Cyrtodactylus chure sp. nov.

Figs 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, Tables 2, 3

Type material examined.

Holotype. • NHM 2025/379 (SB 001), adult male, collected from on the walls of Hariharpurgadhi Fort (27°18.820'N, 85°29.223'>E; ca 905 m a. s. l.), Sindhuli District, Bagmati Province, Nepal; collected by Santosh Bhattarai on 16 June 2024. Paratypes. • NHM 2025/380 (SB 002), NHM 2025/381 (SB 003), NHM 2025/382 (SB 004) bears the same locality and collection data as holotype.

Diagnosis.

A medium-sized Cyrtodactylus, snout to vent length up to 68.7 mm. Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous; smooth granular scales intermixed with fairly regularly arranged rows of enlarged, feebly keeled, weakly pointed tubercles; a weak ventrolateral fold on lower flank; 18–20 rows of dorsal tubercles at midbody, 34–37 tubercles in paravertebral rows; ventral scales subequal from chest to vent, smooth, subcircular, and subimbricate with rounded end; 37 or 38 scales across belly at midbody, 79–86 longitudinal scales between axilla to groin, 167–184 longitudinal scales from mental to cloaca; subdigital scansors smooth, unnotched, and mostly entire; 14 or 13 lamellae under digit I of manus and 12–14 lamellae under digit I of pes, 16–18 lamellae under digit IV of manus and 18–21 lamellae under digit IV of pes; a series of seven or eight precloacal pore-bearing scales contiguous with nine or ten enlarged precloacal scales in males (n = 2); females lack pores but have 5–8 pitted homologous scales, and 9–12 enlarged precloacal scales (n = 2); dorsal scales on non-regenerated tail homogeneous, fairly regularly arranged, smooth, elongated, flattened, subimbricate, and larger than granular scales at dorsal midbody, gradually becoming larger posteriorly and dorsolaterally; a few scattered enlarged tubercles present on the tail base; subcaudal scales in median series smooth, variable in size and shape, and not enlarged; dorsal pattern of ~ 9 dark-brown, broken cross-bars, original tail bearing ten or 11 alternating dark and lighter bands.

Genetic divergence.

Cyrtodactylus chure sp. nov. is nested within the Nepalese clade within the Mountain subclade of the khasiensis group. It differs from members of the Nepalese clade by ≥ 11.2 % uncorrected ND 2 sequence divergence (Table 1).

Comparisons with regional congeners.

Cyrtodactylus chure sp. nov. can be differentiated from all regional congeners based on the following differing or non-overlapping characters: no femoral pores and seven or eight precloacal pores in males (vs femoral pores present in C. chitwanensis, C. fasciolatus, C. gubernatoris, and C. nepalensis; three or four precloacal pores in C. annapurnaensis, 6–9 in C. cayuensis, five in C. chamba, 10 in C. himalayicus, 7–11 in C. kamengensis, nine in C. makwanpurgadhiensis sp. nov.; seven or eight precloacal pores and one or two pores below precloacal row in C. karanshahi); length of original tail> SVL (vs length of original tail <SVL in C. lawderanus); median row of subcaudals not enlarged (vs median row of subcaudals enlarged in C. chitwanensis, C. fasciolatus, C. nepalensis); 18–20 rows of dorsal tubercles at midbody and 37 or 38 scales across belly at midbody (vs 24 or 25 DTR in C. bhupathyi, 13–15 DTR in C. chamba, 20–24 DTR and 30–34 MVSR in C. kamengensis, 39–42 MVSR in C. karanshahi, 19–23 DTR in C. martinstolli, 17 DTR in C. nepalensis, 15 or 16 DTR and 40–45 MVSR in C. siangensis); 16–18 lamellae under digit IV of pes (vs 19–22 in C. martinstolli); and maximum SVL up to 68.7 mm (vs maximum SVL <65 mm in C. annapurnaensis, C. bhupathyi, C. chamba, C. himalayicus and maximum SVL> 78 mm in C. cayuensis, C. chitwanensis, C. fasciolatus, C. kamengensis, C. makwanpurgadhiensis sp. nov., C. martinstolli) 34–37 tubercles in paravertebral rows (vs 49–58 PVT in C. kamengensis). Cyrtodactylus chure sp. nov. overlaps with C. makwanpurgadhiensis sp. nov. in all meristic data except for 16–18 lamellae under digit IV of pes (vs 19–23 in C. makwanpurgadhiensis sp. nov.), and can be distinguished by a slightly shorter body (mean (minimum – maximum) AGL / SVL = 0.443 (0.432–0.462) vs 0.469 (0.451–0.487) and slightly longer crus (CL / SVL = 0.168 (0.161–0.176) vs 0.172 (0.169–0.177).

Description of the holotype.

Adult male in good state of preservation except tail bent towards left, and a 12.3 mm long incision in sternal region for tissue collection (Fig. 9 A – D). SVL 60.0 mm, head short (HL / SVL 0.26), wide (HW / HL 0.70), not strongly depressed (HD / HL 0.40), distinct from neck. Loreal region inflated, canthus rostralis indistinct. Snout half of head length (ES / HL 0.44), slightly> 1.5 × eye diameter (ES / ED 1.66); scales on snout and canthus rostralis circular or oval, subequal, smooth, much larger than those on forehead and interorbital region; scales on forehead similar to those on snout and canthus rostralis except slightly smaller; scales on interorbital region, occipital, and temporal region heterogeneous, composed of granular scales intermixed with enlarged, smooth, and rounded tubercles (Fig. 10 A). Eye small (ED / HL 0.27), with vertical pupil having crenulated margins; supraciliaries short, larger anteriorly; 17 interorbital scale rows across narrowest point of frontal; 39 scale rows between left and right supraciliaries at mid-orbit (Fig. 10 A, C). Ear opening small, oval, deep (EL / HL 0.10); eye to ear distance slightly greater than diameter of eye (EE / ED 1.17) (Fig. 10 C). Rostral ~ 2 × wider (2.4 mm) than high (1.4 mm), incompletely divided dorsally by a strongly developed rostral groove for slightly less than half of its height; a single enlarged, roughly circular supranasal on each side,> 4-5 × the size of upper postnasal, separated from each other behind rostral by three much smaller internasal scales; rostral in contact with supralabial I, nostril and supranasal, and single internasal on either side; nostrils oval, surrounded by three postnasals, supranasal, rostral, and supralabial I on either side; three postnasals on either side, middle postnasal roughly oval, slightly larger than others; other postnasals roughly circular and subequal; two rows of scales separate orbit from supralabials (Fig. 10 C). Mental enlarged, subtriangular, wider (2.3 mm) than high (1.6 mm); two pairs of postmentals, inner pair rectangular, marginally longer (1.8 mm) than mental, in strong contact with each other below mental (0.9 mm); inner pair bordered by mental, infralabial I, outer postmental, and two slightly enlarged chin shields on left and three on right side; outer postmentals roughly rectangular, much smaller (0.8 mm) than inner pair, bordered by inner postmentals on either side, infralabials I and II on right and II on left side, and four chin shields on right and six on left side, five enlarged gular scales between left and right outer postmentals; all chin shields bordering postmentals somewhat protruding, subequal, subcircular, smooth, and much smaller than outermost postmentals; scales on rest of throat, granular, much smaller, smooth, and subcircular (Fig. 10 B). Infralabials bordered below by a row or two of slightly enlarged, much elongated scales, decreasing in size posteriorly. Eleven supralabials to angle of jaw and eight at midorbital position on either side; supralabial I largest, gradually decreasing in size posteriorly; ten infralabials to angle of jaw on left and nine on right side, and six infralabials at midorbital position on left and eight on right side; infralabial I largest, gradually decreasing in size posteriorly (Fig. 10 C).

Body relatively slender (BW / AGL 0.42), trunk slightly less than half of SVL (AGL / SVL 0.44) with weak ventrolateral fold (Fig. 11 A – C). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous; smooth granular scales intermixed with fairly regularly arranged rows of enlarged, feebly keeled, weakly pointed tubercles; granular scales gradually increasing in size towards each flank, largest on mid-flank; granular scales on occiput slightly smaller than paravertebral granular scales; enlarged tubercles in ~ 18 longitudinal rows at midbody; 34 tubercles in paravertebral rows (Fig. 11 A). Ventral scales much larger than granular scales on dorsum, subequal from chest to vent, and smooth, subcircular and subimbricate with rounded end; scales on precloacal region distinctly enlarged; midbody scale rows across belly 38; 177 scales from mental to anterior border of cloaca and 80 scales between limb insertions (Fig. 11 B). A continuous series of seven precloacal pores, femoral pores absent (Fig. 10 D).

Scales on palm and soles, smooth, oval or rounded, and flattened; scales on dorsal aspects of limbs heterogenous; composed of slightly smaller, smooth granular scales intermixed with enlarged, weakly keeled, weakly pointed tubercles which are slightly larger on thigh and shank than lower arm, enlarged tubercles absent on the upper arm; scales on ventral aspect of upper arm smooth, granular, slightly smaller than granular scales on body dorsum, scales on ventral aspect of lower arm much larger than those on upper arm, smooth, subcircular, weakly conical to flattened, and subimbricate; ventral aspect of thigh and shank with enlarged, smooth, roughly rounded, flattened, subimbricate scales, slightly larger and oval on the shank but otherwise similar in size to those on body ventrals (Fig. 9 A, B). Forelimbs and hindlimbs slightly long, slender (LAL / SVL 0.15; CL / SVL 0.18); digits long, with a strong, recurved claw, distinctly inflected, distal portions laterally compressed conspicuously. Digits with mostly unpaired lamellae, separated into a basal and narrower distal series by a single, much enlarged lamella at inflection; basal lamellae series: (5-6 - 6 - 6 - 5 right manus, 3-6 - 7 - 6 - 6 right pes), (5-6 - 6 - 6 - 5 left manus, Fig. 10 E; 3 – 6 – 7 – 6 – 5 left pes, Fig. 10 F); distal lamellae series: (8-9 - 12 - 12 - 10 right manus, 9-10 - 12 - 12 - 12 right pes), (8-10 - 11 - 12 - 9 left manus, Fig. 10 E; 9 – 10 – 12 – 12 – 13 left pes, Fig. 10 F). Relative length of digits (measurements in mm in parentheses): IV (4.6) = III (4.6)> V (4.2)> II (3.9)> I (2.8) (left manus); IV (5.5)> V (5.4)> III (5.3)> II (4.2)> I (2.8) (left pes).

Tail original, subcylindrical, slender, entire, marginally longer than body (TL / SVL 1.11) (Fig. 9 C, D). Dorsal pholidosis on tail homogeneous; composed of fairly regularly arranged, smooth, elongated, flattened, and subimbricate scales that are larger than granular scales on midbody dorsum, gradually becoming larger posteriorly and dorsolaterally; a few scattered enlarged tubercles present on the tail base (Fig. 9 C). Scales on tail venter much larger than those on dorsal aspect, smooth, flattened, subimbricate; median series smooth, variable in size and shape, and not enlarged (Fig. 9 D). Scales on tail base much smaller, smooth, subimbricate; three subequal and smooth postcloacal tubercles on either side (Fig. 9 D).

Colouration in life

(Fig. 12). Dorsal ground colour of head, body, limbs and tail brown; labials slightly darker than top of head and with a few yellow streaks; distinct dark brown pre- and postorbital streaks; no mid-vertebral stripe; ~ 9 broken up dark brown transverse markings from neck to tail-base; 11 dark and ten light caudal bands on original tail; rest of ventral surfaces immaculate; iris bronze with dark reticulations, pupil bordered by pale orange.

Variation and additional information from paratypes

(Figs 12, 13). Mensural and meristic data for the type series is given in Tables 2, 3, respectively. There are two adult females and a single adult male ranging in size from 58.4–68.7 mm (Fig. 13 A, B). All paratypes resemble the holotype except as follows: NHM 2025/380 and NHM 2025/381 with single internasal separating supranasals behind rostral. Inner postmentals bordered by mental, infralabial I, and outer postmental; additionally, bordered by six smaller chin shields in all paratypes. Outer postmentals bordered by inner pair and infralabials I and II in all paratypes except for NHM 2025/381; additionally, bordered by five smaller chin shields on left and four on right side either in NHM 2025/380, by five on either side in NHM 2025/382; outer postmentals bordered by inner pair, infralabial I, and four smaller chin shields on either side in NHM 2025/381. Two paratypes, NHM 2025/380 and NHM 2025/382 with original and complete tail, marginally longer than SVL (TL / SVL 1.06 and 1.09 respectively); NHM 2025/381 with complete but almost fully regenerated tail, slightly shorter than body (TL / SVL 0.70) (Fig. 13 A). Original tail distinctly banded in all paratypes and regenerated tail pale brown in NHM 2025/381 (Figs 12, 13).

Etymology.

The specific epithet, Chure (ch-oo-ray), is the Nepali word for the Siwalik Mountain range, within which the type locality lies, and is used as a noun in apposition. In Nepal, Chure is widely used among policy makers, conservationists, and local communities to refer to the Siwaliks. These are the youngest, driest, least geologically stable, and southernmost of the Himalayan ranges, delineating the boundary with the lowland (Terai) plains. Suggested common name is Chure bent-toed gecko.

Distribution and natural history.

Individuals were found ca 1930–2330 hrs on 16 June 2024 on the walls of Hariharpurgadhi Fort in Sindhuli District, Bagmati Province, Nepal (Fig. 1), which was constructed in mid- 16 th century during Sen dynasty. Two to three individuals were observed within ~ 1 m on the fort wall ~ 1–3 m above ground level. The walls of the fort were shaded in patches by bushes and low-growing grasses and had numerous crevices (Fig. 8 B). There is little natural vegetation around the fort and we did not sample any forest patches. The fort is relatively remote, located within the Siwalik Mountain range ca 40 km away from the nearest township (Sindhuli Madi). There is little human visitation and, currently, low levels of vehicle traffic. However, road construction projects across the Siwalik mountains, including a road development between Sindhuli and Makwanpur, will increase the volume of traffic in the near future. Currently, the fort area during the night is calm and the animals appeared sensitive to flashlights. Other lizards observed were Hemidactylus platyurus (Schneider, 1797) at night and Eutropis carinata (Schneider, 1801) during the day.