A NEW DIMINUTIVE DAY GECKO SPECIES OF THE GENUS Cnemaspis STRAUCH, 1887 (REPTILIA : GEKKONIDAE) FROM PILIKUTTUWA, NEAR THE CAPITAL OF SRI LANKA

Abstract

We investigated diminutive day geckos of the genus Cnemaspis in Sri Lanka, and based on morphological evidence, a new species belonging to the C. podihuna complex is described herein. The new species occurs in lowland wetzone (alt. 50 m a.s.l.) forests and adjacent human habitations which have a dense tree cover in Gampaha District, near Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. We also provide a key for this and previously recognized species from Sri Lanka, based on collected material and literature.

A new species of day gecko (Reptilia, Gekkonidae, Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887) from Sri Lanka with an updated ND2 gene phylogeny of Sri Lankan and Indian species

“…Additional information on the morphology and natural history of Sri Lankan Cnemaspis species was extracted from the relevant literature (Bauer et al 2007;Manamendra-Arachchi et al 2007;Wickramasinghe and Munindradasa 2007;Vidanapathirana et al 2014;Wickramasinghe et al 2016;Agarwal et al 2017;Batuwita and Udugampala 2017;Batuwita et al 2019;de Silva et al 2019;Karunarathna et al 2019a;Karunarathna et al 2019b;Karunarathna et al 2019c;Karunarathna and Ukuwela 2019;Amarasinghe and Karunarathna 2020). Assignment of unidentified specimens to the new species was based on their morphometric, meristic and molecular characters, colour patterns and the level of geographic isolation.…”

“…The tropical island of Sri Lanka has a rich and diverse assemblage of reptiles that comprises a total of 238 species, of which 155 (65%) are endemic and 107 are threatened with extinction (MoE-SL 2012;Batuwita 2016;Batuwita and Edirisinghe 2017;de Silva and Ukuwela 2020;Wickramasinghe et al 2017Wickramasinghe et al , 2019Wickramasinghe et al , 2020Karunarathna et al 2019aKarunarathna et al , 2019bKarunarathna et al , 2020Batuwita et al 2020). Amongst the diverse reptile community of the Island, the diversity of geckos (Family Gekkonidae) are remarkable; 59 species have been recognised so far which accounts for 25% of the overall reptilian richness (Karunarathna et al 2019b;Amarasinghe and Karunarathna 2020). Forty-nine (~ 83%) of them are endemic to the Island (Batuwita and Udugampola 2017;de Silva and Ukuwela 2020;Batuwita et al 2019;de Silva et al 2019;Karunarathna et al 2019aKarunarathna et al , 2019bKarunarathna et al , 2019cKarunarathna and Ukuwela 2019;Amarasinghe and Karunarathna 2020) and 31(~53%) are threatened with extinction (MoE-SL 2012).…”

“…Amongst the diverse reptile community of the Island, the diversity of geckos (Family Gekkonidae) are remarkable; 59 species have been recognised so far which accounts for 25% of the overall reptilian richness (Karunarathna et al 2019b;Amarasinghe and Karunarathna 2020). Forty-nine (~ 83%) of them are endemic to the Island (Batuwita and Udugampola 2017;de Silva and Ukuwela 2020;Batuwita et al 2019;de Silva et al 2019;Karunarathna et al 2019aKarunarathna et al , 2019bKarunarathna et al , 2019cKarunarathna and Ukuwela 2019;Amarasinghe and Karunarathna 2020) and 31(~53%) are threatened with extinction (MoE-SL 2012). Though the Sri Lankan gecko fauna consists of seven genera: Calodactylodes, Cnemaspis, Cyrtodactylus, Gehyra, Hemidactylus, Hemiphyllodactylus and Lepidodactylus, none is endemic to the country (Somaweera and Somaweera 2009; de Silva and Ukuwela 2020).…”

“…Though the Sri Lankan gecko fauna consists of seven genera: Calodactylodes, Cnemaspis, Cyrtodactylus, Gehyra, Hemidactylus, Hemiphyllodactylus and Lepidodactylus, none is endemic to the country (Somaweera and Somaweera 2009; de Silva and Ukuwela 2020). With 37 nominal species in Sri Lanka, Cnemaspis is considered as the most speciose reptile genus in the country, with 100% species endemism (Karunarathna et al 2019b;Amarasinghe and Karunarathna 2020). Cnemaspis are diurnal geckos distributed in Africa and Asia comprising three distinct paraphyletic groups in Africa, Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia (Gamble et al 2015).…”

“…During the past two decades, the number of species recognised in the genus Cnemaspis in Sri Lanka has grown rapidly with more than a nine-fold increase (from 4 to 37 species) as a result of the recent taxonomic renaissance (Deraniyagala 1953;Bauer et al 2007;Batuwita et al 2019;de Silva et al 2019;Karunarathna et al 2019b;Amarasinghe and Karunarathna 2020). Recent molecular phylogenetic analyses have indicated two distinct Sri Lankan clades of Cnemaspis, namely: C. kandiana and C. podihuna (Agarwal et al 2017) and eight subclades (Karunarathna et al 2019c) in the two clades; four subclades in the C. podihuna clade and four sub-clades in the C. kandiana clade.…”