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| Goniurosaurus gezhi Zhu, He & Li in Zhu, Chen, ... et He, 2020. |
Abstract
Five species of geckos in the genus Goniurosaurus had been recorded from Guangxi, China. Here we describe a new species, Goniurosaurus gezhi sp. nov. Zhu, He & Li. The new species is similar to those found in Guangxi and Guizhou provinces of China and Northern Vietnam, but unique in a combination of the following characters: (1) three body bands between limb insertions; (2) precloacal pores 18–20; (3) body small (SVL=70.6–83.8 mm); (4) body color orange to yellow. We evaluated the phylogenetic position of this new species based on the 16S mitochondrial gene. Molecular phylogenies validate this new species as distinct to currently described lineages within Goniurosaurus. The type specimens are deposited in the Museum of Biology, East China Normal University (ECNU).
Keywords: Reptilia, Gekkota, taxonomy, 16S, karst, Guangxi, China
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| Goniurosaurus gezhi sp. nov. adult males, from Guangxi, China. photos by Zhu Xiao-Yu. |
Goniurosaurus gezhi Zhu, He & Li sp. nov.
Etymology. The specific epithet gezhi is for the Chinese phonetic alphabet 格致, which was noted in ancient Chinese literature Daxue around 2000 years ago. It means researching something carefully and then summarizing the truth behind it. The epithet is a noun in apposition. For the common name, we suggest “Gezhi Cave Gecko.”
Xiao-Yu Zhu, Guang-Yu Chen, Cristian Román-Palacios, Zheng Li and Zhu-Qing He. 2020. Goniurosaurus gezhi sp. nov., A New Gecko Species from Guangxi, China (Squamata: Eublepharidae). Zootaxa. 4852(2); 211–222. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4852.2.6
