Cyrtodactylus durio Grismer, Anuar, Quah, Muin, Onn, Grismer & Ahmad, 2010, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Grismer, Lee
name: Anuar, Shahrul
name: Quah, Evan
name: Muin, Mohd Abdul
name: Onn, Chan Kin
name: Grismer, Jesse L.
name: Ahmad, Norhayati
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Gekkonidae
Cyrtodactylus
Cyrtodactylus durio

description: Cyrtodactylus durio sp. nov.
Figures 2, 3, 4, 5
Holotype. Adult male (ZRC 2.6906) collected by Evan Quah, Shahrul Anuar, and Mohd Abdul Muin on 20 March 2010 at Sungai Sedim, Kedah (02°06.581’N, 102°19.757’E; 39 m asl.), Peninsular Malaysia.
Diagnosis. Cyrtodactylus durio is distinguished from all other Sunda Shelf species by having a maximum SVL of 79.3 mm; large, conical, elongate, keeled tubercles on body limbs and tail; elongate, spinose tubercles in ventrolateral body fold and on ventrolateral margin of tail; 16 longitudinal rows of tubercles at midbody; 59 ventral scales; no transversely enlarged, median, subcaudal scales; proximal subdigital lamellae transversely expanded; 22 subdigital lamellae on fourth toe; no abrupt transition between postfemoral and ventral femoral scales; no digital webbing; two nearly parallel rows of six enlarged, pore-bearing precloacal scales opposing a shallow precloacal sulcus; tail round in cross-section, lacking ventrolateral caudal fringe; no white reticulum on head; and faint, squarish blotches on body. These characters are summarized across all Sunda Shelf species in Chan and Norhayati (2010; Table 1).
Description of holotype. Adult male SVL 79.3 mm; head moderate in length (HL/SVL 0.28), wide (HW/ HL 0.71), somewhat flattened (HD/HL 0.37), distinct from neck, triangular in dorsal profile; lores weakly inflated, prefrontal region concave, canthus rostralis smoothly rounded; snout elongate (ES/HL 0.46) rounded in dorsal profile; eye large (ED/HL 0.23); ear opening oval, moderate in size (EL/HL 0.07), vertically oriented; eye to ear distance greater than diameter of eye; rostral wider than high, concave, partially divided dorsally, bordered dorsally by left and right supranasals and two medial postrostrals (=internasals), bordered laterally by first supralabials and external nares; external nares bordered dorsally by a single, small supranasal, posteriorly by several granular postnasals, ventrally by first supralabial; 11 (R,L) square supralabials extending to just beyond dorsal inflection of labial margins tapering in size abruptly below midpoint of eye, first supralabial largest; 10 (R,L) infralabials tapering smoothly posteriorly to beyond orbit, terminal scale in series raised; scales of rostrum and lores raised, larger than granular scales on top of head and occiput; scales of occiput intermixed with enlarged, spinose tubercles; dorsal superciliaries small, flat; mental triangular, bordered laterally by first infralabials and posteriorly by left and right elongate postmentals which contact medially for 60% of their length; postmentals bordered by large sublabial followed by two rows of slightly enlarged sublabials extending posteriorly to 6th infralabial; gular scales small, granular, grading posteriorly into slightly larger, flatter, throat scales that grade into larger, flat, smooth, imbricate, pectoral and ventral scales.
Body relatively short (AG/SVL 0.43) with well-defined ventrolateral folds bearing enlarged, elongate spines; dorsal scales small, granular, interspersed with large, conical, semi-regularly arranged, keeled tubercles; tubercles extend from occiput to tip of tail; tubercles on occiput and temporal region spinose; those on paravertebral and lateral margin of nape and posterolateral margin of head longer and spinose; tubercles on flanks larger, spinose, keeled, oriented dorsomedially; approximately 16 longitudinal rows of tubercles at midbody; 23 paravertebral tubercles on body; 59 smooth, flat, imbricate, ventral scales between ventrolateral body folds, ventral scales slightly larger than dorsal scales; two nearly parallel, longitudinal rows of six porebearing precloacal scales on opposing sides of a narrow precloacal sulcus surrounded by a group of enlarged poreless precloacal scales (Fig. 3).
Forelimbs slightly robust in stature, relatively short (FL/SVL 0.15); granular scales of forearm slightly larger than those of body, interspersed with large, conical, keeled tubercles; palmar scales flat, smooth, subimbricate; digits well-developed, inflected at basal, interphalangeal joints; subdigital lamellae transversely expanded throughout its length, but slightly more granular immediately distal to interphalangeal inflection, digits slightly more narrow distal to inflection; claws well-developed, sheathed by a dorsal and ventral scale; hind limbs more robust than forelimbs, moderate in length (TBL/SVL 0.18), covered dorsally by granular scales interspersed with larger, keeled-spinose tubercles and covered anteriorly by flat, slightly larger imbricate scales mixed with fewer, smaller tubercles; ventral scales of thigh rounded, smooth, subimbricate to juxtaposed, larger than dorsals; ventral tibial scales flat, imbricate; no enlarged, femoral scales; postfemoral scales grade smoothly into slightly smaller dorsal femoral scales on posteroventral margin of thigh; plantar scales slightly raised, imbricate; digits well-developed, inflected at basal, interphalangeal joints; subdigital lamellae transversely expanded throughout length of digit but slightly more granular immediately distal to interphalangeal inflection; digits more narrow distal to joints; 22 (R,L) subdigital lamellae on right 4th toe; claws well-developed, sheathed by a dorsal and ventral scale.
Tail moderate, original, 90.1 mm in length, 7.0 mm in width at base, tapering to a point, prehensile; caudal scales flat to slightly raised; no median row of transversely enlarged, subcaudal scales; subcaudal scales slightly larger than dorsal caudal scales; six longitudinal rows of large, spinose, caudal tuberles; two of these rows occur on the ventrolateral margin of the tail (Fig. 4); caudal tubercles extend 90% of the length of tail, reducing to four rows then two rows in posterior 10%; two enlarged, postcloacal tubercles at base of tail on hemipenal swelling; all postcloacal scales flat, imbricate.
Additional measurements in mm are FL 12.2, TBL 14.3, AG 34.8, HL 22.6, HW 16.0, HD 8.4, ED 5.1, EE 6.8, ES 10.5, EN 7.8, IO 4.5, EL 1.6, IN 2.6.
Coloration in life (Figs. 2,5). Dorsal ground color of head, neck, trunk, limbs, and tail beige; darker speckling with brown, irregularly shaped blotches on top and sides of head, occiput and nape edged by darker brown speckling; small, paired, brown blotches on nape followed by five dark brown butterfly-shaped blotches extending to base of tail and then becoming dark brown bands on tail that alternate with much lighter bands; limbs weakly mottled; diffuse orange markings at base of lower jaw, proximal brachial region, and axillary region; gular region, belly, underside of limbs cream-colored; belly with fine, darker speckling; underside of tail mottled, faintly banded.
Distribution. Cyrtodactylus durio sp. nov. is known only from Sungai Sedim, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia (Fig. 1).
Natural history. The single specimen of Cyrtodactylus durio sp. nov. was observed at 21:00 hrs approximately six meters above the ground beneath a closed canopy dipterocarp (Fig. 6) forest following an evening rain shower at 18:00 hrs. The specimen was sitting head up on the sloping branch of a small tree. During capture, the branch was pulled toward the ground and the specimen wrapped the last 10% of its tail around the branch to stabilize its body. We suspect C. durio sp. nov. may be a canopy species that was forced down to lower portions of the tree by rain and wind. Linkem et al. (2008) proposed the same hypothesis for C. spinosus from Sulawesi.
Etymology. The specific epithet durio is in reference to the Latin generic name Durio for the durian fruits of Asia. It is derived from the Latin root dur, meaning hard or duable. Its application as the specific epithet herein is based on the similar spiny exterior of both the durian and the gecko.
Comparisons. Cyrtodactylus durio sp. nov. can be differentiated from all other species of Cyrtodactylus on the basis of its extremely spinose body, head, limbs, and tail (Figs. 2,5). It can be further separated from all Cyrtodactylus except C. brevipalmatus (Smith 1923), C. elok Dring, C. spinosus Linkem, McGuire, Hayden, Mohammed, Bickford, and Brown, and C. stresemanni Rösler and Glaw in having a prehensile tail. Its presence of pore-bearing, precloacal scales s5
eparates it from C. aurensis Grismer, C. cavernicolous (Smith), C. condorensis (Smith), C. elok, C. ingeri Hikida, C. lateralis (Werner), C. malayanus (De Rooij), C. matsuii Hikida, C. oldhami (Theobald), C. pantiensis Grismer, Chan, Grismer, Wood, & Belabut, C. paradoxus Darevsky & Szczerbak, C. peguensis (Boulenger), C. pubisulcus Inger, and C. semenanjungensis Grismer & Leong and its presence of a precloacal sulcus separates it from all other species except C. aurensis, C. cavernicolous, C. macrotuberculatus Grismer & Norhayati, C. marmoratus (Kuhl), C. pubisulcus, C. pulchellus (Gray), C. stresemanni and C. tiomanensis Das & Lim. Cyrtodactylus durio sp. nov. most closely resembles C. spinosus in overall body morphology and spinose squamation (Table 1) but differs in having keeled as opposed to smooth body tubercles; 59 ventral scales as opposed to 38–44; no enlarged femoral scales, and no femoral pores.
description: Published as part of Grismer, Lee, Anuar, Shahrul, Quah, Evan, Muin, Mohd Abdul, Onn, Chan Kin, Grismer, Jesse L. & Ahmad, Norhayati, 2010, A new spiny, prehensile-tailed species of Cyrtodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Peninsular Malaysia with a preliminary hypothesis of relationships based on morphology, pp. 40-52 in Zootaxa 2625 on pages 43-47, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.198221