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| Hemidactylus siva
Srinivasulu, Srinivasulu & Kumar, 2018
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Abstract
A new species of rupicolous gecko of the genus Hemidactylus is described from the Bellary District of Karnataka, India. The large-sized (SVL to at least 104.7 mm) gecko is characterized by the following suite of characters: dorsum with 16 longitudinal rows of irregularly arranged, subtrihedral, moderately to feebly keeled, striated tubercles at midbody; tail with transverse series of two enlarged tubercles on either side of the median furrow on the first and second tail segments each; 17–18 femoral pores on each side separated by 5 poreless scales. In conjunction, the molecular data based on concatenated analysis of nuclear (RAG-1 and PDC) and mitochondrial (Cytb) genes support the distinctiveness of the species and its affinities with large-bodied tuberculate Hemidactylus spp. from India and Sri Lanka, placing the new species basal to the entire H. prashadi group.
Keywords: Reptilia, new species, H. maculatus, H. prashadi group, species-complex, Deccan plateau, Hampi
Chelmala Srinivasulu, Aditya Srinivasulu and Gandla Chethan Kumar. 2018. A New Cryptic Rock-dwelling Hemidactylus Oken, 1817 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from northern Karnataka, India. Zootaxa. 4444(1); 25–42. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4444.1.2
