The discovery of Rock Geckos Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) in the Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar with the description of two new species

Abstract

We report the first occurrence of the Asian Rock Gecko genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 from mainland Myanmar based on a series of specimens recently collected from the Tanintharyi Region. These records come from several localities in the Tanintharyi Region and fill a significant sampling gap for the genus. Molecular phylogenetic analyses using the mitochondrial gene ND2 identify two distinct clades, the first includes Cnemaspis siamensis of the Southeast Asian Cnemaspis group and the second includes two new species belonging to the South Asian Cnemaspis kandiana group. These two species are morphologically distinct and are distinguished from all other members in the C. kandiana group by a combination of character states. The first species, Cnemaspis tanintharyi sp. nov. occurs on the mainland in southern Tanintharyi and is distinguished from all congeners by the possession of keeled pectoral scales; smooth ventral scales and abdominal scales; 2–4 precloacal pores; 4–5 femoral pores on each leg; smooth subcaudal scales with the median row enlarged; coloration of the gular region beige, dark gray-brown with dark blue hueing towards throat; 15–18 subdigital lamellae on the 4th toe; and 21–23 ventral scales at midbody. The other, Cnemaspis thayawthadangyi sp. nov. is known only from the island group of Thayawthadangyi, in the Myeik Archipelago and is distinguished from all congeners by the possession of keeled pectoral scales; keeled ventral scales and abdominal scales; three precloacal pores; four femoral pores on each leg; smooth subcaudal scales, scales on median row enlarged; coloration of the gular region silver with dark-gray irregularly shaped streaks; 16–18 subdigital lamellae on the 4th toe; and 18–20 ventral scales at midbody. In addition, we address the taxonomic status of populations referred to as C. kandiana (a species now restricted to Sri Lanka) found in peninsular Thailand and provisionally assign them as C. cf. tanintharyi sp. nov. until further analysis can be conducted. Finally, we briefly discuss the biogeography of the South Asian clade of Cnemaspis.

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

“…We did not include the Southeast Asian Cnemaspis as they are known to be a separate unrelated lineage from the South Asian Cnemaspis. However, C. modiglianii, C. tanintharyi and C. thayawthadangyi (Agarwal et al 2017;Lee et al 2019) are known to be nested within the South Asian Cnemaspis radiation and are closely related to each other (Lee et al 2019) and thus C. modiglianii has been included in the phylogenetic analyses. The total dataset included 104 taxa comprising 27 of the 37 Cnemaspis species known from Sri Lanka, four putative species from Sri Lanka, 17 Cnemaspis species from India and one species from Southeast Asia.…”

Granite boulders act as deep‐time climate refugia: A Miocene divergent clade of rupicolous Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Mysore Plateau, India, with descriptions of three new species

“…South Asian Cnemaspis includes ~80 species distributed in peninsular India and Sri Lanka, with a few species in Indonesia and Myanmar, and one from northeast India (Agarwal et al., 2017; Grismer et al., 2014; Lee, Miller, Zug, & Mulcahy, 2019; Uetz, Freed, & Hošek, 2019). Within peninsular India, 33 Cnemaspis species are known from the Western Ghats and only seven species from other regions (Figure 1) and two species lack type locality information.…”

A new cryptic arboreal species of the Cyrtodactylus brevipalmatus group (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the uplands of western Thailand

“…The discovery of Cyrtodactylus rukhadeva sp. nov. continues to underscore the unrealized herpetological diversity in the upland forests of the Tenasserim Mountains and that additional species have yet to be discoveredespecially given that the borderlands between Thailand and Myanmar are renowned for their high degree of range-restricted endemism (Matsui 2006;Sumontha et al 2012Sumontha et al , 2017Wilkinson et al 2012;Connette et al 2017;Grismer et al 2017c;Matsui et al 2018Mulcahy et al 2018Suwannapoom et al 2018;Lee et al 2019). Additional field surveys followed up with appropriately conducted, statistically defensible integrative taxonomic analyses are necessary to continue increasing our understanding of this region's exceptional herpetofaunal diversity and endemism if we are to effectively initiate science-based conservation management programs.…”