Cyrtodactylus hinnamnoensis Luu, Bonkowski, Nguyen, Le, Schneider, Ngo & Ziegler, 2016, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Luu, Vinh Quang
name: Bonkowski, Michael
name: Nguyen, Truong Quang
name: Le, Minh Duc
name: Schneider, Nicole
name: Ngo, Hanh Thi
name: Ziegler, Thomas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Gekkonidae
Cyrtodactylus
Cyrtodactylus hinnamnoensis

description: Cyrtodactylus hinnamnoensis sp. nov.   
(Fig. 8)  
 Cyrtodactylus phongnhakebangensis— Luu, Nguyen, Calame, Hoang, Soudthichack, Bonkowski, Ziegler, 2013. Biodiversity Data Journal, e1015: 4.   
 Holotype. IEBR A.2013.90, adult male, from Ban Dou Village (17°30.385’N, 105°49.160’E, elevation 183 m a.s.l.) within Hin Nam No NPA, Khammouane Province, central Laos, was collected on 11 June 2013 by V. Q. Luu and N. V. Ha.   
 Paratypes. IEBR A.2013.89, adult male, 7 May 2013, from Hang Toi region, Noong Ma Village (17°17.766’N, 106°08.803’E, elevation 580 m a.s.l.); VNUF R.2013.1 and NUOL R- 2013.2, adult males, 9 June 2013, from Vang Ma No Village (17°30.778’N, 105°49.259’E, elevation 180 m a.s.l.); VNUF R.2014.99, adult male, 27 May 2014, from Cha Lou Village (17°19.504’N, 105°57.630’E, elevation ca. 300 m a.s.l.); ZFMK 95235, adult female, 8 May 2013, from Hang Toi region, Noong Ma Village (17°17.763’N, 106°08.778’E, elevation 555 m a.s.l.); ZFMK 95236, adult female, 30 May 2013, from Noong Choong Region, Cha Lou Village (17°20.248’N, 105°56.693’E, elevation 252 m a.s.l.); NUOL R- 2013.3, adult female, 11 June 2013, from Ban Dou Village (17°31.545’N, 105°49.086’E, elevation 197 m a.s.l.); VNUF R.2015.3, female, 13 March 2015, from Xebangfai cave, Noong Ping Village (17°22.459’N, 105°49.626’E, elevation 182 m a.s.l.); NUOL R- 2015.9, female, 13 March 2015, from Xebangfai cave, Noong Ping Village (17°22.648’N, 105°52.931’E, elevation 182 m a.s.l.); VNUF R.2015.11, female, 14 March 2015, from Xebangfai cave, Noong Ping Village (17°22.759’N, 105°52.931’E, elevation 285 m a.s.l.). The paratypes (VNUF R.2015.3, NUOL R- 2015.9, and VNUF R.2015.11) were collected by V. Q. Luu and K. Thanabuaosy in March 2015; the paratype (VNUF R.2014.99) was collected by V. Q. Luu, N. V. Ha, T. Calame, D. V. Phan and K. Thanabuaosy in May 2014, the remaining type series was collected by V. Q. Luu, N. V. Ha, and K. Thanabuaosy in May and June 2013 (V. Q. Luu et al.).   
 Diagnosis. Cyrtodactylus hinnamnoensis sp. nov. is characterized by: Adult SVL 84.1 ± 11.7 mm (mean ± SD); dorsal head with dark blotches; nuchal loop wide, distinct, posteriorly enlarged; dorsal body with four to six blackish brown bands between limb insertions; 13–19 irregular, weakly keeled dorsal tubercle rows; 35–48 ventral scale rows; ventral scale rows from mental to cloacal slit 179–201; scale rows at midbody 93–112; ventrolateral folds present, without tubercles; 36–44 precloacal-femoral pores in the males; 0–28 pores in females; enlarged femoral and precloacal scales present; 4–6 postcloacal tubercles; subcaudals enlarged.   
 Description of holotype. Adult male, snout-vent length (SVL) 83.6 mm; body elongate (TrunkL/SVL 0.42); head elongate (HL/SVL 0.27), relatively wide (HW/HL 0.68), depressed (HH/HL 0.40), distinguished from neck; loreal region concave; snout long (SE/HL 0.43), obtuse, longer than diameter of orbit (OD/SE 0.60); snout scales small, homogeneous, granular, larger than those on frontal and parietal regions; eye large (OD/HL 0.26), pupils vertical; eyelid fringe with tiny spines posteriorly; ear oval-shaped, small (EarL/HL 0.08); rostral wider than high (RH/RW 0.60), with a median suture; supranasals in contact anteriorly and separated from each other by a small scale posteriorly; rostral in contact with first supralabial and nostril scales on each side; nares oval, surrounded by supranasal, rostral, first supralabial, and two enlarged postnasals; mental triangular, wider than high (ML/MW 0.65); two enlarged postmentals in broad contact posteriorly, bordered by mental anteriorly, first two infralabials laterally, and eight small scales posteriorly; supralabials 12/10; infralabials 10/9. Dorsal scales granular to flattened; dorsal tubercles round, weakly keeled, present on occiput, back and tail base, each surrounded by 8 granular scales, in 15 irregular longitudinal rows at midbody; ventral scales smooth, medial scales 2–3 times larger than dorsal scales, round, subimbricate, largest posteriorly, in 35 longitudinal rows between lateral folds at midbody; ventrolateral folds present, without tubercles; gular region with homogeneous smooth scales; ventral scales in a line from mental to cloacal slit 186; precloacal groove absent; enlarged femoral scales present; femoral and precloacal pores 42.   
Fore and hind limbs moderately slender (ForeL/SVL 0.17, CrusL/SVL 0.21); dorsal fore limbs with slightly developed tubercles; dorsal hind limbs covered by distinctly developed tubercles; fingers and toes free of webbing; lamellae under fourth fingers 19/19, under fourth toes 20/20.  
Tail regenerated, postcloacal tubercles 5/5; dorsal tail bearing tubercles at base; subcaudals distinctly enlarged, flat, smooth.  
 Coloration in life. Ground coloration of dorsal head greyish brown with dark blotches; nuchal loop black, in U-shape, from posterior corner of eye through tympanum to the neck, dark brown, edged in yellow; body bands between limb insertions five, somewhat irregular, dark brown, edged in white; dorsal surface of fore and hind limbs with dark bars; tail brown dorsally with light brown rings, edged by yellowish white; chin, throat, and belly cream; upper and lower lips with dark brown bars; tail ventrally grey with light dots.   
 Sexual dimorphism. The females differ from the males by lacking or having fewer precloacal-femoral pores (0–28 versus 36–44 in the males) and the absence of hemipenial swellings at the tail base (see Table 6).   
 Comparisons. We compared the new species with its congeners from Laos and neighbouring countries in the mainland Indochina region, including Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand based on examination of specimens (see Appendix) and data integrated from the literature (compiled after Luu et al. 2014a; Nazarov et al. 2014; Nguyen et al. 2014; Panitvong et al. 2014; Pauwels et al. 2014; Pauwels & Sumontha 2014; Schneider et al. 2014; Sumontha et al. 2015; Nguyen et al. 2015; Luu et al. 2015a; Luu et al. 2016a, b) (see Tables 3). The cluster and correspondence analyses of morphological characters supported Cyrtodactylus hinnamnoensis sp. nov. as a sister taxon to C. darevskii (Figs. 2–3). Molecular phylogenetic analyses also demonstrated the close relationships between these species (see Fig. 1).   
 Morphologically, Cyrtodactylus hinnamnoensis sp. nov. is closely related to the C. phongnhakebangensis group including C. darevskii, C. phongnhakebangensis, C. calamei by dorsal colour pattern and the number of cloacal and femoral pores in males. However, the new species can be distinguished from C. darevskii by having fewer cloacal and femoral pores in females (maximum 0–28 versus 24–34), four to six blackish brown transverse body bands, as wide as light bands (versus four to five dark irregular transverse breaking body bands, 0.5 times narrower than light band), first body band wide, butterfly-shaped (versus thin, U-shaped in C. darevskii), the presence of tubercles on fore limbs (versus absent), and tail consisting of light rings (versus banded); Cyrtodactylus hinnamnoensis sp. nov. differs from C. phongnhakebangensis by its slightly larger size (SVL reaching 100.6 mm versus 96.3 mm), having fewer cloacal and femoral pores in females (0–28 versus 0–41), having more scale rows from mental to the front of cloacal slit (179–201 versus 161–177), the presence of tubercles on fore limbs (versus absent), a narrower nuchal loop, not enlarged posteriorly (wide, enlarged posteriorly), four to six blackish brown transverse body bands as wide as light bands (versus three to five dark transverse body bands as wide as double light bands, light transverse bands with small spots (versus with big black blotches), and tail pattern consisting of light rings (versus banded); Cyrtodactylus hinnamnoensis sp. nov. differs from C. calamei by its larger size (SVL reaching 100.6 mm versus 89.3 mm), fewer cloacal and femoral pores in females (0–28 versus 38), more postcloacal tubercles (4–6 versus 4), dorsal head marking with distinctly dark spots and blotches (versus indistinct dots), the absence of heart-shaped marking on postocciput (versus present), four to six blackish brown body = standard deviatiοn, fοr οther abbreviatiοns see material and methοds).   
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 transverse bands, as wide as light bands (versus four greyish brown transverse bands, narrower than light bands) (for more details see Table 7, Fig. 9). The results of the correspondence analysis comparing all adult male morphological maesurements of Cyrtodactylus hinnamnoensis sp. nov. and the latter species indicated four distinct groups between these species (see Fig. 4).   
 Distribution. Cyrtodactylus hinnamnoensis sp. nov. is currently known only from the type locality in the karst forest of Hin Nam No NPA, Khammouane Province, central Laos (Fig. 6).   
 Etymology. We name this species after its type locality, Hin Nam No NPA where the new Cyrtodactylus species was discovered and propose the following common names: Hinnamno Bent-toed Gecko (English), Ki Chiem Hin Nam No (Laotian).   
 Natural history. Specimens were found at night between 19:41 and 22:03h on karst walls, ca. 0.3–5 m above the ground, near cave entrances in the limestone forest, at elevations between 175 and 580 m a.s.l. Only one male specimen VNUF R.2014.99 was collected on a tree trunk, about 1 m from the forest floor. The surrounding habitat was karst forest, dominated by species of Ebenaceae, Dracaenaceae, Arecaeae, Poaceae, Meliaceae, and Moraceae. The relative humidity ranged from 78% to 90%, and temperatures were from 24.9 to 30.7o C (see Table 8). When capturing individuals of the species, we observed an increased rate of tail autotomy and many individuals had regenerated tail, for example, seven of 11 specimens of Cyrtodactylus hinnamnoensis sp. nov. had dropped or/and regenerated tails. This suggests that these populations might be under the stress of predators (see also Grismer et al. 2016).
description: Published as part of Luu, Vinh Quang, Bonkowski, Michael, Nguyen, Truong Quang, Le, Minh Duc, Schneider, Nicole, Ngo, Hanh Thi & Ziegler, Thomas, 2016, Evolution in karst massifs: Cryptic diversity among bent-toed geckos along the Truong Son Range with descriptions of three new species and one new country record from Laos, pp. 101-140 in Zootaxa 4107 (2) on pages 117-123, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4107.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/266526