Cyrtodactylus kingsadai Ziegler, Phung, Le & Nguyen, 2013, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Ziegler, Thomas
name: Phung, Trung My
name: Le, Minh Duc
name: Nguyen, Truong Quang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Gekkonidae
Cyrtodactylus
Cyrtodactylus kingsadai

description: Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov.
Holotype. IEBR A.2013.1, adult male, collected on 25 September 2011 by T. M. Phung in coastal shrub vegetation intermixed with granite boulders in Dai Lanh Cape (12o55’N, 109o24’E), Tuy Hoa District, Phu Yen Province, southern Vietnam at an elevation between 50–100 m a.s.l. (Figs. 2–4).
Paratypes. ZFMK 94042, adult male, IEBR A.2013.2 and ZFMK 94043, adult females, the same collection data as for the holotype (Fig. 5), and IEBR A.2013.3, adult male, collected on 20 January 2013 by T. M. Phung at the same locality.
Diagnosis. A medium-sized Cyrtodactylus with a maximum SVL of 94 mm, distinguished from all congeners by the combination of the following characters: 1) dorsal pattern consisting of a dark nuchal loop, continuous or partly interrupted neck band and four in part irregular transverse body bands between limbs; 2) internasal single; 3) dorsal tubercles in 17–23 irregular transverse rows; 4) ventrals in 39–46 longitudinal rows at midbody; 5) lateral skin folds present, without interspersed tubercles; 6) precloacal pores 7–9 plus in total 3–7 femoral pores in males (1-4 femoral pores on each side), precloacal and femoral pore series separated from each other by 7–9 poreless scales; 7) enlarged femoral scales and precloacal scales present; 8) postcloacal spurs three; and 9) subcaudal scales transversely enlarged.
Description of holotype. Size medium (SVL 83 mm, TaL 106 mm, tail tip regenerated), distance from posterior corner of eye to anterior margin of ear including ciliaria 6.5 mm, maximum horizontal ear diameter 1.1 mm; for further measurements see Table 3.
Rostral wider than high (RW 3.6 mm, RH 2.1 mm, RW/RH 1.7) with an inverse Y-shaped median suture; supralabials 13/14; infralabials 11/10; nares bordered by rostral anteriorly, first supralabial laterally and four nasals posteriorly; supranasals separated from each other by two nasorostrals and a pentagonal internasal; medial snout scales slightly granular, those in contact with and nearby supralabials, flattened and larger than medial scales; upper anterior ciliaries three times larger than posterior ciliaries; head scales granular, smaller than median snout scales; back of head and temporal region with elongated to rounded, somewhat conical tubercles, 3–6 times larger than surrounding scales; mental triangular, slightly wider than rostral; one pair of enlarged postmentals, longer than wide, in broad contact posteriorly; postmentals bordering mental anteriorly, first two labials, one pair of distinctly enlarged gular scales, which are separated from each other by three small gular scales; dorsal scales somewhat granular to flattened, as large as medial snout scales; dorsal tubercles round, conical, surrounded by 10–11 granular scales, tubercles forming approximately 19 irregular longitudinal rows at midbody; ventral scales smooth, medial scales 2–3 times larger than dorsal granules, 46 longitudinal rows at midbody; lateral folds present, but not well developed, without interspersed tubercles; upper and lower arm with few slightly developed tubercles; dorsal hind limb covered by distinctly developed, flat to conical tubercles; series of distinctly enlarged femoral scales; femoral pore-bearing scales 11/12, distinctly enlarged, separated from precloacal, pore-bearing scales by 9 poreless femoral scales; femoral pores 1/2, precloacal pores 8, in an angular series; fingers and toes lacking distinct webbing; lamellae under first finger 16/16, under fourth finger 19/19, under first toe 15/16, and under fourth toe 21/21; claws surrounded by a small scale on upper and a large scale on lower sides; precloacal region covered by a patch of approximately 20 enlarged scales below precloacal, pore-bearing scales; precloacal groove absent; postcloacal tubercles 3/3, enlarged, on lateral surface of slight hemipenial swelling; dorsum of tail bearing distinct tubercles at base only, last 18 mm regenerated; subcaudals distinctly transversely enlarged, flat, smooth.
Coloration in ethanol. Ground colour light brownish-grey, with dark brownish-black dorsal pattern; dorsal surface of head with irregular dark markings, largest at occiput; a light canthal stripe extending from nostril to upper margin of eye, below and above framed by dark; a dark postocular streak, continuing to contact a somewhat irregularly shaped broad nuchal loop, with darker borders; postocular streak and nuchal loop bordered by thin light line; neck with a dark transverse band, also with dark borders, broadest in the centre; four more distinct dark transverse bands between limbs; dark transverse body bands somewhat irregularly shaped, with dark borders, and lighter vertebral region; interspaces between dark dorsal bands with irregular dark reticulation or blotches; dark tubercles in the nuchal loop and body bands, whereas light tubercles comprise the interspaces; lower flanks dark with small light blotches; upper surfaces of limbs with dark bands and reticulations; dorsal surface of tail with approximately ten broad, dark transverse bands; light interspaces brownish-grey at tail base, more greyish-white towards the regenerated tail tip; sides of dark transverse tail bands with small light blotches; gular region yellowish-cream with indistinct grey marbling; venter cream with light grey belly; tail surface light to dark grey towards the tip.
Variation of paratypes. For the variation in scalation see Table 3, and for colour pattern variation see Fig. 5. In the male paratypes, the precloacal pore-bearing scales are separated by 7-9 poreless scales from the femoral pore bearing scales. The neck band is somewhat medially interrupted in the male paratype IEBR A.2013.3, and the dark transverse body bands are slightly interrupted medially in the female paratype ZFMK 94043. With respect to sexual dimorphism, the female paratypes are larger, lack hemipenial swellings at the tail base, and the femoral pores are absent.
Comparisons. Comparisons are based on the original descriptions or descriptions provided in broader faunal and taxonomic publications (e.g., Grismer et al. 2008; Rösler & Glaw 2008; Bauer et al. 2009; 2010; Ngo & Grismer 2010; Ngo & Pauwels 2010; Sumontha et al. 2010; Ziegler et al. 2010; David et al. 2011; Iskandar et al. 2011; Luu et al. 2011; Ngo 2011; Ngo & Chan 2011; Schneider et al. 2011; Nazarov et al. 2012; Ngo & Grismer 2012).
The most important morphological distinguishing characters between Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. and its Vietnamese congeners are summarized in Table 4. Furthermore, Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. has three postcloacal tubercles in males and thus differs from C. bichnganae, which has only two postcloacal tubercles in males; C. bichnganae also has 28 femoral and precloacal pores separated by a short diastema on each side. From the similar C. caovansungi, Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. differs by having 9–12 (vs. 8) enlarged femoral scales on each side, by 17–23 (vs. 16–18) dorsal midbody tubercle rows, and by 5 (4 + 1) versus 4 dark transverse dorsal bands (except for nuchal loop). Furthermore, Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. lacks tubercles on the lateral skin fold and on the dorsal tail surface and thus differs from C. condorensis; in addition, the latter species only has precloacal pores (4–7) and a blotched dorsal pattern. Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. has precloacal scales in males which are lacking in C. cucphuongensis. Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. has 3–7 femoral pores in total in males and thus differs from C. huongsonensis (17). Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. has precloacal pores separated from femoral pores in males, which are a contiguous series in C. phongnhakebangensis and C. roesleri. Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. differs from C. yangbayensis by having precloacal pores also in females, by the presence of a distinct broad dark nuchal loop which is broken or V-shaped in C. yangbayensis, and by distinct broad versus more numerous irregular rows of narrow dark transverse dorsal body bands; furthermore, males of C. yangbayensis usually lack femoral pores (of four males, only one individual had 2 femoral pores) versus 1–4 femoral pores present on each side in Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov.
With respect to the remaining Cyrtodactylus (except for zoogeographically distant species from the Papua- Australian region, the Solomon Islands, India, Sri Lanka, the Nicobar islands and Nepal), Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. has transversely enlarged subcaudals and thus differs from the following species which lack enlarged subcaudals: C. aequalis Bauer, C. agusanensis (Taylor), C. annulatus (Taylor), C. batucolus Grismer, Chan, Grismer, Wood & Belabut, C. brevidactylus Bauer, C. buchardi David, Teynié & Ohler, C. cavernicolus Inger & King, C. fumosus (Müller), C. gansi Bauer, C. halmahericus Mertens, C. jambangan Welton, Siler, Diesmos & Brown, C. jellesmae (Boulenger), C. lateralis (Werner), C. majulah Grismer, Wood & Lim, C. malayanus (De Rooij), C. mandalayensis Mahony, C. marmoratus Gray, C. matsuii Hikida, C. nuaulu Oliver, Edgar, Mumpuni, Iskandar & Lilley, C. pantiensis Grismer, Chan, Grismer, Wood & Belabut, C. payacola Johnson, Quah, Anuar, Muin, Wood, Grismer, Greer, Onn, Ahmad, Bauer & Grismer, C. philippinicus (Steindachner), C. pubisulcus Inger, C. quadrivirgatus Taylor, C. semenanjungensis Grismer & Leong, C. seribuatensis Youmans & Grismer, C. stresemanni Rösler & Glaw, C. sworderi (Smith), C. tautbatorum Welton, Siler, Diesmos & Brown, C. tiomanensis Das & Lim, C. wakeorum Bauer, C. wetariensis (Dunn), C. yoshii Hikida, and C. zhaoermii Shi & Zhao.
Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. has femoral pores in males and thus differs from the following species which lack femoral pores: C. angularis (Smith), C. aurensis Grismer, C. ayeyarwadyensis Bauer, C. batik Iskandar, Rachmansah & Umilaela, C. chanhomeae Bauer, Sumontha & Pauwels, C. chrysopylos Bauer, C. consobrinoides (Annandale), C. deveti (Brongersma), C. elok Dring, C. feae (Boulenger), C. ingeri Hikida, C. jarujini Ulber, C. khasiensis (Jerdon), C. oldhami (Theobald), C. pageli Schneider, Nguyen, Schmitz, Kingsada, Auer & Ziegler, C. papilionoides Ulber & Grossmann, C. peguensis (Boulenger), C. rubidus (Blyth), C. sanook Pauwels, Sumontha, Latinne & Grismer, C. sumonthai Bauer, Pauwels & Chanhome, and C. variegatus (Blyth).
Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. has 7-9 precloacal pores plus in total 3–7 femoral pores in males, which are separated by poreless scales and thus differs from the following species which have a contiguous series of precloacal-femoral pores: C. astrum Grismer, Wood, Quah, Anuar, Muin, Sumontha, Ahmad, Bauer, Wangkulangkul, Grismer & Pauwels, C. australotitiwangsaensis Grismer, Wood, Quah, Anuar, Muin, Sumontha, Ahmad, Bauer, Wangkulangkul, Grismer & Pauwels, C. bintangrendah Grismer, Wood, Quah, Anuar, Muin, Sumontha, Ahmad, Bauer, Wangkulangkul, Grismer & Pauwels, C. bintangtinggi Grismer, Wood, Quah, Anuar, Muin, Sumontha, Ahmad, Bauer, Wangkulangkul, Grismer & Pauwels, C. langkawiensis Grismer, Wood, Quah, Anuar, Muin, Sumontha, Ahmad, Bauer, Wangkulangkul, Grismer & Pauwels, C. lekaguli Grismer, Wood, Quah, Anuar, Muin, Sumontha, Ahmad, Bauer, Wangkulangkul, Grismer & Pauwels, C. lomyenensis Ngo & Pauwels (32–40), C. phuketensis Sumontha, Pauwels, Kunya, Nitikul, Samphantamit & Grismer (33-36), C. surin Chan-Ard & Makchai (34), C. tamaiensis Mahony (40), and C. trilatofasciatus Grismer, Wood, Quah, Anuar, Muin, Sumontha, Ahmad, Bauer, Wangkulangkul, Grismer & Pauwels.
Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. has 7–9 precloacal pores in males and 4–8 precloacal pores in females and thus differs from the following species which have distinctly higher precloacal pore counts: C. annandalei Bauer (11–12), C. baluensis (Mocquard) (9–11), C. durio Grismer, Anuar, Quah, Muin, Onn, Grismer & Ahmad (12), C. interdigitalis Ulber (14), C. russelli Bauer (15), C. spinosus Linkem, McGuire, Hayden, Setiadi, Bickford & Brown (12–13), and C. teyniei David, Nguyen, Schneider & Ziegler (14 in the single known specimen, an adult female).
The following Cyrtodactylus species differ from Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. by the absence of precloacal and femoral pores in both sexes: C. darmandvillei (Weber, 1890), C. gordongekkoi (Das) (see Biswas 2007), C. jarakensis Grismer, Chan, Grismer, Wood & Belabut, C. laevigatus (Darevsky), C. thirakhupti Pauwels, Bauer, Sumontha & Chanhome, and C. wallacei Hayden, Brown, Gillespie, Setiadi, Linkem, Iskandar, Umilaela, Bickford, Riyanto, Mumpuni & McGuire.
Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. has 39–46 ventral scales at midbody and thus differs from C. agamensis (Bleeker) (67), C. consobrinus (Peters) (65–70), C. erythrops Bauer, Kunya, Sumontha, Niyomwan, Panitvong, Pauwels, Chanhome & Kunya (28), C. gubaot Welton, Siler, Linkem, Diesmos & Brown (54–67), C. leegrismeri Chan & Norhayati (27–35), C. macrotuberculatus Grismer & Norhayati (19–22), C. mamanwa Welton, Siler, Linkem, Diesmos & Brown (57–70), C. pulchellus Gray (33–35), C. slowinskii Bauer (27–32), C. s umuroi Welton, Siler, Linkem, Diesmos & Brown (53–58), C. tigroides Bauer, Sumontha & Pauwels (34), and C. wayakonei Nguyen, Kingsada, Rösler, Auer & Ziegler (31–35).
Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. has lateral skin folds without interspersed tubercles and thus differs from C. brevipalmatus (Smith), and C. mimikanus (Boulenger).
Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. has 17–23 dorsal tubercle rows and thus differs from C. redimiculus King (14–16), which also lacks a ventro-lateral fold.
Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. differs from C. auribalteatus Sumontha, Panitvong & Deein by different dorsal pattern (dorsal pattern consisting of only three dark bands between limb insertions), from C. dumnuii Bauer, Kunya, Sumontha, Niyomwan, Pauwels, Chanhome & Kunya in having internasal.
Distribution. Cyrtodactylus kingsadai sp. nov. is currently known only from the type locality in Vietnam (Fig. 6).
Etymology. The new species is named in memory of our cooperation partner and friend Phouthone Kingsada from the National University of Laos, Vientiane, with whom we have conducted several field excursions in the forests of Laos and who unfortunately died too young in December 2012.
Ecological notes. The type series was found at night in coastal shrub vegetation intermixed with granite boulders at elevations between 50–100 m a.s.l. (Fig. 7). The predominant vegetation consists of small prickly shrubs representing species of the families Ebenaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Annonaceae, and Fabaceae. Further specimens were sighted but not collected. Cyrtodactylus kingsadai co-occurs with Gekko truongi (voucher specimen from Dai Lanh: ZFMK 94044), which recently was described by Phung & Ziegler (2011) from Cuc Dong Cape, Ninh Hoa District, Khanh Hoa Province.
description: Published as part of Ziegler, Thomas, Phung, Trung My, Le, Minh Duc & Nguyen, Truong Quang, 2013, A new Cyrtodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Phu Yen Province, southern Vietnam, pp. 432-446 in Zootaxa 3686 (4) on pages 436-442, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3686.4.2, http://zenodo.org/record/219546