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| Hemidactylus hegdei Pal & Mirza, 2022 |
Abstract
A new species of large-bodied Hemidactylus is described from the southern Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India. The species is a member of the prashadi group of Indian Hemidactylus and can be distinguished from all other members of the group by a combination of several morphological diagnostic characters. Based on preliminary phylogeny, using a partial fragment of mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) gene, the new species appeared to be closely allied to H. acanthopholis Mirza & Sanap, 2014; however, the species can be distinguished from H. acanthopholis by its much lower femoral pore count, besides 8% uncorrected sequence divergence for the cyt b gene.
Keywords: Cytochrome B, New Species, Reptilia, Sauria, Taxonomy, Western Ghats.
Hemidactylus hegdei, new species
Saunak Pal and Zeeshan A. Mirza. 2022. A New Species of Large-Bodied Gecko of The Genus Hemidactylus Goldfuss, 1820 from Southern Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society. 119; DOI: 10.17087/jbnhs/2022/v119/167364
