Hemiphyllodactylus tonywhitteni Grismer &amp; Wood Jr &amp; Kyaw Thura &amp; Zin &amp; Quah &amp; Murdoch &amp; Grismer &amp; Li &amp; Kyaw &amp; Lwin 2017, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Grismer, L. Lee
name: Wood Jr, Perry L.
name: Kyaw Thura, Myint
name: Zin, Thaw
name: Quah, Evan S. H.
name: Murdoch, Matthew L.
name: Grismer, Marta S.
name: Li, Aung
name: Kyaw, Htet
name: Lwin, Ngwe
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Gekkonidae
Hemiphyllodactylus
Hemiphyllodactylus tonywhitteni

description: <i>Hemiphyllodactylus tonywhitteni</i> sp. nov. Phapant dwarf gecko (Figures 5 and 6) <i>Holotype</i> Adult male (LSUHC 13026) collected on 18 October 2016 at 1600 hours by Evan S. H. Quah, Perry L. Wood, Jr., Matthew L. Murdoch, Thaw Zin, Myint Kyaw Thura, Htet Kyaw, Marta S. Grismer, and L. Lee Grismer from Phapant Cave, 25.2 km north-east of Taunggyi, Taunggyi District, Shan State, Myanmar (21°11.472N, 96°33.214E; 1270 m). <i>Paratypes</i> Adult females (LSUHC 13027 and 13030) and juvenile female (LSUHC 13028) and juvenile male (LSUHC 13029) bear the same data as the holotype. <i>Diagnosis</i> <i>Hemiphyllodactylus tonywhitteni</i> sp. nov. can be separated from all other species of <i>Hemiphyllodactylus</i> by possessing the unique combination of having a maximum SVL of 38.8 mm; 5–8 chin scales; enlarged postmentals; 3–5 circumnasal scales; 2–4 scales between supranasals (=postrostrals); eight or nine supralabials; eight infralabials; 13–16 longitudinally arranged dorsal scales at midbody contained within one eye diameter and 7–9 ventral scales; varied digital formulae (Table 3); three subdigital lamellae on the first finger; three or four subdigital lamellae on the first toe; 20–26 continuous pore-bearing femoroprecloacal scales; no plate-like subcaudal scales; dark postorbital stripe not extending onto trunk; pairs of paravertebral light spots on trunk; dorsal body pattern not unicolour; postsacral marking bearing light-coloured anteriorly projecting arms; and caecum and gonads unpigmented. These characters are scored across all species of <i>Hemiphyllodactylus</i> from clades 3 and 4 (Table 3). <i>Description of holotype</i> Adult male; head triangular in dorsal profile, depressed, distinct from neck; lores and interorbital regions flat; rostrum moderate in length (NarEye/HeadL 0.33); prefrontal region flat to weakly concave; canthus rostralis smoothly rounded, barely discernible; snout moderate, rounded in dorsal profile; eye large; ear opening round, small; eye to ear distance greater than diameter of eye; rostral wider than high, bordered posteriorly by small supranasals; three internasals (=postnasal); external nares bordered anteriorly by rostral, dorsally by supranasal, posteriorly by two postnasals, ventrally by first supralabial (=circumnasals); 8 (R,L) rectangular supralabials tapering to below posterior margin of orbit; 8 (R,L) rectangular infralabials tapering to below posterior margin of orbit; scales of rostrum, lores, top of head, and occiput small, granular, those of rostrum largest and slightly raised; dorsal superciliaries flat, mostly square, subimbricate, largest anteriorly; mental triangular, bordered laterally by first infralabials and posteriorly by two large postmentals; each postmental bordered laterally by a single large, sublabial; seven chin scales; gular scales small, subimbricate, grading posteriorly into slightly larger, subimbricate, throat and pectoral scales which grade into slightly larger, subimbricate ventrals. Body somewhat elongate (Trunk/SVL 0.48), dorsoventrally compressed; ventrolateral folds absent; dorsal scales small, granular, 14 dorsal scales at midbody contained within one eye diameter; ventral scales, flat, subimbricate much larger than dorsal scales, seven ventral scales contained within one eye diameter; precloacal scales slightly larger than abdominal scales; pore-bearing precloacal scales continuous with pore-bearing femoral scales, totalling 26; forelimbs short, robust in stature, covered with flat, subimbricate scales dorsally and ventrally; palmar scales flat, subimbricate; all digits except digit I well developed; digit I vestigial, clawless; distal, subdigital lamellae of digits II–V undivided, angular and U-shaped; lamellae proximal to these transversely expanded; lamellar formula of digits II–V 4-4-4-4 (R,L); three transversely expanded lamellae on digit I; claws on digits II–V well developed, unsheathed; distal portions of digits strongly curved, terminal joint free, arising from central portion of lamellar pad; hind limbs short, more robust than forelimbs, covered with flat, juxtaposed scales dorsally and by larger, flat subimbricate scales ventrally; plantar scales low, flat, subimbricate; all digits except digit I well developed; digit I vestigial, clawless; distal, subdigital lamellae of digits II–V undivided, angular and U-shaped; lamellae proximal to these transversely expanded; lamellar formula of digits II–V 4-4-4-4 (R,L); three transversely expanded lamellae on digit I; claws on digits II–V well developed, unsheathed; distal portions of digits strongly curved, terminal joint free, arising from central portion of lamellar pad; dorsal caudal scales small, square, subimbricate; tail regenerated, covered with flat imbricate scales. Morphometric data are presented in Table 5. <i>Coloration before preservation (Figure 5)</i> Top of head, body, limbs, and tail grey, overlain with darker, broken bands on trunk appearing as paravertebral markings highlighted posteriorly by light-coloured, diffuse blotches; poorly defined dark, lineate markings extend from occipital region to shoulder; spotting or striping on trunk absent; diffuse, dark, preorbital stripe; dark, postorbital stripe irregularly shaped, extending to shoulder region; limbs bearing irregularly shaped, dark markings; tail generally unicolour; gular region generally immaculate, except for darker lateral areas and faint stippling in scales; and pigmentation density increases posteriorly with the abdomen being generally grey. <i>Variation (Figures 5 and 6)</i> The colour patterns of the paratypes generally match that of the holotype. LSUHC 13027 is darker overall and the colour pattern is less distinct. The light-coloured, paravertebral blotches in LSUHC 13029 are salmon coloured. The dark dorsal pattern of LSUHC 13028 is more speckled and that of the adult female LSUHC 13030 is more reticulate. LSUHC 13030 has an original tail lacking enlarged subcaudal plates and bearing a weak, ventrolateral fringe and a distinct banding pattern. The tail is oval in cross-section and the underside is dull orange. The intensity of coloration and contrast in pattern changes with mood and activity. Differences in scales counts are presented in Table 5. <i>Distribution</i> <i>Hemiphyllodactylus tonywhitteni</i> sp. nov. is known only from the type locality of Phapant Cave, Taunggyi District, Shan State, Myanmar (Figure 1). <i>Natural history</i> Phapant Cave is a complex of three caves situated around a small depression along a narrow river. The karstic ridge and outcroppings surround a small monastery which incorporates the caves for worship. The hilly area connecting the caves is composed of highly eroded limestone walls bearing many cracks and pores. Large limestone boulders that have broken away from the cliff face line the base of the shallow escarpment (Figure 7). We believe <i>Hemiphyllodactylus tonywhitteni</i> sp. nov. is a karst-adapted species. A specimen of <i>H. tonywhitteni</i> sp. nov. was found just inside a small opening of one of the caves nearly 4 m above the cave entrance. More specimens were found on the boulders at the base of the cliff and one on one of the cement buildings of the monastery. Syntopic with <i>H. tonywhitteni</i> sp. nov. on both the karst outcroppings and the cement building was an undescribed species of <i>Hemidactylus.</i> <i>Hemidactylus</i> sp. nov. was also found on wooden structures and vegetation where <i>H. tonywhitteni</i> sp. nov. was absent. <i>Etymology</i> This specific epithet ‘ <i>tonywhitteni</i> ’ honours Dr Tony Whitten of Fauna &amp; Flora International who has championed a broad range of conservation efforts in Indonesia and the Asia Pacific for well over a quarter of a century. His tireless efforts to conserve and help manage karst ecosystems have been a great inspiration to the senior author (LLG) herein. <i>Comparisons</i> The molecular analyses indicate that <i>Hemiphyllodactylus tonywhitteni</i> sp. nov. is embedded within clade 4 of the <i>typus</i> group and is the sister species of <i>H. montawaensis</i> sp. nov. It can be distinguished from <i>H. jinpingensis, H. chiangmaiensis</i> and the species of clade 3 by lacking dark, dorsolateral stripes on the trunk and transverse, dorsal blotches. The PCA analysis shows that it occupies a unique morphospace with respect to <i>H. montawaensis</i> sp. nov. and <i>H. linnwayensis</i> sp. nov. with PC1 and PC2 accounting for 49% of the variation in the concatenated dataset (Figure 3). PC1 accounted for 29% of the variation and loaded most heavily for trunk length and the number of subdigital lamellae on the first toe (Table 6). PC2 accounted for an additional 20% of the variation and loaded most heavily for the number of dorsal scales. The first four components of the PCA were retained for the DAPC which shows that not only are all three species distinct but all individuals of each species fall very close to or within the 95% confidence ellipses (Figure 4). Uncorrected pair-wise sequence divergence between <i>H. tonywhitteni</i> sp. nov. and all other species of clades 3 and 4 ranges from 6.4–18.7% (Table 7). <i>Hemiphyllodactylus tonywhitteni</i> sp. nov. is most similar to its sister species <i>H. montawaensis</i> sp. nov. but differs in having more femoroprecloacal pores (20–26 versus 19–21) and a relatively wider head (0.17–0.19 versus 0.16–0.17) throughout its growth trajectory (Figure 8) and a statistically significantly wider head (<i>p</i> &lt;0.24, <i>n</i> = 5) as an adult.
description: Published as part of <i>Grismer, L. Lee, Wood Jr, Perry L., Kyaw Thura, Myint, Zin, Thaw, Quah, Evan S. H., Murdoch, Matthew L., Grismer, Marta S., Li, Aung, Kyaw, Htet &amp; Lwin, Ngwe, 2017, Phylogenetic taxonomy of Hemiphyllodactylus Bleeker, 1860 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) with descriptions of three new species from Myanmar, pp. 881-915 in Journal of Natural History 52 (13 - 16)</i> on pages 891-898, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2017.1367045, http://zenodo.org/record/4780047
description: {"references": ["Grismer LL, Wood PL Jr, Anuar S, Muin MA, Quah ESH, McGuire JA, Brown RM, Van Tri N, Hong Thai P. 2013. Integrative taxonomy uncovers high levels of cryptic species diversity in Hemiphyllodactylus Bleeker, 1860 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) and the description of a new species from Peninsular Malaysia. Zool J Linn Soc. 169: 849 - 880."]}