Cnemaspis niyomwanae Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya, 2010, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Grismer, Lee
name: Sumontha, Montri
name: Cota, Michael
name: Grismer, Jesse L.
name: Wood, Perry L.
name: Pauwels, Olivier S. G.
name: Kunya, Kirati
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Gekkonidae
Cnemaspis
Cnemaspis niyomwanae

description: Cnemaspis niyomwanae sp. nov.
Niyomwan’s Rock Gecko Djing Djok Niew Yaow Niyomwan Figure 21
Holotype. Adult female (THNHM 15910) from Thum Khao Ting, Palean District, Trang Province, Thailand (07° 09.943N 99° 48.142E) at 28 m in elevation. Collected by M. Sumontha on 26 December 2009.
Paratypes. Adult male (ZMKU Rep-000315), adult female (PSUZC-RT 2010.56), subadult males (CUMZ R- 2009,6,24-10, KZM 008) from Baan Nam Pud, La-ngu District, Satun Province (07° 05.688N 99° 54.732E) at 38–46 m in elevation. ZMKU Rep-000315, CUMZ R- 2009,6,24-10 and KZM 0 0 8 were collected by Siriwat Dangsri on 6 and 7 October 2009. PSUZC-RT 2010.56 was collected by Thanin Kaewmanee on 24 December 2009.
Diagnosis. Adult males reaching 45.9 mm SVL, adult females reaching 56.8 mm SVL; 8–11 supralabials; 6–8 infralabials; gulars smooth; forearm scales keeled; subtibials, ventrals, subcaudals smooth; dorsal tubercles keeled; 26–31 paravertebral tubercles; enlarged, elongate, laterally compressed, white, isolated tubercles on sides of neck, shoulders, and flanks; dorsolateral, lateral, and ventrolateral caudal tubercles usually present only anteriorly; caudal tubercles do not encircle tail; caudal tubercles absent from lateral, caudal furrow; middorsal caudal furrow absent; median row of smooth, enlarged subcaudals; three porebearing, precloacal scales in males; one or two postcloacal tubercles; shield-like subtibials and enlarged, submetatarsals absent; 31–34 subdigital lamellae on fourth toe; yellow and orange alternating bands on forearms and forelimbs in subadult and adult males; paired, yellow, rostral stripes in subadult and adult males; paried, cream to white, circular, occipital blotches; large, cream to white, paravertebral butterfly-shaped dorsal blotches; no dark, longitudinal, gular markings or blotches; head not yellow in adult males; no black neck patch enclosing a white to yellow ocellus; no dark shoulder patch enclosing white to yellow ocellus; no prominent, yellow to white, prescapular crescent or transverse bars on flanks. These differences are summarized across all species in TABLES 1 and 2.
Description of holotype. Adult female; SVL 56.8 mm; head oblong in dorsal profile, moderate in size (HL/SVL 0.25), somewhat narrow (HW/SVL 0.16), flat (HD/HL 0.44), distinct from neck; snout short (ES/ HL 0.51), concave in lateral profile; postnasal region constricted medially; scales of rostrum low, rounded, juxtaposed, smooth, larger than similarly shaped scales on occiput; distinct, supraorbital ridges; shallow frontonasal sulcus; canthus rostralis smoothly rounded; eye large (ED/HL 0.21); extra-brillar fringe scales small in general but larger anteriorly; pupil round; ear opening oval, taller than wide; rostral concave dorsally, dorsal 75% divided by longitudinal groove; rostral bordered posteriorly by two supranasals contacting medially, and nostrils; bordered laterally by first supralabials; 8R,L raised supralabials of similar size, but smallest posteriorly; 7R,L infralabials, decreasing gradually in size posteriorly; nostrils small, oblong, oriented dorsoposteriorly; bordered posteriorly by small, granular, postnasal scales; mental large, triangular, slightly concave, extending to level of second infralabials, bordered posteriorly by three postmentals, lateral postmentals much larger than center postmental; gular and throat scales smooth, raised, juxtaposed.
Body slender, elongate (AG/SVL 0.45); small, raised, smooth, dorsal scales generally equal in size throughout body, intermixed with numerous, moderately sized, keeled, randomly arranged tubercles; enlarged, isolated tubercles on sides of neck, shoulders, and flanks; tubercles extend from occiput to base of tail and are smallest anteriorly; 31–34 paravertebral tubercles; pectoral and abdominal scales smooth, flat, imbricate; abdominal scales larger than pectoral scales and dorsals; no pore-bearing, precloacal scales; forelimbs moderately long, slender, dorsal scales keeled; ventral scales of forearm smooth, juxtaposed to subimbricate; palmar scales smooth, raised, juxtaposed; digits long with an inflected joint; claws recurved; subdigital lamellae unnotched; subdigital lamellae wide throughout length of digits, bearing a larger scale at digital inflections; interdigital webbing generally absent; fingers increase in length from first to fourth with fifth same length as fourth; hind limbs longer and thicker than forelimbs; dorsal scales of thigh, keeled, raised, juxtaposed; dorsal scales of foreleg rugose, subimbricate; ventral scales of hind limb smooth, imbricate; plantar scales smooth, flat, subimbricate; no enlarged subtibials or submetatarsals; digits elongate with an inflected joint; claws recurved; subdigital lamellae unnotched; lamellae wide throughout length of digits except at base where scales are more granular; enlarged scale at digital inflections; interdigital webbing absent; toes increase in length from first to fourth with fourth and fifth nearly equal in length; 33R,L subdigital lamellae on fourth toe; caudal scales arranged in segmented whorls, low, smooth, juxtaposed anteriorly; middorsal furrow absent; lateral, caudal furrow weak; median row of enlarged, smooth, subcaudal scales; four scales per caudal segment; other subcaudals smooth; paravertebral rows of large, keeled, caudal tubercles extend length of tail, becoming smaller and smooth posteriorly; dorsolateral row of tubercles present only anteriorly, al other rows absent; caudal tubercles do not encircle tail, absent from lateral, caudal furrow; one or two postcloacal tubercles; tail approximately 1.3% times SVL.
Coloration (in life; Fig. 21). Dorsal ground color of head, body, and tail faded green; dorsal ground color of limbs faded brown; top of head bearing a pair of yellow, rostral stripes beginning in interorbital region and terminating in postnasal region; diffuse, light occiptal blotches present; postorbital striping absent; faint, light mottling on sides of head; whitish, medial blotch on nape followed posteriorly by five lightly colored, paravertebral, butterfly-shaped markings between forelimb insertions and base of tail; markings continue onto tail to form lightly colored bands; enlarged, white tubercles on sides of neck, shoulders and flanks; other tubercles on body dark or lightly colored; upper regions of limbs bearing diffuse, light mottling; lower limbs bearing diffuse yellowish and brownish band; digits white bearing broad, brown bands; all ventral surfaces except subcaudal region of uniform beige with fine, dark stippling in some scales; subcaudal region grayish.
Variation. Differences in squamation and morphometrics are presented in TABLE 9. Cnemaspis niyomwanae sp. nov. shows significant sexual dimorphism with males being more colorful than females. MS 399 has well-defined, light colored dorsal markings and occipital blotches as compared to the more diffuse blotches seen in females. Males also have bright yellow, rostral stripes and alternating bright red-orange and yellow bands on the forelimbs. These markings are much more drab in females. This species also shows a marked light color phase at night (Fig. 21) where the colors of both males and females become more faded and much less contrasting.
Distribution. Cnemaspis niyomwanae sp. nov. is known only from the border regions of Trang and Satun Provinces, Thailand (Fig. 1).
Natural history. Cnemaspis niyomwanae sp. nov. is a karst, microhabitat specialist that is abroad at night. During the day, lizards retreat into crevices and caves. All slizards were taken from karst regions in the vicinity of small streams.
Etymology. This species is named in honor of Ms. Piyawan Niyomwan, Thai herpetologist who has worked for many years making significant contributions to our knowledge of the distribution of the amphibians and reptiles of Thailand.
Comparisons. Cnemaspis niyomwanae sp. nov. can be diagnosed from all other Southeast Asian Cnemaspis in having males bearing alternating red-orange and yellow bands on the forelimbs and enlarged, white, isolated tubercles on the sides of the neck, shoulder and flanks. Its lack of white ocelli in a black shoulder or neck patch separates it from C. affinis, C. biocellata, C. kumpoli, C. mcguirei, C. pseudomcguirei, C. puntatonucalis sp. nov. Its presence of precloacal pores in males further separates it from all other species except C. affinis, C. argus, C. bayuensis, C. biocellata, C. caudanivea, C. chanthaburiensis, C. dringi, C. flavigaster, C. flavolineata, C. karsticola, C. kumpoli, C. mcguirei, C. monachorum, C. nigridia, C. nuicamensis, C. paripari, C. perhentianensis, C. pseudomcguirei, C. chanardi sp. nov., C. vandeventeri sp. nov., C. kamolnorranathi sp. nov., C. narathiwatensis sp. nov., C. huaseesom sp. nov., and C. roticanai. Other differences in squamation are scored across all species in TABLE 1.
description: Published as part of Grismer, Lee, Sumontha, Montri, Cota, Michael, Grismer, Jesse L., Wood, Perry L., Pauwels, Olivier S. G. & Kunya, Kirati, 2010, A revision and redescription of the rock gecko Cnemaspis siamensis (Taylor 1925) (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Peninsular Thailand with descriptions of seven new species, pp. 1-55 in Zootaxa 2576 on pages 46-49, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.275935