A new species of bent-toed geckos of the genus Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827 from western Arunachal Pradesh, India

By

Mirza, Zeeshan A
Bhosale, Harshal S.
Thackeray, Tejas
Phansalkar, Pushlar
Sawant, Mandar
Gowande, Gaurang G
Patel, Harshil

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2022-3-21

Original Publication

Herpetozoa

Volume

35

Pages

65--76

Subjects

Biodiversity hotspot , Gekkonidae , Himalayas , Northeast India , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.35.e80610

 

Abstract

A new species of bent-toed geckos of the genus Cyrtodactylus is described from western Arunachal Pradesh. The new species is a member of the Indo-Burma clade and is embedded within the “peguensis” group, a relationship deduced contingent on a partial fragment of mitochondrial NADH subunit 2 gene. Cyrtodactylus kamengensissp. nov. is morphologically similar to C. himalayicus from which it differs in bearing a distinct ventrolateral fold and 6–8 basal lamellae on digit IV of pes. Genetically, the new species is sister to the Indian lineage of the “peguensis” group containing C. bhupathyi and C. gubernatoris. The Indian lineage of the “peguensis” group diverged from its Burmese relatives during the mid-Oligocene likely followed by the beginning of the Himalayan uplift, highlighting the role of the Himalayas in the diversification of biota.