Cnemaspis mahsuriae Grismer, Wood, Quah, Anuar, Ngadi & Ahmad, 2015, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Grismer, L. Lee
name: Wood, P. L.
name: Quah, Evan S. H.
name: Anuar, Shahrul
name: Ngadi, Ehwan
name: Ahmad, Norhayati
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Gekkonidae
Cnemaspis
Cnemaspis mahsuriae

description: Cnemaspis mahsuriae sp. nov.   
Mashuri’s Rock Gecko Figs. 3, 4  
 Holotype. Adult male (LSUHC 11828) collected on 24 August 2014 at 1900 hrs by L. L. Grismer, P. L. Wood, Jr., E. S. H. Quah, Jessika Vazquez at 400 m in elevation from a northwest facing slope on Gunung Raya, Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia (0451.715 N, 10047.993 E).   
 Paratypes. The paratypes were all collected from along the road to the summit of Gunung Raya on Gunung Raya. LSUHC 11829 bears the same data as the holotype. LRCUKM 0098–99 were collected on 19 March 2014 at 503m asl (0622.905 N 0 9948.030 E) and 657 m (0622.665 N 0 9949.278 E), respectively. LRCUKM 0 101 was collected 20 March 2014 at 503 m (0622.905 N 0 9948.030 E) and LRCUKM 0 104 was collected on 21 March 2014 at 657 m (0622.665 N 0 9949.278 E). LRCUKM 098–99, 0 101, 0 104 were collected by Ehwan, N.   
 Diagnosis. Cnemaspis mahsuriae sp. nov. differs from all other species of Cnemaspis in the affinis group in having the unique combination of a maximum SVL of 36.6 mm; keeled subtibials and ventrals; semi-linearly arranged body tubercles; 21–24 paravertebral tubercles; no tubercles on lower flanks; no tubercles in lateral caudal furrow; ventrolateral caudal tubercles absent; lateral row of caudal tubercles present; caudal tubercles not encircling tail; two postcloacal tubercles; no precloacal pores; 23–26 subdigital lamellae on fourth toe; dorsal color pattern sexually dimorphic; no white ocelli in shoulder region; no large, black, round spots on nape; no yellow postscapular band; faint yellow bars on flanks; no white, dorsal, caudal tubercles or distinct black and white caudal bands; and all ventral surfaces (except for subcaudal region) beige not yellow. These differences are summarized across all affinis group species in Table 4.   
 Description of holotype. Adult male; SVL 36.6 mm; head oblong in dorsal profile, moderate in size (HL/SVL 0.27), somewhat narrow (HW/SVL 0.17), flattened (HD/HL 0.42), distinct from neck; snout short (ES/HL 0.45), slightly concave in lateral profile; postnasal region constricted medially, flat; scales of rostrum keeled, raised, larger than conical scales on occiput; weak, supraorbital ridges; no frontorostral sulcus; canthus rostralis nearly absent, smoothly rounded; eye large (ED/HL 0.21); extra-brillar, fringe scales largest anteriorly; pupil round; ear opening oval, taller than wide; rostral slightly concave, dorsal 80% divided by longitudinal groove; rostral bordered posteriorly by supranasals and one small, azygous scale and laterally by first supralabials; 8,9 (R,L) slightly raised supralabials tapering posteriorly; 7,8 (R,L) infralabials, decreasing in size posteriorly; nostrils elliptical, oriented dorsoposteriorly; bordered posteriorly by small, granular, postnasal scales; mental large, triangular, concave, bordered posteriorly by three postmentals; gular and throat scales raised, weakly keeled, conical.   
Body slender, elongate AG/SVL 0.45); small, keeled, dorsal scales equal in size throughout body, intermixed with several large, multicarinate tubercles more or less randomly arranged; tubercles extend from occiput to base of tail; no tubercles on flanks; pectoral and abdominal scales keeled, raised, slightly elongate, not larger posteriorly; abdominal scales slightly larger than dorsals; no pore-bearing, precloacal scales or precloacal depression; forelimbs moderately long, slender; dorsal scales raised, keeled; ventral scales of brachia smooth, raised, juxtaposed; scales beneath forearm smooth, subimbricate; palmar scales smooth, juxtaposed, raised; digits long with an inflected joint; claws recurved; subdigital lamellae unnotched; lamellae beneath first phalanges granular proximally, widened distally; lamellae beneath phalanx immediately following inflection granular, lamellae of distal phalanges wide; interdigital webbing absent; fingers increase in length from first to fourth with fourth and fifth equal in length; hind limbs slightly longer and thicker than forelimbs; dorsal scales raised, keeled, juxtaposed; scales of anterior margin of thigh keeled; ventral scales of thigh keeled; subtibial scales keeled, flat, imbricate, with no enlarged anterior row; plantar scales smooth, juxtaposed, raised; no enlarged submetatarsal scales beneath first metatarsal; digits elongate with an inflected jointed; claws recurved; subdigital lamellae unnotched; lamellae beneath first phalanges granular proximally, widened distally; lamellae beneath phalanx immediately following inflection granular, lamellae of distal phalanges wide; interdigital webbing absent; toes increase in length from first to fourth with fourth and fifth equal in length; 26,24 (R,L) subdigital lamellae on fourth toe; caudal scales arranged in segmented whorls; caudal scales keeled, juxtaposed anteriorly; shallow, middorsal furrow; deeper, single, lateral furrow; no enlarged, median, subcaudal scales; subcaudals keeled; no median row of enlarged, keeled, subcaudal scales; transverse, tubercle rows do not encircle tail; caudal tubercles absent from lateral furrow; a (R,L) enlarged, postcloacal tubercles on lateral surface of hemipenal swellings at base of tail; posterior 50% of tail regenerated.  
 Coloration (Fig. 3). In life, dorsal ground color of head yellow, that of body, limbs and tail grey; top of head bearing small, black markings; thin, diffuse, black postorbital stripe; thin, yellow, postorbital stripes unite on nape to form a diffuse, broken, nuchal loop; dark markings on nape anterior to yellow stripe preceded by two yellowish spots; single, light, postscapular spot just dorsal to forelimb insertion highlighting a large tubercle; faint, paravertebral blotches extend from nape to base of tail where they transform into light bands; faint, yellow, transverse markings on flanks; dark, diffuse bands on limbs on limbs; original portion of tail bearing faint grey and beige bands; all ventral surfaces except subcaudal region beige with weak stippling; subcaudal region darkly mottled.   
 Variation. Paratypes approximate the holotype (LSUHC 11828) in general aspects of coloration and pattern (Figs. 3,4), the exception being that females lack the yellowish head and the yellowish bars on the flanks found in males. Paratype LRCUKM 98 has a broken tail. The dorsal tubercles of the holotype are generally more linear in arrangement than those tubercles of the paratypes. Paratype LRCUKM 104 has a regenerated tail covered in granular, juxtaposed scales. All LRCUKM specimens have deep incisions along the entire abdomen as a result of liver tissue extractions. Selected body measurements and variation is squamation is presented in Table 5.   
 Distribution. Cnemaspis mahsuriae is known only from the type locality at the base of Gunung Raya, Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia (Fig. 1).   
 Natural history. Cnemaspis mahuriae sp. nov. is a scansorial species known only from hill dipterocarp forest from the mid-elevation region of Gunung Raya from approximately 400–600 m (Fig. 5). All LRCUKM specimens were collected from pitfall traps at 400 m in elevation indicating that this species spends a significant amount of time on the ground. Both males and females were collected from the traps ruling out the hypothesis that only females come down to the forest floor to lay eggs. The LSUHC specimens were observed abroad at night in the forest on the trunks of large (trunk width> 1 m) and small trees ranging as high as 1.5 m above the forest floor. Another specimen (not cataloged) was observed beneath a palm frond and another (not cataloged) was found on the tire of our van. Both were at 500 m in elevation. The larger, C. roticanai Grismer & Chan has been collected on the same slope face of Gunung Raya at 743 m in elevation (Grismer & Chan 2010) but was found to be in syntopy with C. mahsuriae sp. nov. at approximately 500 m.   
 Comparisons. Cnemaspis mahsuriae sp. nov. has numerous diagnostic scale and color pattern character states that separate it from all other species of the affinis group (see bolded character states in Table 4). The phylogeny indicates that C. mahsuriae sp. nov. is the basal species lineage of a monophyletic group containing it, C. harimau, and C. affinis (Figs. 1, 2, 3). From C. harimau and C. affinis, C. mahsuriae sp. nov. differs by having a smaller maximum SVL (36.6 mm versus 40.7 mm and 50.8 mm, respectively) and lacking precloacal pores, ocelli in the shoulder region and a yellow throat and gular region. Cnemaspis mahsuriae sp. nov. differs further from C. harimau in having 21–24 versus 18–28 paravertebral tubercles, lacking as opposed to having tubercles in the lateral caudal furrow, and lacking distinct black and white posterior caudal bands. Cnemaspis mahsuriae sp. nov. differs further from C. affinis in having 23–26 versus 28 or 29 subdigital lamellae on the fourth toe.   
 TABLE 4. Diagnostic morphological and color pattern characters (bold) separating Cnemaspis mashuriae sp. nov. from all other species of the affinis group. =weak; ant = anterior; post = posterior; / = data unavailable.   
LSUHC LSUHC LRCUKM LRCUKM LRCUKM LRCUKM Enlarged submetatarsal scales on 1st toe (1) or not (0) 0 0 0 0 0 0  
 ……. continued on the next page Etymology. The specific epithet mahsuriae is a patronym honoring the legendary woman Mahsuri Binti Pandak Mayah who lived on Pulau Langkawi during the early 1800s. Her renown beauty helped to usher in her marriage to the warrior Wan Darus but it also engendered jealously in the wife of the village chief who falsely accused Mahsuri of adultery while her husband was away at war. As punishment, Mahsuri was tied to a tree and stabbed to death with her family kris and while dying she placed a curse on the island for seven generations. A tomb honoring Mahsuri rests below the type locality on Gunung Raya.
description: Published as part of Grismer, L. Lee, Wood, P. L., Quah, Evan S. H., Anuar, Shahrul, Ngadi, Ehwan & Ahmad, Norhayati, 2015, A new insular species of Rock Gecko (Cnemaspis Boulenger) from Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia, pp. 203-218 in Zootaxa 3985 (2) on pages 208-214, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3985.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/243509