February 1992

Asiatic Herpetological Research

Cyrtodactylus madarensis

Sharma (1980), a junior synonym of Eublepharismacularius Blyth (1854)
INDRANEILDAS

1Vol. 4, pp. 55-56|

1Animal Ecology Research Group, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford

0X1 3PS, England
Key words: Reptilia, Sauna, Gekkonidae, Cyrtodactylus madarensis, Eublepharis macularius, systematics.

Cyrtodactylus madarensis was describedby Sharma (1980) based on a single
juvenile male from near Madar (alt. 263 m),
approximately 5 km north-west of Ajmer
City, Rajasthan, in north-western India.
No diagnosis of the new species wasprovided and the author compared his newfind, for reasons uncited, only with thegekkonid, Cyrtodactylus stoliczkai, whichis restricted to the extreme northern parts ofIndia (Kashmir and Ladakh) and northwestern Pakistan (North-West FrontierProvince) and adjacent China (Welch et al.,1990).

nine upper labials; ten lower labials; hindlimbs reaching axilla; tail cylindrical,
segmented, tapering to a point and taillength (36 mm) shorter than snout-vent
The description oflength (50 mm).
coloration of dorsum agrees with that of
Eublepharis macularius provided by Smith(1935) for juveniles (dark brown withbands and a white nuchal loop), and as
previously noted, the type of C. madarensis
is virtually

identical in coloration to thejuvenile of E. macularius illustrated inDaniel (1983). Adults off. macularius aredark brown or reddish brown above, withthe bands breaking up into spots.

Examination of the photographs and aclose scrutiny of the type description of
Cyrtodactylus madarensis revealed that thegeneric assignment of this taxon has been
erroneous.
The plate (No. IV: A)
accompanying the paper clearly shows
thick upper eyelids that are pale in color,which have been considered diagnostic ofanother gekkonid genus, Eublepharis (seeSmith, 1935; Minton, 1966; Daniel, 1983).
In general, the color pattern of the dorsumof the type is strikingly similar to Daniel's(op cit.) Eublepharis macularius (Blyth,1854) juvenile (Plate 16, top).

Underwood (1954) revived the genus
Cyrtodactylus Gray (1827), whose
members are widespread from the shores ofthe Mediterranean eastwards through theIndian subcontinent, to Australia and theislands of the south-west Pacific.
Theofthegenus bysubsequent splitting up

Szczerbak and Golubev (1986) has been
criticised by Bauer (1987), but none of themembers of this taxonomically complex
group of padless geckos possess thick
movable eyelids.
Eyelids among
gekkonids, infact, are restricted to theeublepharines.

Other generic characters of Eublepharisthat were present in
the type of

Cyrtodactylus madarensis include thepresence of lamellae under the digits; asegmented, cylindrical tail; dorsum of bodywith small granular scales intermixed withlarge subtrihedral tubercles; and imbricate
ventral scales.
Specific characters ofmacularius noted in
madarensis
include a large
Cyrtodactylus
head with a distinct, narrow neck; pointedsnout; prominent tubercles on the dorsum;

Eublepharis© 1992 by Asiatic Herpetological Research

Males of Eublepharis macularius possess
9-18 preanal pores (Smith, 1935), whichwere not present in the type of
Cyrtodactylus madarensis, according to thetype description. However, the type was ajuvenile male (snout-vent length 50 mm).
Eublepharis macularius is known to reachmm in total body length, the 300
mm length supposedly attained by theabout 250

species according to Theobald (in Smith,1935) may refer to a third species of Asian

Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 4, p. 56

eublepharid, Eublepharis angramainyu (G.

BHATI, D. P. S.

Bhati (1989) synonymised Eublepharismacularius (Blyth, 1854) with E
hardwickii Gray (1827) after claiming tohave examined a large series from
Rajasthan. However, no evidence of thiswas presented in theopinion.

communication. In fact, another recentworker, Grismer (1988) has show bothspecies of Indian eublepharids to be valid
and that the ranges of the two species ofIndian eublepharine geckos are separated
by the plains of north-central India.
Eublepharis macularius enters India in thenorth-west, with an apparently isolated

population in northern Maharashtra State inwestern India, whereas E. hardwickii isrestricted to north-eastern peninsular India

and probably Bangladesh. The locality of

Cyrtodactylus

madarensis

therefore falls within the known range ofthe first named species.

Thus,

considerIA critical evaluation ofProceedings of the First WorldSauria).

madarensis

1989.

the species of Eublepharis Gray 1827 (Reptilia:Benyr, pers. comm.).

Sharma'sFebruary 1992

Congress of Herpetology. University of Kent atCanterbury, 11-19 September: 28 (Abstract).

BLYTH, E.

1954. Proceedings of the Society.
Report of the Curator, Zoological Department.
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 23:737740.

DANIEL, J.C.

The book of Indian reptiles.

1983.

141

Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay.
pp.

GRISMER, L. L.

1988.

Phylogeny, taxonomy,classification, and biogeography of eublepharine

geckos.

In R. Estes and G.

Pp. 369-469.

Pregill (eds.), Phylogenetic relationships of thelizard families. Essays commemorating CharlesL. Camp. Stanford University Press, Stanford.

1966. A contribution to theofWestPakistan. Bulletin of theherpetology

MINTON, S. A., JR.
AmericanMuseumof

NaturalHistory

134(2):27-184.

Cyrtodactylus

junior synonym of
Eublepharis macularius, a gekkonid lizard
found in north-western India, Pakistan, andaSHARMA, R. C.

1980. Discovery of a luminous
geckonid lizard from India. Bulletin of theZoological Survey of India 3(1&2):111-112,lpl.

Afghanistan.

SMITH, M. A.
In the description of his
Sharma claimed that thenew species,of hisexhibitedluminescence.
No
specimenfor
this
observation
could
beexplanation
skin

given in the present note, except that thepale bands on the dorsal aspect of the bodyof Eublepharis macularius juveniles appear
extremely conspicuous against the darkbrown background, a color pattern that may
be aposematic.

1935.

The fauna of British India,

including Ceylon and Burma.
Sauria.
Vol. 2.
Amphibia.
Francis, London.

Reptilia andTaylor and440 pp.

SZCZERBAK, N. N. AND M. L. GOLUBEV.

1986.

[The gekkonid fauna of the USSR and adjacentcountries]. Nauka Dumka Publishing House,Kiev. 232 pp.

(In Russian).

UNDERWOOD, G. 1954. On the classification andevolution of geckos.

Proceedings of theZoological Society of London 124(3):469-492.

Literature Cited

WELCH, K. R. G., P. S. COOKE, AND A. S.
AThe gekkonid fauna of theWRIGHT.

1990.

USSR and adjacent countries (Book Review).

checklist.

Copeia 1987(2):525-527.

Company,

Robert E. Krieger Publishing
162 pp.
Malabar, Florida.

BAUER, A. M.

1987.

Lizards of the Orient: