jahni does not belong to the H. bogotensis species Group, but rather is sister species of all other Hyloscirtus (sensu Faivovich et al. 2005). Based on this last result we propose a new species group for H. jahni and the synonymy of Colomascirtus in Hyloscirtus. We also provide the first description of the advertisement call of H. callipeza. With the new species described herein, the number of Hyloscirtus species increases to 37. 


Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4434 (1) ◽  
pp. 141 ◽  
Author(s):  
ACHYUTHAN N. SRIKANTHAN ◽  
PRIYANKA SWAMY ◽  
ASHWINI V. MOHAN ◽  
SAUNAK PAL

We describe a new species of rock-dwelling gecko, Hemidactylus paaragowlipaaragowli sp. nov., from the Agastyamalai Hill Range, in the southern Western Ghats. Morphological and molecular data support the distinctiveness of the species and its close relationship to other large-bodied, tuberculate Hemidactylus spp. from the H. prashadi group from India and Sri Lanka. This species belongs to a rupicolous complex and can be distinguished from other members of the group based on the following characters: 22–24 longitudinal rows of fairly regularly arranged, subtrihedral, weakly keeled, striated tubercles at midbody; 9–11 and 10–12 subdigital lamellae on the first and fourth digits, respectively, of both manus and pes; tail with transverse series of four enlarged tubercles on each tail segment; 10–12 femoral pores on each side separated by 16–18 scales without pores; 11–13 supralabials and 9–10 infralabials. 


Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2765 (1) ◽  
pp. 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
ISHAN AGARWAL ◽  
VARAD B. GIRI ◽  
AARON M. BAUER

A new species of gecko, Hemidactylus graniticolus sp. nov. is described from Karnataka state, south India. This largesized (SVL to at least 110.6 mm), rupicolous gecko differs from congeners in having 16–18 longitudinal rows of fairly regularly arranged, subtrihedral, weakly keeled, striated tubercles at midbody; 9–11 and 12–13 subdigital lamellae on the first and fourth digits, respectively, of both manus and pes; tail with transverse series of four enlarged tubercles on each tail segment; 23–28 femoral pores on each side separated by 1–3 poreless scales; 12–14 supralabials and 9–11 infralabials. Molecular data support the distinctiveness of the new species and its affinities with large-bodied, tuberculate Hemidactylus spp. from India and Sri Lanka.


Author(s):  
Sudesh Batuwita ◽  
Udeni Edirisinghe

Abstract A new species of Nessia is described from Sri Lanka. Nessia gansi sp. n. is distinguished from its sister species (N. burtonii) based on the morphological and meristic data. The new species differs from all other congeners except N. burtonii Gray, by a combination of following characters: presence of four limbs; all limbs bearing three digits; interparietal broader than frontal. It distinguishes from N. burtonii by having five (vs. six) supraciliaries; one (vs. two) pretemporal/s; two (vs. one) primary temporal/s; three (vs. four) infralabials; 93-105 (vs. 110-124) paravertebral scale rows; 103-114 (vs. 117-121) ventral scales; two (vs. three) subdigital lamellae under each digit of manus; mental as wide as postmental (vs. mental wider than postmental); and nostrils visible when viewed ventrally (vs. not visible). Two closely related species show a discrete distribution in Sri Lanka: N. gansi sp. n. is recorded from Kanneliya, Rumaswala, Kottawa, Panagula, Ambalangoda and Imaduwa in the first and second peneplains (~100 m), whereas N. burtonii records (here corrected) are reported from Alagalla, Ambagamuwa, Gampola, Hiniduma and Kandy within the third peneplain (from ~500 m). The identity of N. burtonii is stabilized through the designation of a neotype, and here it is re-described.


Zootaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 4238 (4) ◽  
pp. 571 ◽  
Author(s):  
EVAN S.H. QUAH ◽  
L. LEE GRISMER ◽  
PERRY L., JR. WOOD ◽  
MYINT KYAW THURA ◽  
THAW ZIN ◽  
...  

A newly discovered species of homalopsid snake from the genus Gyiophis Murphy & Voris is described from the lowlands of Mawlamyine District in Mon state, southeastern Myanmar. Gyiophis salweenensis sp. nov. is presumed to be closely related to G. maculosa Blanford and G. vorisi Murphy based on the similarities in pholidosis and patterning but can be separated from G. maculosa by the shape of its first three dorsal scale rows that are square, ventral scale pattern that lacks a central spot, and a faint stripe on dorsal scale rows 1–4. It can be further distinguished from G. vorisi by its lower number of ventral scales (129 vs. 142–152), lower number of subcaudals (30/29 vs. 41–58), narrow rostral scale, and having more rows of spots on the dorsum (four vs. three). A preliminary molecular analysis using 1050 base pairs of cytochrome b (cytb) recovered G. salweenensis sp. nov. as the sister species to the Chinese Mud Snake (Myrrophis chinensis). G. maculosa and G. vorisi were unavailable for the analysis. The discovery of G. salweenensis sp. nov. highlights the need for more surveys into the herpetological diversity of eastern Myanmar which remains very much underestimated. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pushpendu Kundu ◽  
Felix Bast

Abstract We used three molecular markers (COI-5P, rbcL and UPA) to investigate the diversity of Hypnea spp., an economically important red algal genus, collected from India. Our concatenated tree (COI-5P and rbcL) supported the monophyly of two new species, Hypnea indica sp. nov. and Hypnea bullata sp. nov. H. indica diverged from its closest two sister species, Hypnea cervicornis and Hypnea tenuis (by 15.9 and 11.2%, respectively, in COI-5P; and 3.4 and 3.2% in rbcL). We describe H. indica as a new species characterised by an erect, percurrent main axis with spine-like branchlets in acute angles, straight and forked apices, axial cells surrounded by large periaxial cells or two cells similar in size to the axial cell, and the presence of lenticular thickening in the cross-section of the thallus. H. bullata diverged from its closest sister species, Hypnea brasiliensis (by 10.9% in COI-5P and 3.3% in rbcL). H. bullata is characterized by a prostrate thallus up to 1.5 cm in height, highly anastomosed, with an axial cell surrounded by similar sized, or smaller, periaxial cells, tetrasporangia present near the base of branchlets, and the presence of lenticular thickening.


ZooKeys ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1072 ◽  
pp. 83-105
Author(s):  
Porrawee Pomchote ◽  
Parada Peerachidacho ◽  
Axel Hernandez ◽  
Pitak Sapewisut ◽  
Wichase Khonsue ◽  
...  

We describe a new species of the newt genus Tylototriton from Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary, Tak Province, western Thailand based on molecular and morphological evidence and named here as Tylototriton umphangensissp. nov. The new species is assigned to the subgenus Tylototriton and differs from other species in having dark-brown to blackish-brown body and limbs, truncate snout, prominent antero-medial ends of the expansion of the dentary bones, laterally protruding quadrate regions, indistinct and small rib nodules, a well-segmented vertebral ridge, and rough dorsolateral bony ridges, which are steeper anterior, and curved medially at the posterior ends. The molecular data show that Tylototriton umphangensissp. nov. differs from T. uyenoi sensu stricto by a 5% genetic sequence divergence of the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 region gene. The new species and T. uyenoi are both endemic to Thailand, distributed along the Northwest Thai (Dawna) Uplands of Indochina. To clarify the species boundary between Tylototriton umphangensissp. nov. and T. uyenoi, additional field research is needed in adjacent areas. Tylototriton umphangensissp. nov. is restricted to evergreen hill forests in Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary. We suggest that the new species should be classified as Endangered (EN) in the IUCN Red List.


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