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| Cnemaspis kotagamai Karunarathna, de Silva, Botejue, Surasinghe, Wickramasinghe, Ukuwela & Bauer
in Karunarathna, de Silva, Botejue, Gabadage, Somaratna, ... et Bauer, 2019.
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Abstract
Three new day gecko species of the genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 are described from three isolated granite cave habitats with rock walls in Bambaragala (Ratnapura District), Dimbulagala (Polonnaruwa District), and Mandaramnuwara (Nuwara-Eliya District) in Sri Lanka based on morphometric and meristic characters. All of these new species are assigned to the kandiana clade based on morphology. These species are small (28–35 mm SVL) in size and may be differentiated from all other Sri Lankan congeners by a suite of distinct morphometric and meristic characters. Each of these species described herein are categorized as Critically Endangered (CR) under IUCN Red List criteria. At the microhabitat scale, they are restricted to wet, cool, and shady granite caves and rock outcrops in isolated forested areas with limited anthropogenic disturbance. Further, these habitats are located in all three main bioclimatic zones (wet, intermediate, dry) and all three geographic peneplains (frst, second, third) of Sri Lanka. Due to their restricted distributions (as point endemics), the habitats of these specialist species are vulnerable to fragmentation, edge effects, and anthropogenic activities. Therefore, these isolated forest patches in Sri Lanka are in need of special conservation attention and management.
Keywords: Climate condition, endangered species, habitat specialist, isolated forest, point endemic, range restriction, systematics, taxonomy
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| Holotype male of Cnemaspis kotagamai sp. nov. (NMSL 2018.07.01) in life in-situ in Bambaragala isolated forest hill, Ratnapura District, Sri Lanka. |
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| Rock outcrop habitat of Cnemaspis kotagamai sp. nov. at Bambaragala isolated forest hill, Ratnapura District, Sri Lanka. |
Cnemaspis kotagamai sp. nov. Karunarathna, de Silva, Botejue, Surasinghe, Wickramasinghe, Ukuwela & Bauer
Kotagama’s Day Gecko (English);
Kotagamage Diva-seri Hoona (Sinhala);
Kotagamavin Pahalpalli (Tamil)
Diagnosis. Cnemaspis kotagamai sp. nov. may be readily distinguished from its Sri Lankan congeners by a combination of the following morphological and meristic characteristics as well as color patterns: maximum SVL 32.6 mm; dorsum with heterogeneous, smooth intermixed with weakly keeled granular scales; 2/2 supranasals, one internasal, 2/2 postnasals; 3–4 enlarged postmentals; postmentals bounded by 5–6 chin scales; chin, gular, pectoral, and abdominal scales smooth, subimbricate; 21–22 belly scales across midbody; 6–7 well-developed tubercles on posterior fank; 114–119 paravertebral granules linearly arranged; one precloacal pore, 4–5 femoral pores in males, separated by 11–13 unpored proximal femoral scales, 2–6 unpored distal femoral scales; 131–137 ventral scales; 79–84 midbody scales; subcaudals smooth, median row comprising an irregular series of diamond-shaped, small scales; 7–8 supralabials; 7–8 infralabials; 13–15 total lamellae on 4th digit of manus, and 17–18 total lamellae on 4th digit of pes.
Etymology. The specifc epithet is an eponym Latinized (kotagamai) in the masculine genitive singular, honoring prominent Sri Lankan scientist (ornithologist), Sarath Wimalabandara Kotagama (Emeritus Professor of the University of Colombo) for his valuable contributions towards biodiversity conservation and management in Sri Lanka.
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Remarks. Cnemaspis kotagamai sp. nov. most closely resembles C. ingerorum (southern dry zone, ~85 m asl) and C. kallima (northern wet zone, ~600 m asl) morphologically, the type localities of these species are separated by ~63 km (Sandagala in Tissamaharamaya) and ~115 km (Gammaduwa in Matale) straight line distances from Bambaragala in Pallebedda (Fig. 1). Also see the comparison with other species for more details.
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| Holotype male of Cnemaspis dissanayakai sp. nov. (NMSL 2018.20.01) in life in-situ in Dimbulagala isolated hill forest, Polonnaruwa District, Sri Lanka. |
Cnemaspis dissanayakai sp. nov. Karunarathna, de Silva, Madawala, Karunarathna, Wickramasinghe, Ukuwela & Bauer
Dissanayaka’s Day Gecko (English);
Dissanayakage Diva-seri Hoona (Sinhala);
Dissanayakavin Pahalpalli (Tamil)
Diagnosis. Cnemaspis dissanayakai sp. nov., may be readily distinguished from its Sri Lankan congeners by a combination of the following morphological and meristic characteristics: maximum SVL 29.4 mm; dorsum with homogeneous, subconical granular scales; one internasal, 2/2 supranasals, 1/1 postnasals; 29–31 interorbital scales; 15–17 supraciliaries, 11–12 canthal scales, 21–23 eye to tympanum scales; three enlarged postmentals; postmentals bounded by 6–7 chin scales; chin with smooth granules, gular, pectoral, and abdominal scales smooth, subimbricate; 17 belly scales across the venter; 6–7 well developed tubercles on posterior fank; 105–107 linearly arranged paravertebral granules; two precloacal pores, 4–5 femoral pores on each side in males separated by 10–11 unpored proximal femoral scales, 5–7 unpored distal femoral scales; 118–120 ventral scales; 94–98 midbody scales; subcaudals smooth, median row small, in an irregular series of diamond-shaped scales; 7/7 supralabials; 7/7 infralabials; 21–22 total lamellae on 4th digit of manus, and 21–22 total lamellae on 4th digit of pes.
Etymology. The specifc epithet is an eponym Latinized (dissanayakai) in the masculine genitive singular, honoring Dissanayaka Mudiyanselage Karunarathna (born in Nilgala, Bibila) – father of the first author (Suranjan Karunarathna) for his encouragement, fnancial support for research, and for allowing SK to pursue his interest in wildlife.
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Remarks. Cnemaspis dissanayakai sp. nov. most closely resembles C. kumarasinghei (east intermediate zone) and C. latha (southern intermediate zone) morphologically. The type localities of these species are separated by ~105 km (Maragala in Monaragala, ~500 m asl) and ~90 km (Bandarawela in Badulla, ~700 m asl) straight line distances from Dimbulagala in Polonnaruwa (Fig. 1). Also see the comparison with other species for more details.
Cnemaspis kawminiae sp. nov. Karunarathna, de Silva, Gabadage, Karunarathna, Wickramasinghe, Ukuwela & Bauer
Kawmini’s Day Gecko (English);
Kawminige Divaseri Hoona (Sinhala);
Kawminivin Pahalpalli (Tamil)
Diagnosis. Cnemaspis kawminiae sp. nov., may be readily distinguished from its Sri Lankan congeners by a combination of the following morphological and meristic characteristics: maximum SVL 35.2 mm; dorsum with homogeneous fat granular scales; one internasal, 2/2 supranasals and 2/2 postnasals; 20–22 interorbital scales; 9–10 supraciliaries, 10–11 canthal scales, 20–22 eye to tympanum scales; three enlarged postmentals; postmentals bounded by fve chin scales; chin with smooth and round granules, gular, pectoral, and abdominal scales smooth, subimbricate; 17–21 belly scales across the venter; 7–8 weakly developed tubercles on posterior fank; 86–92 linearly arranged paravertebral granules; two precloacal pores in males, 4/4 femoral pores on each side in males separated by 11–13 unpored proximal femoral scales, 6–7 unpored distal femoral scales; 107–114 ventral scales; 76–78 midbody scales; subcaudals smooth, median row small, in an irregular series of sub-rhomboid shaped scales; 7–8 supralabials; 7–8 infralabials; 14–15 total lamellae on 4th digit of manus, and 15–16 total lamellae on 4th digit of pes.
Etymology. The specifc epithet is an eponym Latinized (kawminiae) in the feminine genitive singular, honoring Hadunneththi Kawmini Mendis – mother of the first author (Suranjan Karunarathna) for her unconditional love, generous support, and fnancial support for research.
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Remarks. Cnemaspis kawminiae sp. nov. most closely resembles C. kumarasinghei (east intermediate zone) and C. gotaimbarai (northeast dry zone) morphologically. The type localities of these species are separated by ~80 km (Maragala in Monaragala, ~500 m asl) and ~44 km (Kokagala in Padiyathalawa, ~300 m asl) straight line distances from Mandaramnuwara (~1,500 m asl) in Nuwara-Eliya District (Fig. 1). Also see the comparison with other species for more details.
Suranjan Karunarathna, Anslem de Silva, Madhava Botejue, Dinesh Gabadage, Lankani Somaratna, Angelo Hettige, Nimantha Aberathna, Majintha Madawala, Gayan Edirisinghe, Nirmala Perera, Sulakshana Wickramaarachchi, Thilina Surasinghe, Niranjan Karunarathna, Mendis Wickramasinghe, Kanishka D.B. Ukuwela and Aaron M. Bauer. 2019. Three New Species of Day Geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae: Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887) from Isolated Granite Cave Habitats in Sri Lanka. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation. 13(2) [General Section]: 323–354 (e216).
