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| Hemidactylus mahonyi & Hemidactylus srikanthani Adhikari, Achyuthan, Chethan Kumar, Khot, Shreeram & Ganesh, 2022 |
Abstract
The gekkonid diversity of the under-explored dry zones in Peninsular India is not yet completely inventoried, as evidenced by frequent new species descriptions. Here, we describe two new species of Hemidactylus from the dry rocky zones of Deccan Plateau viz. Hemidactylus mahonyi sp. nov. from Sandur Hills and Hemidactylus srikanthani sp. nov. from Devarayana Durga Hills, Karnataka State of Peninsular India. The new species belong to the morphologically cryptic H. murrayi Clade but differ from each other and the known congeners by a set of morphological characters and possess non-overlapping distribution ranges. Furthermore, the new species are also divergent (> 6.4% uncorrected p-distance) from their nearest related congeners, and from one another with respect to the ND2 mitochondrial gene. Recently, other new species of reptiles have been described from the two aforesaid type localities, indicating that further bio-inventories in the dry zones of peninsular India will yield more such novelties.
Keywords: Reptilia, Devarayana Durga Hills, gecko, Hemidactylus, femoral pores, ND2 gene, Sandur Hills
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| Holotype of Hemidactylus mahonyi sp. nov. (in life) from Sandur (Joga village), Bellary District, Karnataka, India. Holotype of Hemidactylus srikanthani sp. nov. (in life) from Devarayana Durga Hills, Tumkur District, Karnataka, India. |
Hemidactylus mahonyi sp. nov.
Etymology. Patronym named in genitive singular case, honouring Dr. Stephen Mahony, an Irish herpetologist and a decade-long friend and colleague of the last author, for his significant research contributions on Tropical Asian herpetofauna and, in particular, on the H. brookii group.
Suggested English name. Mahony’s Rock Gecko.
Hemidactylus srikanthani sp. nov.
Etymology. Patronym named in genitive singular case honouring Mr. Srikanthan Vijayraghvan, the father of the second author, for inspiring and supporting the author’s interests in nature conservation and herpetology; and financially supporting the team of authors for herpetological research projects.
Suggested English name. Srikanthan’s Rock Gecko.
Omkar D. Adhikari, N. S. Achyuthan, G. Chethan Kumar, Rahul V. Khot, M. V. Shreeram and S.R. Ganesh. 2022. Two New Species of Hemidactylus Goldfuss, 1820 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Rocky Outcrops of the Deccan plateau, peninsular India. Zootaxa. 5129(2); 227-249. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5129.2.4
