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| Hemidactylus chipkali
Central Indian Leaf-toed Gecko | amphibian-reptile-conservation.org
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Abstract
We here describe a new species of rupicolous gecko from the Satpura Hills of central India. The new species is a member of the Hemidactylus brookii complex, and can be distinguished based on the following suite of characters: moderate sized species (SVL 54.3–74.2 mm); anterior postmental width equal to first infralabial; posterior postmental width equal to second infralabial, posterior postmental not in contact with first infralabial; enlarged, keeled, tubercles, fairly regularly arranged in 15–16 longitudinal rows on dorsum; two angular series of seven precloacal femoral pores separated by diastema of eight non-pored scales; non-pored scales equal to size of pored scales; scales bordering anterior edge of pored scales half the size of pored scales; five lamellae on digit I and seven on digit IV of manus as well as pes; lamellae on digit IV and V of pes absent on basal 25% of the digit; legs long and slender; ventral aspect of tail with broad caudal scales covering ~80% of tail; two subconical post cloacal spurs, anterior spur slightly larger than posterior spur.
Key words: Hemidactylus brookii, complex, taxonomy, bPTP, multivariate analysis, DNA
Hemidactylus chipkali sp. nov.
Etymology: The specific epithet “chipkali” is the Hindi word for gecko.
Suggested common name: Central Indian Leaf-toed Gecko
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| Fig. 5. Hemidactylus chipkali sp. nov. (A and B) male holotype NCBS AT107 in life, (C) male paratype NCBS AT108 in life. |
Zeeshan A. Mirza and David Raju. 2017. A New Rupicolous Species of Gecko of the Genus Hemidactylus Oken, 1817 from the Satpura Hills, Central India. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation. 11(1) [General Section]: 51–71 (e137).
