 |
| Cnemaspis brahmaputra Sayyed, Das, Amarasinghe, Bhattacharjee & Purkayastha, 2025 TAPROBANICA. 14(2) Precloacal and femoral area of (A) C. podihuna holotype and (B) C. brahmaputra sp. nov. holotype |
Abstract
We describe a new species of Cnemaspis from Assam, a valley of an antecedent river, the Brahmaputra, in northeastern India that belongs to the C. podihuna species group. The new species is the second Cnemaspis reported from the mainland Indian subcontinent, representing the entire podihuna clade. It is small (SVL 30.8–35.7 mm) and diurnal. The new species is genetically and morphologically allied to C. assamensis in northeast India, and also morphologically allied to the members of the C. podihuna group in Sri Lanka, especially to C. molligodai and C. manoae, but is distinguished by its larger body size but with lower number of midbody scale rows, higher number of miventrals and ventral scale rows across the belly, no tubercles on lower flanks, three enlarged rows of thigh scales parallel to the enlarged femoral scale row, and fewer poreless scales separating precloacal and femoral pore scales in males. The new species is also genetically divergent from C. assamensis by p-distances of 6.0–7.2% and from Sri Lankan congeners by 21.2–24.8% in the mitochondrial ND2 gene. With this new species, only two species of Cnemaspis are now known from the podihuna clade in India, but additional species likely remain unrecognized.
Keywords: phylogeny, saxicoline geckos, species complex, systematics, taxonomy
 |
| Cnemaspis brahmaputra sp. nov. (A) the holotype (ADBU1111; an adult male) and (B) the habitat near Dirgheswari Temple, North Guwahati, Assam, India. Photo: A. Sayyed |
Cnemaspis brahmaputra sp. nov.
Diagnosis. A diminutive, rupicolous Cnemaspis with adult SVL 30.8–35.7 mm; dorsal scales homogeneous, small granular scales, intermixed with slightly large, randomly arranged smooth scales; enlarged tubercles absent on dorsum; scales on gular, throat, pectoral, and abdomen smooth; median subcaudals smooth, enlarged, slightly semicircular, subimbricate; 26–27 interorbital scales; 7–9 supralabials up to midorbital position, 11–13 up to the angle of jaw; 8–12 infralabials; two pairs of postmentals, inner pair larger, separated by single hexagonal intermediate scale; 83–87 scale rows at midbody, 21–25 ventral scales rows across the belly; 127–131 paravertebral granules, 130–138 midventral scales; similar scales on flanks; four or five spine-like tubercles on lateral body, but absent in lower flanks; 19 subdigital lamellae under fourth toe; males with six or seven precloacal pores and 12 femoral pores (on each thigh) separated by four enlarged poreless scales; dorsal scales on brachium and forearm smooth, granular; ventral scales of thigh with three rows of enlarged scales parallel to femoral scales; ventral scales on tail base not enlarged; a single pair of postcloacal spur on tail base.
Etymology. The specific epithet is an
invariable noun in apposition and refers to the
antecedent river, ‘Brahmaputra’, which flows
near the type locality. Brahmaputra (in the
Sanskrit language) is a singular possessive noun
with Brahma (=a name of the Hindu god,
referred to as "the creator") and putra (=son,
referred to here as offspring), thus the offspring
of the creator. Brahmaputra River (3,969 km)
flows through China, northeast India, and
Bangladesh, and is one of the top ten largest
rivers by discharge (Sarma 2004)—English
name: Brahmaputra day gecko
Amit Sayyed, Madhurima Das, A.A. Thasun Amarasinghe, Rupankar Bhattacharjee and Jayaditya Purkayastha. 2025. A New Day Gecko of the Cnemaspis podihuna (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) clade from Northeast India. TAPROBANICA. 14(2); 107–120.
