Tuesday, March 28, 2017

[Herpetology • 2017] Hemidactylus chipkali • A New Rupicolous Species of Gecko of the Genus Hemidactylus Oken, 1817 from the Satpura Hills, Central India


Hemidactylus chipkali  
  Mirza & Raju, 2017 

Central Indian Leaf-toed Gecko |  amphibian-reptile-conservation.org 

Abstract 

We here describe a new species of rupicolous gecko from the Satpura Hills of central India. The new species is a member of the Hemidactylus brookii complex, and can be distinguished based on the following suite of characters: moderate sized species (SVL 54.3–74.2 mm); anterior postmental width equal to first infralabial; posterior postmental width equal to second infralabial, posterior postmental not in contact with first infralabial; enlarged, keeled, tubercles, fairly regularly arranged in 15–16 longitudinal rows on dorsum; two angular series of seven precloacal femoral pores separated by diastema of eight non-pored scales; non-pored scales equal to size of pored scales; scales bordering anterior edge of pored scales half the size of pored scales; five lamellae on digit I and seven on digit IV of manus as well as pes; lamellae on digit IV and V of pes absent on basal 25% of the digit; legs long and slender; ventral aspect of tail with broad caudal scales covering ~80% of tail; two subconical post cloacal spurs, anterior spur slightly larger than posterior spur. 

Key words: Hemidactylus brookii, complex, taxonomy, bPTP, multivariate analysis, DNA


Hemidactylus chipkali sp. nov.

Etymology: The specific epithet “chipkali” is the Hindi word for gecko.
Suggested common name: Central Indian Leaf-toed Gecko 


Fig. 5. Hemidactylus chipkali sp. nov. (A and B) male holotype NCBS AT107 in life, (C) male paratype NCBS AT108 in life. 



Zeeshan A. Mirza and David Raju. 2017. A New Rupicolous Species of Gecko of the Genus Hemidactylus Oken, 1817 from the Satpura Hills, Central India. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation.  11(1) [General Section]: 51–71 (e137).