Description of a new species of Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827 (Reptilia, Gekkonidae) from India with redescriptions of the holotypes of C. gubernatoris (Annandale, 1913) and C. himalayicus (Annandale, 1906)
Authors/Creators
- 1. Zoological Survey of India, Reptilia Section, FPS Building, Indian Museum complex, Kolkata, India
- 2. P.G. Department of Zoology, Fakir Mohan University, Balasore, India|Freshwater Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Hyderabad, India
- 3. Human and Environment Alliance League, Kolkata, India
Description
A new species of the genus Cyrtodactylus Gray is described from the eastern Himalayan region of West Bengal state, India. The new species is assigned to the C. peguensis species group and is readily distinguished from its regional congeners by a unique combination of morphological characters. These include dorsal scalation comprising small granules intermixed with enlarged, feebly keeled, weakly pointed tubercles arranged in 15–22 fairly regular longitudinal rows at midbody; 11–14 subdigital lamellae beneath the first digit and 17–23 beneath the fourth digit; nine precloacal pores and 6–9 femoral pores in males; 10–12 supralabials; and nine infralabials. Molecular analyses based on mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) sequence data further support the distinctiveness of the new species, which exhibits 11.8–19.8% uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence from its closest congeners. Specifically, it differs from C. gubernatoris by 11.8–12.0% and from C. bhupathyi by 18.5–19.8%, while showing divergences exceeding 20.5% from other congeners examined. In addition to the description of the new species, detailed redescriptions of the holotypes of two regional congeners, C. himalayicus and C. gubernatoris, are provided based on direct examination. The discovery of this new taxon highlights the underestimated diversity of Cyrtodactylus in the eastern Himalayas and underscores the importance of integrated morphological and molecular approaches in resolving species boundaries within this speciose gecko genus.
Files
ZK_article_186655.pdf
Files
(6.8 MB)
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:8b90cb4dca204e3631ca863ad86ff7a1
|
6.6 MB | Preview Download |
|
md5:d072287c4f9d41fa4fdac390f02e1104
|
197.4 kB | Preview Download |
Linked records
Additional details
References
- Agarwal I, Bauer AM, Jackman TR, Karanth KP (2014) Insights into Himalayan biogeography from geckos: A molecular phylogeny of Cyrtodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 80: 145–155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2014.07.018
- Agarwal I, Mahony S, Giri VB, Chaitanya R, Bauer AM (2018a) Two new species of bent toed geckos, Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Northeast India with comments on name-bearing types from the region. Zootaxa 4420(3): 334–356. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4420.3.2
- Agarwal I, Khandekar A, Bauer AM (2018b) A new bent-toed gecko (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Cyrtodactylus) from the Western Himalayas, Himachal Pradesh, India. Zootaxa 4446(4): 442–454. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4446.4.2
- Agarwal I, Mahony S, Giri VB, Chaitanya R, Bauer AM (2018c) Six new Cyrtodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from northeast India. Zootaxa 4524(5): 501–535. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4524.5.1
- Annandale NE (1913) The Indian geckos of the genus Gymnodactylus. Records of the Indian Museum 9: 309–326. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v9/i4/1913/163665
- Bharali M, Thaosen K, Vabeiryureilai M, Lalremsanga HT, Purkayatha J, Bhattacharjee R, Das M, Bohra SC (2025) A new species of Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827 (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the montane forests of Dima Hasao District, Assam, India. Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japb.2025.06.008
- Bhardwaj VK, Purkayastha J, Lalremsanga HT, Mirza ZA (2025) Two new species of bent-toed geckos of the genus Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827 from the western Himalayas. Zootaxa 5665(2): 205–222. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5665.2.3
- Bhattarai S, Gautam B, Neupane BP, Khandekar A, Thackeray T, Agarwal I, Olson AR, Hogan F, Wright W (2025a) Description of two new species of Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Nepal. ZooKeys 1253: 131–160. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1253.161933
- Bhattarai S, Gautam B, Neupane BP, Khandekar A, Thackeray T, Agarwal I, Tillack F, Olson AR, Hogan F, Wright W (2025b) A review of the genus Cyrtodactylus Gray 1827 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) of Nepal with descriptions of three new species. Zootaxa 5594(3): 401–451. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5594.3.1
- Bohra SC, Zonunsanga HT, Das M, Purkayastha J, Biakzuala L, Lalremsanga HT (2022) Morphological and molecular phylogenetic data reveal another new species of bent-toed gecko (Cyrtodactylus Gray: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Mizoram, India. Journal of Natural History 56(41–44): 1585–1608. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2022.2119178
- Boruah B, Narayanan S, Aravind NA, Lalronunga S, Deepak V, Das A (2024) Description of six new species of Cyrtodactylus Gray (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from northeastern India. Vertebrate Zoology 74: 453–486. https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.74.e124752
- Chan KO, Grismer LL (2022) GroupStruct: An R package for allometric size correction. Zootaxa 5124(4): 471–482. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5124.4.4
- Das I, Dattagupta B, Gayen NC (1998) History and catalogue of reptile types in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India. Journal of South Asian Natural History 3: 121–172.
- Grismer LL, Wood PL, Poyarkov NA, Le MD, Kraus F, Agarwal I, Oliver PM, Nguyen SN, Nguyen TQ, Karunarathna S, Welton LJ, Stuart BL, Luu VQ, Bauer AM, O'Connell KA, Quah ESH, Chan KO, Ziegler T, Ngo H, Nazarov RA, Aowphol A, Chomdej S, Suwannapoom C, Siler CD, Anuar S, Tri NV, Grismer JL (2021) Phylogenetic partitioning of the third-largest vertebrate genus in the world, Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827 (Reptilia; Squamata; Gekkonidae) and its relevance to taxonomy and conservation. Vertebrate Zoology 71: 101–154. https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.71.e59307
- Kamei RG, Mahony S (2021) A new species of Bent-toed gecko (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827) from the Garo Hills, Meghalaya State, north-east India, and discussion of morphological variation for C. urbanus. Herpetological Journal 31: 177–196. https://doi.org/10.33256/31.3.177196
- Kumar S, Stecher G, Suleski M, Sanderford M, Sharma S, Tamura K (2024) MEGA12: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis Version 12 for adaptive and green computing. Molecular Biology and Evolution 41: 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msae263
- Lalremsanga HT, Chinliansiama H, Bohra SC, Biakzuala L, Vabeiryureilai M, Muansanga L, Malsawmdawngliana F, Hmar GZ, Decemson HT, Siammawii V, Das M, Purkayastha J (2022) A new bent-toed gecko (Cyrtodactylus Gray: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the state of Mizoram, India. Zootaxa 5093(4): 465–482. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5093.4.5
- Lalremsanga HT, Colney Z, Vabeiryureilai M, Malsawmdawngliana F, Bohra SC, Biakzuala L, Muansanga L, Das M, Purkayastha J (2023) It's all in the name: Another new Cyrtodactylus Gray (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from northern Mizoram, North-east India. Zootaxa 5369(4): 553–575. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5369.4.5
- Leary S, Underwood W, Anthony R, Cartner S (2013) AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals, 2013 Edition. American Veterinary Medical Association, Schaumburg, 102 pp.
- Macey JR, Larson A, Ananjeva NB, Fang Z, Papenfuss TJ (1997) Two novel gene orders and the role of light-strand replication in rearrangement of the vertebrate mitochondrial genome. Molecular Biology and Evolution 14: 91–104. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a025706
- Mahony S, Kamei RG (2022) A new species of Cyrtodactylus Gray (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Manipur State, northeast India, with a critical review highlighting extensive errors in literature covering bent-toed geckos of the Indo-Burma region. Journal of Natural History 55(39–40): 2445–2480. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2021.1994667
- Mirza ZA, Bhosale H, Ansari F, Phansalkar P, Sawant M, Gowande G, Patel H (2021) A new species of geckos of the genus Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827 from Arunachal Pradesh, India. Evolutionary Systematics 5: 13–23. https://doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.5.61667
- Mirza ZA, Bhosale HS, Thackeray T, Phansalkar P, Sawant M, Gowande GG, Patel H (2022) A new species of bent-toed geckos of the genus Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827 from western Arunachal Pradesh, India. Herpetozoa 35: 65–76. https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.35.e80610
- Mohapatra PP, Ray S, Bhupathy B, Deuti K, Sethy PGS (2025) Checklist of Fauna of India: Reptilia. Version 2.0. Zoological Survey India. https://doi.org/10.26515/Fauna/2/2025/Chordata:Reptilia
- Nguyen L, Schmidt HA, von Haeseler A, Minh BQ (2015) IQ-TREE: A Fast and effective stochastic algorithm for estimating maximum-likelihood phylogenies. Molecular Biology and Evolution 32(1): 268–274. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msu300
- Purkayastha J, Das M, Bohra SC, Bauer AM, Agarwal I (2020) Another new Cyrtodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Guwahati, Assam, India. Zootaxa 4732(3): 375–392. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4732.3.2
- Purkayastha J, Lalremsanga HT, Bohra SC, Biakzuala L, Decemson H, Muansanga L, Vabeiryureilai M, Chauhan S, Rathee YS (2021) Four new Bent-toed geckos (Cyrtodactylus Gray: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from northeast India. Zootaxa 4980(3): 451–489. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4980.3.2
- Purkayastha J, Lalremsanga HT, Litho B, Rathee YS, Bohra SC, Mathipi V, Biakzuala L, Muansanga L (2022) Two new Cyrtodactylus (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Northeast India. European Journal of Taxonomy 794: 111–139. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2022.794.1659
- R Core Team (2021) R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://www.r-project.org
- Thorpe RS (1975) Quantitative handling of characters useful in snake systematics with particular reference to interspecific variation in the ringed snake Natrix natrix (L.). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 7: 27–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.1975.tb00732.x
- Thorpe RS (1983) Phylogenetic analysis of range expansion in the grass snake: Reticulate evolution: Primary and secondary contact zones. In: Felsenstein J (Ed.) Numerical Taxonomy: Proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute. NATO Advanced Study Institute Series G (Ecological Sciences), No.1, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, and New York, 464–468. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69024-2_47
- Uetz P, Freed P, Aguilar R, Reyes F, Hošek J (2026) The Reptile Database. https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/ [accessed on 23 January 2026]
- Venables WN, Ripley BD (2002) Modern Applied Statistics with S. 4th Edition. Springer, New York, 498 pp. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-21706-2
- Wickham H (2009) ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis. Springer, New York, 213 pp. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-98141-3