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| Hemidactylus multisulcatus Sayyed, Kirubakaran, Khot, Adhikari, Sayyed, Sayyed, Purkayastha, Deshpande & Sulakhe, 2023 |
ABSTRACT
We describe a new species of Hemidactylus Goldfuss, 1820 based on morphological and molecular evidence from Madurai district, Tamil Nadu India. The new species shows a divergence of 8.5–30.9% on the ND2 gene from the congeners and was recovered as a member of the Hemidactylus acanthopholis Mirza & Sanap, 2014 sub-clade from the Hemidactylus prashadi Smith, 1935 clade. Further, the new species can be distinguished from other members of the H. acanthopholis sub-clade by having non-overlapping morphological characters and unique dorsal scalation. The distinguishing characteristics of the new species include medium body size, the number of dorsal tubercle rows at mid-body, the number of enlarged tubercles in paravertebral rows, the number of femoral pores and poreless scales separating the left and right series on the femoral-precloacal row in males, and the number of ventral scales across the belly at mid-body.
Key words: Hemidactylus acanthopholis sub-clade, Peninsular India, taxonomy, ND2 gene
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| Hemidactylus multisulcatus sp. nov., holotype in life, BNHS 2918; (A) dorsal view of head, (B) ventral view of head, (C) lateral view of head, (D) view of femoral and precloacal region, (E) ventral view of lamellae under right menus, and (F) ventral view of lamellae under right pes. Scale bars 5 mm. |
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| Hemidactylus multisulcatus sp. nov., holotype in life, BNHS 2918; (A) showing shell-like enlarged dorsal tubercles with multiple grooves, (B) enlarged tubercle on thigh, (C) postcloacal region, (D) dorsal and ventral view of tail. |
Hemidactylus multisulcatus sp. nov.
Diagnosis. A medium-sized gecko of the genus Hemidactylus, snout to vent length less than 84 mm (n = 3); 11 supralabials; 9–10 infralabials; dorsal pholidosis heterogenous, composed of small, granular, round, smooth scales intermixed with enlarged, much regularly arranged, strongly keeled, slightly pointed enlarged tubercles, two rows of enlarged tubercles on the paravertebral region smaller than those on mid-body enlarged shell or bivalve-like tubercles, few slightly small on lower flanks; shell or bivalve-like enlarged tubercles adorned with multiple grooves; 25–27 paravertebral tubercles between forelimb and hind limb insertions; mid-dorsal enlarged tubercles 17–19; scales on the snout, canthus rostralis, forehead and inter-orbital re-gion round, juxtaposed; periocular scales weakly keeled, much larger than those on snout; single elongated, enlarged supranasal on each side, separated from each other by two vertically arranged, small, round scales; scales on ventral surface of neck, chest, arm, pes and tail smooth, cycloid, mid-ventral scales 161–177, mid-body scales 35–36 across the belly between the lowest rows of dorsal scales; ten or eleven lamellae under digit IV of manus and pes; males with continuous series of 18–20 femoral pores (n = 2), six or seven poreless scales between femoral pores; dorsal scales of thigh and tibia small, granular, smooth, intermixed with regularly arranged, keeled enlarged tubercle; postcloacal spur absent on each side; dorsal scales at tail base and on tail small, granular scales similar in size and shape to those on mid-body dorsum, gradually becoming larger, intermixed with series of 4–6 much enlarged, pointed, keeled, conical tubercles forming whorls; ventral scales at tail base subequal, smooth, imbricate, fairly larger than mid-body ventral scales; ventral scales with a median row of large, undivided, rectangular, plate-like subcaudal scales covering almost entire portion of the tail; median row bordered laterally by one or two rows of large, smooth, imbricate triangular scales, four brown circular faint blotches on dorsal body between neck and hind limb insertion.
Etymology. The specific epithet indicates the unique shell or bivalve-like enlarged tubercles adorned with multiple grooves. In Latin (sulcus = groove) and English, multiple grooves = multisulcatus.
Suggested Common Name: Madurai Rock Gecko
Amit Sayyed, Samson Kirubakaran, Rahul Khot, Omkar Adhikari, Ayaan Sayyed, Masum Sayyed, Jayaditya Purkayastha, Shubhankar Deshpande and Shauri Sulakhe. 2023. A New Species of the Genus Hemidactylus Goldfuss, 1820 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Tamil Nadu, India. Asian Journal of Conservation Biology. 12(1); 100–110. DOI: doi.org/10.53562/ajcb.82582