Hemiphyllodactylus flaviventris Sukprasert & Sutthiwises & Lauhachinda & Taksintum 2018, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Sukprasert, Apisak
name: Sutthiwises, Surapop
name: Lauhachinda, Virayuth
name: Taksintum, Wut
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Gekkonidae
Hemiphyllodactylus
Hemiphyllodactylus flaviventris

description: Hemiphyllodactylus flaviventris sp. nov.
Yellow-bellied Dwarf Gecko (English)
Ching Chok Khao Sung Thong Lueang (Thai)
(Figures 4–6)
Holotype. Adult male (ZMKU TM001209 N) collected by Apisak Sukprasert on November 12, 2016 at Makham District, Chanthaburi Province, eastern Thailand.
Paratypes. Five adult female specimens (ZMKU TM001204N–ZMKU TM001208N) were collected on the same date and same location as the holotype.
Diagnosis. Hemiphyllodactylus flaviventris sp. nov. can be diagnosed by the following combination of characteristics: (1) a bisexual taxon; (2) a SVL of 38.72 mm in male and a maximum SVL of 39.24 mm in females; (3) 7–10 chin scales; (4) 5 circumnasal scales; (5) 1–5 scales between supranasals; (6) 9–12 supralabials; (7) 8–11 infralabials; (8) 16–18 dorsal scale rows; (9) 8–10 ventral scale rows; (10) lamellar formula on forefoot 4-4-4-4; (11) lamellar formula on hindfoot 4-5-5-5; (12) femoral pores absent in both sexes, 9 precloacal pores in male; (13) 1 or 2 cloacal spurs on each side present in both sexes; (14) dark postorbital stripe; and (15) no anteriorly projecting arms of postsacral mark.H. flaviventrissp. nov.H. yunnanensisH. zugiH. dushanensisH. huishuiensisH. banaensisH. kizirianiH. longlingensisH. changningensisH. jinpingensisH. chiangmaiensisH. khlonglanensissp. nov.max SVL 39.2 49.3 46.6 50.6 51.2 51.0 40.8 45.7 43.8 39.6 41.2 43.1 chin scales 7¯10 6¯ 11 9¯ 12 8¯10 8¯10 6¯7 6¯9 7¯9 7¯8 7¯9 8¯12 7¯8, 10 circumnasal scales 5 2¯4 2¯3 3¯4 3 3 4 4¯5 3¯4 3¯4 3¯4 5 scales between supranasals 1¯5 2¯5 3¯5 2¯3 2¯3 4¯11 2¯3 1¯3 2¯3 2¯3 1¯3 2¯4 supralabial scales 9¯12 8¯ 13 10¯ 13 11¯13 9¯11 9¯12 10¯11 9¯10 8¯11 9¯11 9¯11 9¯12 infralabial scales 8¯11 8¯ 12 10¯ 12 10¯11 9¯11 9¯11 9¯11 8¯10 8¯10 9¯11 9¯12 8¯11 dorsal scales 16¯ 18 9¯ 18 19¯ 22 14¯15 13¯15 17¯20 18¯27 10¯14 11¯15 11¯12 11¯21 10¯15 ventral scales 8¯10 6¯ 12 14¯ 16 8¯9 7¯9 9¯12 11¯15 6¯7 6¯8 5¯7 6¯10 7¯10 lamellar formula on forefoot 4444 333 3 344 4 3454, 4554 3444, 44(5)54 3444, 4554 3444 3444(3), 444(5)4 33(4)3(4)3 3444, 4444, 3343 3333, 3433 3333, 3444 3444, 4444 lamellar formula on hindfoot 4555 344 4 455 5 4555, 5665 44(5)54(5) 4555 44(5)4(5) 4 44(5)4(5)4 3444, 3333 4444 4444 subdigital lamellae on first finger 5 4¯6 4¯5 4¯5 3 5 5 4¯5 3¯4 4 3¯4 5¯6 subdigital lamellae on first toe 5 4¯7 4¯5 5¯6 3 5 5 4¯6 3¯4 4¯5 3¯4 5 precloacal and femoral pore series separate (1) or continuous (0) / 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 precloacal and femoral pores 9 Precl 11¯ 25 18¯ 21 24¯26 0¯20 18¯21 10¯13 PreclP 16¯27 19¯22 20¯24 17¯25 19¯20 cloacal spurs on each side 1¯2 0¯2 0¯1 1 1 1 1¯2 1¯2 1¯2 1 1 1 dark postorbital stripe present (1) or absent (0) 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 P
……continued on the next page Description of holotype. Adult male, SVL 38.72 mm; original and regenerated tail length (TailL) 17.00+14.70 mm; trunk length (TrunkL) 18.20 mm; head longer than wide (HeadL 9.92 mm, HeadW 6.90 mm); eye diameter (EyeD) 2.34 mm; and snout-eye length (SnEye) 3.92 mm. Proportions: TrunkL/SVL 0.47, HeadL/SVL 0.26, HeadW/SVL 0.18, HeadW/HeadL 0.70, SnEye/HeadL 0.40, EyeD/HeadL 0.24. Scalation: Rostral with notch on upper edge; 5/5 circumnasal scales (rostral, supranasal, two postnasals, and first supralabial); supranasals were separated from each other by one granular internasal; rostrum and crown of head covered by granular scales, scales of rostrum larger than those of crown; superciliary scales flat, rectangular, imbricate; supralabials 11/11; infralabials 9/9; 8 chin scales; dorsal scales small, granular, 17 scales contained within one EyeD; ventral scales larger than dorsal scales, flat, imbricate, 8 scales contained within one EyeD; one cloacal spur on each side; nine precloacal pores, femoral pores absent; dorsal surface of fore- and hindlimbs covered by granular scales; claws on first digit of forefoot absent, minute on first digit of hindfoot, 5/5 lamellae on first digits of fore- and hindfoot; claws present on second to fifth digits of fore- and hindfoot, subdigital lamellae U-shaped, lamellar formula on forefoot 4-4-4-4 (L, R) and on hindfoot 4-5-5-5 (L, R); all caudal scales flat, imbricate, subcaudals larger than dorsal caudal scales.
Coloration in alcohol. Dorsal ground color of head and body nearly unicolor grey with dark brown and white mottling; indistinct dark brown pre- and postorbital stripe extend to the neck, bordered dorsally by a white band; distinct postsacral mark with faint dark brown triangle at mid-dorsum; dorsal surface of limbs yellowish grey; dorsal surface of tail light grey, only original tail with dark brown mottling alternating with white bands. Before preservation, the midventer was yellow and underside of the original tail was orange (Fig. 5).
Variation. Measurements and scalation characteristics of the paratypes of Hemiphyllodactylus flaviventris sp. nov. are presented in Table 5. These scale counts vary among the type series: 7–10 chin scales (median ± SD, 8.5 ± 1.21), 9–12 supralabial scales (11 ± 0.79), 8–11 infralabial scales (9.5 ± 0.98), 1–5 scales between supranasals (3 ± 1.33), 16–18 dorsal scales (17 ± 0.63), and 8–10 ventral scales (9 ± 0.75). One female ZMKU TM001205N has no secreting pores, and the others have pitted precloacal scales. Paratypes ZMKU TM001207N and ZMKU TM001208N have two cloacal spurs on left side and one spur on right side.
Etymology. The specific epithet flaviventris is a combination derived from the Latin words flavi meaning yellow, and ventris meaning belly, referring to the yellow or cream belly of this species.
Distribution and natural history. Hemiphyllodactylus flaviventris sp. nov. so far has only been found in the district of Makham, Chanthaburi Province, Thailand (Fig. 1). The holotype of Hemiphyllodactylus flaviventris sp. nov. was found at night on the branch of a tree, whereas all paratypes were found on the underside of a boulder with Cyrtodactylus intermedius (Smith) (Fig. 6). Cnemaspis chanthaburiensis Bauer & Das were observed on the same boulder, but in a different position. We found two female paratypes ZMKU TM001204N and ZMKU TM001206N were gravid, each had two shelled eggs at the time of collection.
Morphological comparisons. Hemiphyllodactylus flaviventris sp. nov. is placed within a clade (lineage B, Fig. 2) which also includes six other species of Hemiphyllodactylus (Fig. 2). Hemiphyllodactylus flaviventris sp. nov. differs from all other species in the clade in that it only has precloacal pores, whereas all others have both precloacal and femoral pores. The maximum SVL of H. flaviventris sp. nov. and H. kiziriani Nguyen, Botov, Le, Nophaseud, Zug, Bonkowski & Ziegler were approximately 40 mm, whereas the others were more than 45.0 mm. H. flaviventris sp. nov. has a forefoot lamellar formula of 4-4-4-4, which differs from H. yunnanensis (3-3-3-3), H. zugi (3-4-4-4), H. dushanensis (3-4-5-4 or 4-5-5-4), H. huishuiensis Yan, Lin, Guo, Li & Zhou (3-4-4-4 or 4-4/5-5- 4), H. banaensis Ngo, Grismer, Thai & Wood (3-4-4-4 or 4-5-5-4), and H. kiziriani (3-4-4-4). It also has a hindfoot lamellar formula of 4-5-5-5, which differs from H. yunnanensis (3-4-4-4) and H. kiziriani (4-4/5-4/5-4). H. flaviventris sp. nov. lacks anteriorly projecting arms of the postsacral mark, which are found in H. zugi, H. huishuiensis, H. banaensis, and H. kiziriani. Diagnostic characteristics of Hemiphyllodactylus are shown in Table 4.
description: Published as part of Sukprasert, Apisak, Sutthiwises, Surapop, Lauhachinda, Virayuth & Taksintum, Wut, 2018, Two new species of Hemiphyllodactylus Bleeker (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Thailand, pp. 363-376 in Zootaxa 4369 (3) on pages 370-375, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4369.3.4, http://zenodo.org/record/1136054