Tuesday, November 28, 2023

[Herpetology • 2021] Cyrtodactylus bengkhuaiai, C. karsticola, etc. • Four New Bent-toed Geckos (Cyrtodactylus Gray: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from northeast India


Cyrtodactylus bengkhuaiai 
Cyrtodactylus aaronbaueri
 Purkayastha, Lalremsanga, Bohra, Biakzuala, Decemson, Muansanga, Vabeiryureilai, Chauhan & Rathee, 2021

 
Abstract
Based on morphology and ND2 gene sequences, four new species of Cyrtodactylus, two each from the Indian states of Meghalaya and Mizoram are described herein. The new species are a part of the Cyrtodactylus khasiensis group. The species from Meghalaya represent the lowland clade whereas the species from Mizoram represent the highland clade within the south of Brahmaputra clade of Indo-Burmese Cyrtodactylus. The two distinct populations from Meghalaya are sister to one another, differing from each by an uncorrected p-distance 0.065 and collectively are sister to Cyrtodactylus septentrionalis. The species from Mizoram differ from each other by an uncorrected p-distance of 0.085–0.121 and collectively are sister to Cyrtodactylus montanus.

Key words: Biodiversity, taxonomy, ND2, lizard, reptile, squamata, karst, conservation
 
 Live specimens of Cyrtodactylus karsticola sp. nov.
 (A and B are the dorsal and ventral view of the holotype; C and D are uncollected specimens)
 
Live specimens of Cyrtodactylus agarwali sp. nov.
 (A: MZMU2157, B: uncollected specimens)

Live specimens of Cyrtodactylus aaronbaueri sp. nov.
 (A: holotype, B: uncollected specimen)

  Live specimens of Cyrtodactylus bengkhuaiai sp. nov. (uncollected specimen)



 
 Jayaditya Purkayastha, Hmar Tlawmte Lalremsanga, Sanath Chandra Bohra, Lal Biakzuala, H.T. Decemson, Lal Muansanga, Mathipi Vabeiryureilai, Suraj Chauhan and Yashpal Singh Rathee. 2021. Four New Bent-toed Geckos (Cyrtodactylus Gray: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from northeast India. Zootaxa. 4980(3); 451–489. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4980.3.2
Project: The diversity of Amphibians and Reptiles of Mizoram using classical taxonomy and DNA barcoding