Cnemaspis monachorum Grismer, Ahmad, Onn, Belabut, Wood & Grismer, 2009, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Grismer, Lee
name: Ahmad, Norhayati
name: Onn, Chan Kin
name: Belabut, Daicus
name: Wood, Perry L.
name: Grismer, Jesse L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Gekkonidae
Cnemaspis
Cnemaspis monachorum

description: Cnemaspis monachorum sp. nov.
Monks’ Rock Gecko
Figures 2, 3
Holotype. Adult male (ZRC 2.6774) collected on 11 October 2008 by Daicus Belabut at 1030 hrs at 35 m from Wat Wanaram, Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia (06° 20.275 N, 99° 52.507 E).
Paratypes. Collection locality, date and time of collection of paratype LSUHC 9118 (female) are the same as that for the holotype. For paratypes ZRC 2.6775–76 (female and male, respectively) and LSUHC 9118 (female) the collection date was 13 October 2008. All paratypes were collected by Norhayati, A., Chan K. O., B. Trevertt, Muin M., Daicus B., and L. Grismer.
Diagnosis. Cnemaspis monachorum differs from all other Southeast Asia species of Cnemaspis in having the unique combination of adult males reaching 31.4 mm SVL, adult females reaching 32.9 mm SVL; seven or eight supralabials; lateral postmentals separated at midline by a single smaller postmental; 5–7 infralabials; forearm, subtibials, ventrals, subcaudals, and dorsal tubercles smooth; 11–19 paravertebral tubercles whose rows begin one-third of the way down the body; tubercles on flanks very small and not linearly arranged; tubercles absent within lateral caudal furrow; ventrolateral, caudal tubercles present anteriorly; median, subcaudal row of enlarged, smooth scales; one or two postcloacal tubercles; femoral pores absent; three contiguous, precloacal, pore-bearing scales; subtibials much larger than dorsal tibials; no enlarged, submetatarsal scales; 25–27 subdigital lamellae on fourth toe; gravid females carry only one egg; mental scale yellow; dark, midgular line; no distinct, large, dark spots on neck; no dark shoulder patch enclosing ocelli; no light, postscapular band or postscapular spots; no white markings on flanks; no distinct, alternating dark and light, caudal bands; subcaudal region pigmented, not immaculate. These differences are summarized across all other Cnemaspis in Grismer et al. (2008a: Table 1).
Description of holotype. Adult male; SVL 31.4 mm; head oblong in dorsal profile, moderate in size (HL/ SVL 0.29), somewhat narrow (HW/SVL 0.18), not too flattened (HD/HL 0.40), distinct from neck; snout short (ES/HL 0.43), slightly concave in lateral profile; postnasal region constricted medially, flat; scales of rostrum weakly keeled, raised, larger than similarly shaped scales on occiput; faint, 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 laterally by first supralabials; 7R, 8L raised supralabials of similar size; 5R,L infralabials, decreasing abruptly in size posteriorly; nostrils elliptical, oriented posterodorsally; bordered posteriorly by small, granular, postnasal scales; mental very large, triangular, bordered posteriorly by two large postmentals; postmentals separated medially by small, azygous scale; gular scales slightly raised, smooth; throat scales larger, smooth.
ZRC ZRC LSUHC ZRC 2.6775 2.6776 9118 2.6774 Paravertebral tubercular row begins 1/3 way down body 1 0 1 1 Postcloacal tubercles 1,2 2 1 1 No. of 4th toe lamellae 27 25 27 25
Body slender, elongate; small, weakly keeled, dorsal scales equal in size throughout body, intermixed with sparsely distributed, small, weakly keeled tubercles more or less randomly arranged; tubercles extend from just anterior of mid-trunk region to base of tail; tubercles generally absent from flanks; 11 paravertebral tubercles; pectoral and abdominal scales round, flat to concave, same size throughout; abdominal scales slightly larger than dorsals; three contiguous, precloacal, pore-bearing scales arranged in a chevron; precloacal depression absent; femoral pores absent; forelimbs moderately long, slender, dorsal scales smooth; ventral scales of forearm smooth, juxtaposed; palmar scales smooth, juxtaposed, raised; digits long with an inflected joint; claws recurved; subdigital lamellae unnotched; lamellae beneath first phalanges wide; lamellae beneath phalanx immediately following inflection granular, lamellae of distal phalanges wide; lamella beneath inflection large; interdigital webbing absent; fingers increase in length from first to fourth with fourth and fifth nearly equal in length; hind limbs slightly longer and thicker than forelimbs; dorsal scales smooth, raised, juxtaposed; ventral scales of hind limbs smooth; subtibials much larger than dorsal tibials; plantar scales smooth, juxtaposed; no enlarged submetatarsal scales beneath first metatarsal; digits elongate with an inflected joint; claws recurved; subdigital lamellae unnotched; lamellae beneath first phalanges wide; lamellae beneath phalanx immediately following inflection granular, lamellae of distal phalanges wide; lamella beneath inflection large; interdigital webbing absent; toes increase in length from first to fourth with fourth being slightly longer than fifth; 25 subdigital lamellae on fourth toe; caudal scales arranged in segmented whorls; caudal scales flat anteriorly, weakly keeled, juxtaposed; shallow, middorsal furrow; deeper, single, lateral furrow; median row of enlarged, smooth, subcaudal scales with two scales per caudal segment; subcaudals not keeled; opposing paravertebral, dorsolateral, and ventrolateral rows of caudal tubercles; paravertebral tubercles largest, keeled, subspinose; caudal tubercles do not encircle tail, not present in lateral furrow; one enlarged postcloacal tubercle on lateral surfaces of hemipenal swellings at base of tail; tail 1.28% SVL, posterior 11.8 mm regenerated.
Coloration (in life, Fig. 2). Dorsal ground color brown; head, body, and limbs overlain with small, irregularly shaped, somewhat randomly arranged, black and cream colored spots; markings on top of head smaller than those on body; dark markings on tail tend to form bands; anterior gular region yellowish, most pronounced in mental scale; faint, dark, midgular stripe; pectoral region and anterior abdominal region orangish; remainder of ventral surfaces of body and limbs beige bearing faint, dark, stippling; posterior edge of posterior median subcaudal scale of each caudal segment black, producing a thinly banded, subcaudal region.
Variation. Paratypes closely approach the holotype in coloration and pattern (Figs. 2,3). There is no sexual dimorphism in color pattern (Fig. 2) nor does the coloration of this species lighten at night. The light dorsal spots on ZRC 2.6775 tend to be larger than those of the holotype and arranged as opposing, paravertebral markings. Morphometric variation and variation in scalation are presented in Table 1.
Distribution. Cnemaspis monachorum is known only from the karst formation at Wat Wanaram, Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia (Fig. 1).
Natural History. Cnemaspis monachorum is a lowland, saxicolous species that appears to be restricted to the karst outcropping of Wat Wanaram near the town of Kuah in a region dominated by a mixture of primary coastal and lowland dipterocarp forest. Here, several specimens of this swift, agile, diminutive species were observed during the day along the periphery of the karst formation in broad view near the edges of cracks as well as on the surfaces of rocks in shaded areas. Upon our approach, most lizards would rapidly retreat within a crack while curling their tail above their back and waving it from side to side. During the night, lizards were not abroad and only seen deep within the rock cracks, suggesting this species is primarily diurnal. The maximum SVL of C. monachorum (32.9 mm, LSUHC 9118) is 7.2 mm less than that of the maximum SVL reported for the next smallest species, C. biocellata (SVL 40.1 mm; Grismer et al. 2008a). Thus, these data indicate that C. monachorum is the smallest known species of Southeast Asian Cnemaspis (sensu Bauer et al. 2007) by a considerable margin. Possibly associated with this small size is that gravid females (n = 1; LSUHC 9118) carry only a single egg whereas females of all other Cnemaspis carry two eggs. Kluge (1987) indicates that a reduced clutch size is putatively a derived state that occurs in a number of genera and it may not be related to body size.
Comparisons. Cnemaspis monachorum differs from all other Cnemaspis in having a SVL less than 33.0 mm (Grismer et al. 2008a: Table 1). They are most similar to the two other localized species of karst-dwelling Cnemaspis from northern Peninsular Malaysia, C. bayuensis and C. karsticola (Grismer et al. 2008b; Fig. 1) but differ from them in having smooth, forearm and ventral scales; three as opposed to 5–9 (C. bayuensis) or seven or eight (C. karsticola) precloacal pores; fewer paravertebral tubercles (11–19 vs. 25–30 and 17–19 in C. bayuensis and C. karsticola, respectively); having a median row of enlarged, smooth subcaudals as opposed to small, keeled subcaudals; having subtibials that are larger than the dorsal tibials as opposed to all the tibials being the same size; and lacking interdigital webbing as opposed to its presence in C. bayuensis and C. karsticola. These differences and others are summarized in Table 2.
bayuensis karsticola monachorum Maximum SVL 46.1 48.1 32.9 Supralabials 9–10 7,8 6–8 Infralabials 8,9 6,7 5–7 Postmentals contact medially 0 1 0 Forearm scales keeled 1 1 0 Ventral scales keeled 1 1 0 No. of precloacal pores 5–9 7,8 3 Paravertebral tubercular row begins 1/3 way down body 0 0 0,1 No. of paravertebral tubercles 25– 30 17–19 11–19 Lateral caudal tubercles in lateral furrow 0,1 0 0 Ventrolateral caudal tubercles anteriorly 1 1 1 Subcaudals keeled 1 1 0 Single median row of keeled subcaudals 0 0 0 Caudal tubercles encircle tail 0 0 0 Enlarged median subcaudal scale row 0 0 1 Postcloacal tubercles 2 2 1,2 Subtibials larger than dorsal tibials 0 0 1 Subtibial scales keeled 1 1 0 Enlarged submetatarsal scales on 1st toe 0 0 0 No. of 4th toe lamellae 27–30 27–30 25–27 Interdigital webbing 1 1 0 Dark postorbital stripe 1 0 0 White markings on flanks 1 0 0 Subcaudal region immaculate 0 1 0
Etymology. The specific epithet monachorum is derived from the Latin masculine monachus meaning monk and the plural genitive – orum to honor the monks at Wat Wanaram who not only graciously allowed us to hunt through their homes and caves throughout the day and night but gave us advice as to where to look.
description: Published as part of Grismer, Lee, Ahmad, Norhayati, Onn, Chan Kin, Belabut, Daicus, Wood, Perry L. & Grismer, Jesse L., 2009, Two new diminutive species of Cnemaspis Strauch 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Peninsular Malaysia, pp. 40-56 in Zootaxa 2019 on pages 42-47, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.186045