Cyrtodactylus kiphire Boruah, Narayanan, Deepak & Das 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Boruah, Bitupan
name: Narayanan, Surya
name: Aravind, Neelavar Ananthram
name: Lalronunga, Samuel
name: Deepak, V.
name: Das, Abhijit
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Squamata
Gekkonidae
Cyrtodactylus
Cyrtodactylus kiphire

description: Cyrtodactylus kiphire Boruah, Narayanan, Deepak & Das sp. nov.
Figure 4; Tables 2, S 2
Holotype.
Adult male (WII-ADR 964; Fig. 4 A – E), from a trail beside Forest Colony (25.8994 ° N; 94.7694 ° E; elevation 1300 m a. s. l.; Fig. 3 A), Kiphire Forest Division, Kiphire District, Nagaland, India; collected by Abhijit Das and Bitupan Boruah on 1 August 2021.
Paratype.
An adult male (WII-ADR 963; Fig. 4 F, G) collection locality details are same as the holotype.
Diagnosis.
A medium-sized gecko (SVL up to at least 64.7 mm); 10 supralabials; 9–12 infralabials; 16 bluntly conical and feebly keeled dorsal tubercles; 26–29 paravertebral tubercles; 35 or 36 midventral scales rows between the weak ventrolateral folds; no precloacal groove; six or seven precloacal pores in continuous series; 12–15 total subdigital lamellae beneath digit IV of pes; dark brown irregular cross bars or reticulation on dorsum.
Description of the holotype.
Holotype well preserved except single incision below left axilla ventrolaterally. Snout-vent length 63.9 mm. Head moderately large (HL / SVL = 0.26), dorsoventrally depressed, longer than width (HW / HL = 0.68), distinct from neck, broader at occipital region; snout tip rounded in both dorsal and lateral view; loreal region convex; canthus rostralis rounded, indistinct; interorbital space flat; a longitudinal furrow on dorsal surface of the snout; snout short (SO / HL = 0.4), longer than orbit (OD / SO = 0.7); nostril nearly rounded, opening directed posterolaterally; ear opening oval and oblique; scales on head heterogeneous, largest on snout and loreal region, posteriorly smaller in upper eyelid, interorbital space and occipital region, granular juxtaposed; scales on upper eyelids heterogeneous, supraciliaries outwardly sharp giving serrated appearance in dorsal view, size anteriorly and posteriorly decreases, largest at approximately anterior one third of it; rostral wide, a short groove at the middle on top; rostral connected with nasals, supranasals, internasal and first supralabials; two scale between the supranasals, larger than the rest of the granular snout scales; granular scales at parietal region and occipital region intermixed with slightly large rounded granular tubercles starting from the level of posterior margin of the upper eyelids, size increases towards nape; supralabial 10 on both side, seven supralabials upto midorbit, size decreases towards angle of jaw; a series of narrow, enlarged scales above the supralabials between nostril and anterior orbital border; mental slightly wider than rostral (RW / MW = 0.8), triangular, connected with first infralabials, inner postmentals; nine infralabials on both sides, size decreases towards angle of jaw; first infralabials connected with mental, second infralabial, inner and outer postmentals; inner pair of postmentals are larger than the outer postmentals; posterior margin of the inner postmentals bordered by eight granular scales of different size; two rows of enlarged scales along the infralabials starting below the outer postmentals, posteriorly size decreases, elongated and narrow; rest of the gular scales are small, granular juxtaposed, homogeneous, size increases towards the throat where they become imbricate.
Habitus slender (BW / SVL = 0.2, TRL / SVL = 0.35), dorsoventrally depressed; dorsal scales granular, rounded, heterogeneous, intermixed with rounded, weakly keeled and bluntly conical tubercles irregularly arranged, up to fourth segment of the tail, size increases towards posterior body and pronounced; 16 dorsal tubercles across mid dorsum; 26 paravertebral tubercles; ventrolateral fold weak; ventral scales larger than those of dorsal, flat, smooth, cycloid subimbricate to imbricate, largest on belly; 36 mid-ventral scales between ventrolateral fold; seven precloacal pores arranged in an inverted “ V ” shaped continuous series, followed by five unpored, large scales below it, largest at the apex.
Forelimbs and hindlimbs slender (FL / SVL = 0.13, CL / SVL = 0.16); digits strongly inflected at the joints, all bearing large recurved claw, enlarged subdigital lamellae; lamellae beneath digit IV of right and left manus (given as basal + distal) is 5 + 8 and 5 + 9 respectively; lamellae beneath digit IV of right and left pes (given as basal + distal) is 5 + 10 and 5 + 9 respectively; dorsal scales on forelimbs smooth and subimbricate, small and granular at elbow and proximal end of forearm; forearm scales intermixed with rounded large tubercles; dorsal scales of hindlimbs heterogeneous, intermixed with large, rounded and bluntly conical tubercles; horizontally upper half of the thigh scales are smooth, large and subimbricate, those on lower half small granular; scales on tibia are small, granular juxtaposed; ventral scales of forelimbs granular, juxtaposed, mostly homogeneous; scales on palm heterogeneous in shape and size, granular juxtaposed; scales on ventral side of hindlimbs smaller than those of belly, smooth, cycloid and subimbricate, but on the knee, above cloaca and on thigh below the level of precloacal pores are smaller and granular; scales on soles heterogeneous, granular, juxtaposed to subimbricate.
Tail regenerated (TL = 68 mm), slender, gradually tapering towards tip, segments indistinct, dorsal scales small, granular, juxtaposed at the base, posteriorly size increases, flat, smooth, subimbricate, heterogeneous in shape and size; large feebly keeled scales upto fourth segment of the tail, those on basal segment are pronounced; subcaudal scales smooth, subimbricate, wider than that of dorsal and widest at the middle, heterogeneous in shape and size; no enlarged plate like series of subcaudal scales; two and three bluntly conical spurs on right and left side of the tail base respectively.
Colouration in life.
Top of head intermixed with pale-yellow and pale-brown; dark-brown spots of irregular shape and size on posterior part of head; short dark-brown postorbital streak present; another streak along loreal region; supraciliary yellow; four dark-brown stripes on neck interspaced with cream colour; large spot at the middle on the anterior part of the nape; six dark-brown cross bars of irregular size and shape on dorsum between the level of axilla and groin (Fig. 4 J); these cross bars intersected on mid dorsum and posteriorly bordered with cream coloured patches; limbs with slightly dark-brown indistinct reticulations intermixed with pale-yellow or cream coloured patches; scales on axillary region and base of forelimbs are with pinkish tinge; digits with alternating brown and pale-yellow bands; anterior half of the tail with alternating dark-brown and light-cream coloured cross bands of irregular shape and size; posterior half (regenerated part) of the tail pale-brown; ventrally head, trunk and limbs whitish; tail with brown mottling.
Colouration in preservative.
Top of head, back, limbs and tail pale-greyish-brown with dark-brown markings; upper eyelids grey; dorsal marking pattern as it was in life; and ventrally whitish.
Morphological variation.
Detailed morphometric variations are given in Table S 2. Apart from those, the dorsal colour and marking pattern of the paratype varied from that of holotype. Paratype has two post orbital streaks on each side, upper one shorter than the lower one; no other spots on occipital region as in the holotype; dorsal cross bands somewhat reticulated (Fig. 4 F).
Comparison.
Cyrtodactylus kiphire sp. nov. differs from C. aaronbaueri by having larger body size in male, SVL 63.9–64.7 mm (vs. SVL 54.2–62 mm in male), fewer dorsal tubercle rows, DTR 16 (vs. DTR 22–28), fewer paravertebral tubercles, 26–29 (vs. PVT 36–39); differs from C. aunglini by fewer dorsal tubercle rows, DTR 16 (vs. DTR 21–26), fewer precloacal pores, PcP 6 or 7 (vs. PcP 12–13), fewer mid-ventral scale rows, MVSR 35 or 36 (vs. MVSR 41–49), fewer paravertebral tubercles, PVT 26–29 (vs. 36–45); differs from C. bengkhuaiai by fewer dorsal tubercle rows, DTR 16 (vs. DTR 22–26), fewer paravertebral tubercles, 26–29 (vs. PVT 35–41), fewer mid-ventral scale rows, MVSR 35 or 36 (vs. MVSR 37–42); differs from C. brevidactylus by fewer dorsal tubercle rows, DTR 16 (vs. DTR 27), fewer mid-ventral scale rows, MVSR 35 or 36 (vs. MVSR 45), fewer precloacal pores, PcP 6 or 7 (vs. PcP 8); differs from C. chrysopylos by fewer precloacal pores, PcP 6 or 7 (vs. PcP 8–13), mid ventral scales, MVSR 35 or 36 (vs. MVSR 37–55), dorsal tubercle rows, DTR 26–29 (vs. DTR 30–35); differs from C. dianxiensis by smaller body size, SVL 63.9–64.7 mm (vs. SVL 73.8–79.9 mm), fewer dorsal tubercle rows, DTR 16 (vs. DTR 18 or 19), 35 or 36 mid ventral scales (vs. MVSR 37–41), 26 or 29 paravertebral tubercles (vs. PVT 31 or 32); differs from C. gansi by fewer dorsal tubercle rows, DTR 16 (vs. DTR 20–25), having fewer precloacal pores, PcP 6 or 7 (vs. PcP 16–29); differs from C. jaintiaensis by smaller body size in male, SVL 63.9–64.7 mm (vs. SVL 87–88.3 mm), fewer dorsal tubercle rows, DTR 16 (vs. DTR 19–20), fewer mid-ventral scale rows, MVSR 35 or 36 (vs. MVSR 40–42), fewer precloacal pores, PcP 6 or 7 (vs. PcP 11–12); differs from C. lungleiensis by smaller body size in male, SVL 63.9–64.7 mm (vs. SVL 65–68.1 mm), higher precloacal pores, PcP 6 or 7 (vs. PcP 3–5), fewer mid-ventral scale rows, MVSR 35 or 36 (vs. MVSR 37–43), fewer dorsal tubercle rows, DTR 16 (vs. 24–28), fewer paravertebral scales, PVT 26–29 (vs. 32–40), fewer subdigital lamellae beneath toe IV, TIVLam 12–14 (vs. TIVLam 16–18); differs from C. montanus by larger body size in male, SVL 63.9–64.7 mm (vs. SVL 53.6–55 mm), fewer dorsal tubercle rows, DTR 16 (vs. DTR 21–23), fewer precloacal pores, PcP 6 or 7 (vs. PcP 8–10); differs from C. myaleiktaung by fewer mid-ventral scale rows, MVSR 35 or 36 (vs. MVSR 57); differs from C. namtiram by fewer dorsal tubercle rows, DTR 16 (vs. DTR 21), fewer number of paravertebral scales, PVT 26–29 (vs. PVT 33), fewer precloacal pores, PcP 6 or 7 (vs. PcP 12); differs from C. ngopensis by fewer dorsal tubercle rows, DTR 16 (vs. 19–20), fewer paravertebral tubercles, PVT 26–29 (vs. 32–36); differs from C. siahaensis by fewer dorsal tubercle rows, DTR 16 (vs. DTR 22–24), fewer paravertebral tubercles, 26–29 (PVT 36–39); differs from C. vairengtensis by fewer dorsal tubercle rows, DTR 16 (vs. 22–23), fewer paravertebral tubercles, PVT 26–29 (vs. 34–39), fewer precloacal pores in male, PcP 6 or 7 (vs. PcP 9–11). The new species is morphologically close to C. nagalandensis; however, the new species differs from it by fewer paravertebral tubercles, PVT 26–29 (vs. 35–37). We could not compare with male specimens as data for C. nagalandensis is not available. Morphological differences with other members of khasiensis group is presented in Table 2.
Sequence divergence.
Cyrtodactylus kiphire sp. nov. has a high genetic divergence of 12 % from its closely related C. nagalandensis, 16.3 % from C. dianxiensis, 16.9 % from C. gansi and 17.9 % from C. jaintiaensis. With other members of the clade, C. kiphire sp. nov. has a genetic divergence of 16.4 % and 22.5 % in the ND 2 gene (Table S 3).
Etymology.
The specific epithet is derived from Kiphire, a District of Nagaland from where the type series of this species were collected.
Suggested common name.
Kiphire bent-toed gecko.
Distribution and natural history.
We recorded Cyrtodactylus kiphire sp. nov. from Kiphire forest colony, Kiphire District, Nagaland, India. The area is characterised as subtropical forest with regenerating jhum forest dominated by Castanopsis indica (Roxb. ex Lindl.) A. DC., Quercus sp., Itea macrophylla Wall. ex Roxb., Albizia chinensis (Osbeck) Merr .. The holotype was collected from on a forest trail shrub (approximately 2.0 m from the ground) at approximately 23: 00 hrs. The paratype was collected from a rocky slope along the edge of a stream.
description: Published as part of Boruah, Bitupan, Narayanan, Surya, Aravind, Neelavar Ananthram, Lalronunga, Samuel, Deepak, V. & Das, Abhijit, 2024, Description of six new species of Cyrtodactylus Gray (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from northeastern India, pp. 453-486 in Vertebrate Zoology 74 on pages 453-486, DOI: 10.3897/vz.74.e124752