Cyrtodactylus vilaphongi Schneider, Nguyen, Le, Nophaseud, Bonkowski & Ziegler, 2014, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Schneider, Nicole
name: Nguyen, Truong Quang
name: Le, Minh Duc
name: Nophaseud, Liphone
name: Bonkowski, Michael
name: Ziegler, Thomas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Gekkonidae
Cyrtodactylus
Cyrtodactylus vilaphongi

description: Cyrtodactylus vilaphongi sp. nov.
(Figs. 2–4)
Paratype. NUOL R-2013.5, adult female, collected by Truong Quang Nguyen, Nicole Schneider, Liphone Nophaseud, Vilaphong Kanyasone on 10 August 2013, the same locality as the holotype.
Diagnosis. The new species can be distinguished from all congeners on the basis of the following combination of characters: maximum SVL 86.1 mm, supralabials 9 or 10; infralabials 7–9; dorsal tubercles in 15 or 16 rows at midbody; ventral scale rows 34–36 at midbody; precloacal groove absent; femoral scales not distinctly enlarged; precloacal pores absent in females (unknown in males); subdigital lamellae under the fourth finger 18 or 19, under the fourth toe 18–20; subcaudals not transversally enlarged; dorsal bands white, 4 or 5 between limb insertions plus another one between hind limbs; tail banded.
Description of the holotype. Adult female, SVL 86.1 mm, tail regenerated (TL 61.2 mm); rostral squareshaped, wider than high (RW 4.1 mm, RH 2.4 mm), medially with a straight, vertical suture, in contact with nasorostral, nare, and first supralabial on each side; supralabials 9 or 10; supralabials separated from orbit by 3 or 4 rows of scales; nares in contact with rostral, nasorostral, supranasal, two postnasals, and first supralabial; internasals absent; scales on snout distinctly larger than on upper head; loreal region slightly upraised; scales between fifth supralabials across the dorsal head surface in 30 rows; scales between anterior corners of eyes 32; interorbital region with small, round, convex scales, outer ones more oval; scales in postorbital region distinctly smaller (ca. half the size) than snout scales, round and convex, interrupted by a few small tubercles, in 3 or 4 rows laterally; dorsal surface of head without enlarged tubercles; pupil vertical; spinous ciliaria absent; ear opening vertical, oval; mental triangular, slightly narrower than rostral (MW: 3.6 mm), in contact with two postmentals and the first infralabial on each side; infralabials 8 or 9; postmentals surrounded by first infralabial on each side and six granular scales posteriorly, two outer ones enlarged; gular scales granular.
Dorsal scales small; dorsal tubercles in 15 longitudinal rows at midbody, separated from each other by 2 or 3 dorsal scales and surrounded by 9–11 granular scales; tubercles on flanks slightly smaller than dorsal tubercles; ventrolateral folds slightly developed, with tubercles; ventral scales round, imbricated, 2 or 3 times larger than gular and throat scales, twice the size of dorsal scales; ventral scales 34, plus 122 dorsal scales around midbody; scales between mental and cloacal slit 165; dorsal surface of limbs with tubercles, distinctly higher counts on hind limbs; distinctly enlarged femoral scales absent; fingers and toes free of webbing; relative finger lengths I<V<II<IV<III, relative toe lengths I<II<V<IV<III; claw bordered by two scales; subdigital lamellae: finger I 15 (with 3 basally broadened lamellae), finger II 14–16 (4), finger III 18 (5), finger IV 18 or 19 (5), finger V 18 (5), toe I 14 or 15 (3), toe II 17 or 18 (4 or 5), toe III 19 (5), toe IV 18 or 19 (5 or 6), toe V 20 or 21 (5 or 6); precloacal depression absent; precloacal pores absent; enlarged precloacal scales 5, in one row; adjoining scales in precloacal region twice the size of femoral scales or ventrals; postcloacal tubercles 2 on each side, well developed; dorsal tail base with tubercles, regenerated part without tubercles or whorls; subcaudals of original part of tail not transversally enlarged.
Coloration in life: Dorsal head dark brown, marbled in light yellow; each side with a blackish brown stripe stretching from the posterior corner of the eye to the neck, connecting with the neck band on the right side, interrupted on the left side; irregular dark blotches with light margins present between eyes, on occiput and on postorbital region; ciliaria bright yellow; iris yellowish brown, pupil slit edged in orange; neck band blackish brown, widened posteriorly, edged in yellow anteriorly and posteriorly; ground color of dorsum blackish brown with five transverse yellowish white bands between limb insertions; flanks and upper limbs with yellowish white spots, in irregular rows; tail base dark brown with a white band, regenerated part uniformly dark brown; ventral surface light beige.
Variation. The paratype largely corresponds with the description of the holotype. For measurements, scalation, and color pattern variation see Fig. 2 and Table 3. Neck band is not interrupted in the paratype. The original tail has nine white dorsal bands plus a bright tip, dark brown ventrally, with dorsal tubercles at the base only, and subcaudals not transversally enlarged.
Characters IEBR A.2013.103 (female) NUOL R-2013.5 (female) Measurements (mm)
SVL 86.1 60.9 TL 61.2* 68.1 AG 36.6 25.1 HL 23.6 16.6 HW 17.4 13.0 HH 9.7 6.9 SE 10.2 7.5 EE 7.4 4.9 IND 2.9 2.5 IOD 6.7 5.6 OD 5.5 4.1 ED 1.7 1.6 ForeaL 13.2 10.5 SL 14.9 12.4 LeF4 7.5 5.5 LeT4 9.6 6.8 RW 4.1 2.9
......continued on the next page Distribution. Cyrtodactylus vilaphongi is currently known only from the type locality in Luang Prabang Province, Laos (Fig. 5).
Etymology. The new species is named in honour of Mr. Vilaphong Kanyasone, a staff of Provincial Natural Resources and Environmental Office of Luang Prabang Province, Laos, who collected the holotype and provided a great support for our field research in Laos.
Ecological notes. Cyrtodactylus vilaphongi inhabits disturbed secondary limestone forest near a residential area at elevations between 577 and 597 m a.s.l. Specimens were found at night, on karst cliff and rock boulder ca. 0.5 m above the ground (Fig. 6). Air temperature at the site was 24–30o C and humidity ranged from 72 to 86%.
description: Published as part of Schneider, Nicole, Nguyen, Truong Quang, Le, Minh Duc, Nophaseud, Liphone, Bonkowski, Michael & Ziegler, Thomas, 2014, A new species of Cyrtodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the karst forest of northern Laos in Zootaxa 3835 (1), DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3835.1.4, http://zenodo.org/record/224612