Cnemaspis shahruli Grismer, Onn, Quah, Muin, Savage, Grismer, Ahmad, Greer & Remegio, 2010, sp. nov.

Cnemaspis shahruli sp. nov.

Shahrul’s Rock Gecko Figures 1, 2, 3

Cnemaspis affinis Grismer, Grismer, Wood, Jr., & Chan 2008:4

Holotype. ZRC 2.6898; adult male from at Telok Bahang Recreational Forest Reserve, Penang (05°27.233’N 100°12.324’E) collected at 67 m a.s.l. on 14 March 2010 by Evan Quah.

Paratypes. ZRC 2.6899; adult male from the same locality as the holotype collected on 29 August 2004 by L. Lee Grismer. ZRC 2.6900–01; adult male and adult female, respectively collected from the same locality on the same date as the holotype by Evan Quah, Mohd Abdul Muin, Shahrul Anuar, Chan Kin Onn, Jesse L. Grismer, Anna E. Savage, and L. Lee Grismer. ZRC 2.6902; adult female from Penang Hill, Penang (05°25.563’N 100°16.184’E) collected at 749 m a.s.l on 30 August 2004 by L. Lee Grismer. ZRC 2.6903; adult female from Pulau Jerejak, Penang (05°19.081’N 100° 18.642E) collected at 21 m a.s.l on 15 March 2009 by Evan Quah, Mohd Abdul Muin, Shahrul Anuar, Chan Kin Onn, Jesse L. Grismer, Anna E. Savage, and L. Lee Grismer. ZRC 2.6904; juvenile male from Sungai Sedim, Kedah (05°24.789’N 100°46.939’E) collected at 126 m a.s.l. on 3 March 2009 by Mohd Abdul Muin. ZRC 2.6905; adult female from Pulau Pangkor, Perak (4°014.241’N 100° 33.001E) collected at 16 m a.s.l. on 17 July 2009 by Johan van Rooijen.

Diagnosis. Adult males reaching 34.3 mm SVL, adult females reaching 36.5 mm SVL; raised, keeled scales on rostrum; 10 or 11 supralabials; 8–10 infralabials; subtibials, ventrals, and subcaudals keeled; forearm scales and dorsal tubercles keeled; body scales, raised, keeled; 19–22 paravertebral tubercles; tubercles on flanks not linearly arranged; ventrolateral rows of caudal tubercles absent; lateral row of caudal tubercles present; caudal tubercles do not encircle tail; tubercles absent from lateral, caudal furrow; no median row of enlarged, subcaudals; no pore-bearing precloacal scales; two (rarely three) postcloacal tubercles on each side of tail; shield-like subtibials and enlarged, submetatarsals absent; 21–30 subdigital lamellae on fourth toe; dark, median, longitudinal gular marking; dark patch on shoulder enclosing a white to yellow ocellus anteriorly in males; no yellow to white, prescapular crescent or transverse bars on flanks; and no orange tail, feet, and hands. These differences are summarized across all Southeast Asian species of Cnemaspis in Grismer et al. (2010b: Tables 1 and 2).

Description of holotype. Adult male; SVL 34.0 mm; head oblong in dorsal profile, moderate in size (HL/ SVL 0.25), somewhat narrow (HW/SVL 0.18), flat (HD/HL 0.45), distinct from neck; snout short (ES/HL 0.52), concave in lateral profile; postnasal region constricted medially, raised; scales of rostrum raised, keeled, juxtaposed, larger than similarly shaped scales on occiput; moderate, supraorbital ridges; shallow frontonasal sulcus; canthus rostralis smoothly rounded; eye large (ED/HL 0.26); extra-brillar fringe scales small in general but largest anteriorly; pupil oval; ear opening oval, taller than wide; rostral concave dorsally, raised posteriorly, dorsal 60% divided by longitudinal groove; rostral bordered posteriorly by two supranasals and two medial scales, laterally by first supralabials and nostrils; 11R,L raised supralabials of similar size;10R,L infralabials, decreasing gradually in size posteriorly; nostrils small, oblong, posterolaterally directed, bordered posteriorly by small, granular, postnasal scales; mental large, triangular, deeply concave medially, extending to level of third infralabials, bordered posteriorly by five large, raised postmentals; lateral postmentals much larger than medial three; gular scales raised, keeled, somewhat pointed; throat scales, raised, pointed, same size as gulars.

Body moderate (AG/SVL 0.42); small, keeled, slightly raised, dorsal scales equal in size throughout body, intermixed with numerous, large, multi-keeled, semi-longitudinally arranged tubercles; tubercles extend from top of head to base of tail and are smallest anteriorly; 21 paravertebral tubercles; pectoral and abdominal scales raised, keeled, subimbricate; ventrals same size as pectorals, larger than dorsals; skin of belly torn on right side; no pore-bearing, precloacal scales; forelimbs moderate, slender, dorsal scales raised, keeled; ventral scales of forearm smooth, juxtaposed to subimbricate; palmar scales smooth, raised, subimbricate; digits long with an inflected joint; claws recurved; subdigital lamellae unnotched; subdigital lamellae generally wide throughout length of digits but slightly more granular immediately distal to digital inflections, bearing a larger scale at digital inflections; interdigital webbing absent; fingers increase in length from first to fourth with fifth nearly same length as fourth; hind limbs longer and thicker than forelimbs; dorsal scales keeled, raised, juxtaposed; ventral scales of thigh, raised, smooth, juxtaposed; subtibials keeled, same size as dorsal tibials; plantar scales smooth, raised, subimbricate; no enlarged submetatarsal scales beneath first metatarsal; digits elongate with an inflected joint; claws recurved; subdigital lamellae unnotched; lamellae wide throughout length of digits except at base where scales may be more granular; enlarged scale at the digital inflections; interdigital webbing absent; toes increase in length from first to fourth with fourth being longest; 26R,26L subdigital lamellae on fourth toe; caudal scales arranged in segmented whorls; anterior dorsal caudal scales raised, keeled, juxtaposed; moderate, middorsal and, lateral furrows; subcaudals keeled; midventral subcaudals not enlarged; four or five scales per caudal segment; paravertebral and dorsolateral rows of large, keeled, equally sized, caudal tubercles, lateral tubercular row of caudal tubercles absent; tubercles absent from lateral, caudal furrow; caudal tubercles do not encircle tail; 2R,2L postcloacal tubercles; tail approximately 1.17% of SVL, anterior 18.2 mm original, posterior 21.7 mm regenerated.

Coloration in life (Fig. 2). Dorsal ground color of head, body, limbs and tail pale brown; rostrum and top of head bearing dark and light diffuse markings; dark postorbital blotches present; labials mottled in dark and light markings; wide, light colored vertebral stripe extending from occiput to base of tail; anterior half of tail original, faintly banded, posterior half regenerated, mottled; offset, paravertebral dark markings extend from nape to base of tail; large, black, square, shoulder patch enclosing a yellowish ocellus; large, light colored markings on flanks tending to form transverse bands; forelimbs and hind limbs mottled; digits bearing dark bands; gular region, throat, and anterior pectoral region yellow; gular region faintly mottled; dark, central, elongate marking in mental region; ventral surfaces of limbs and body beige bearing small, black stipples in each scale; subcaudal region darker.

Variation (Fig. 3). Variation in meristics is presented in Table 1. Aspects of coloration and pattern among the type series is notably invariable. Variation does occur in the degree of the development of the black shoulder patch, which gets larger with increasing SVL. It is smallest in the juvenile (SVL 26.7 mm) male from Sungai Sedim (ZRC 2.6904; Fig. 3). The dark shoulder patch is not present in females (Fig. 3). Males ZRC 2.6900 and 2.6904 have a light colored vertebral stripe whereas the male holotype ZRC 2.6899 and all the females except ZRC 2.6905 from Pulau Pangkor, Perak lack a vertebral stripe. ZRC 2.6905 also has a darker and more mottled gular region compared to the other specimens in the type series.

Distribution. Cnemaspis shahruli sp. nov. is known from Penang Island, Penang; the adjacent island of Jerejak, Penang; the mainland locality of Sungai Sedim, Kedah; and from Pulau Pangkor, Perak, 113 km south of Penang Island (Fig. 1). The presence of C. shahruli sp. nov. on Pulau Pangkor suggests that it has a broader, mainland distribution and may eventually be found to range throughout much of the lowland areas of Peninsular Malaysia west of the Banjaran Titiwangsa and Banjaran Bintang (Fig. 1).

Natural history. In lowland areas on Penang Island, Cnemaspis shahruli sp. nov. is nocturnal and occurs in riparian areas where it is usually found on granite rocks and boulders that may or may not be covered in lichen or vegetation. Specimens are occasionally found on adjacent tree trunks provided they are near large rocks. In these riparian areas, C. shahruli sp. nov. has been observed in the Penang Botanical Gardens, the Telok Bahang Recreational Forest Reserve and Moongate Trail at the base of Penang Hill. Specimens have also been collected at 749 m in elevation on vegetation at Penang Hill in near syntopy with C. affinis in nonriparian areas. On Pulau Jerejak, a single female was collected during the day from a dry hillside near sea level after it crawled onto the backpack of Mohd Abdul Muin that was sitting on the ground in an open area. Another female was collected from the same area at night approximately one meter above the ground from the base of a small tree. At Sungai Sedim, Kedah specimens have been observed and collected on granite rocks and on the base of trees along the water’s edge. The specimen from Pulau Pangkor, Perak was collected during the day along a forest trail while it was clinging upside down to the underside of a leaf approximately 0.5 m above the ground. These data indicate that C. shahruli sp. nov. is a nocturnal, habitat generalist that occurs in both riparian and non-riparian habitats from near sea level to approximately 750 m in elevation and can be found on both rocks and vegetation.

Etymology. The specific epithet honors Professor Shahrul Anuar Mohd Sah of Universiti Sains Malaysia for his extensive contributions to the understanding of the vertebrate zoology of Peninsular Malaysia as well as his active and scholarly mentorship of many students.

Comparisons. Cnemaspis shahruli sp. nov. can be separated from all species of Cnemaspis except C. siamensis (Smith) on the basis of having dark, longitudinal, mental markings. It can be separated even further from all other Cnemaspis except C. monachorum Grismer, Norhayati, Chan, Belabut, Muin, Wood & Grismer by having a maximum SVL of less than 39 mm. It differs from C. argus Dring, C. karsticola Grismer, Grismer, Wood & Chan, C. kumpoli Smith, C. mcguirei Grismer, Grismer, Wood & Chan, C. monachorum, C. nuicamensis Grismer & Ngo, C. pseudomcguirei, C. psychedelica Grismer, Ngo & Grismer, C. roticanai Grismer & Chan, C. siamensis, Cnemaspis vandeventeri Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya; Cnemaspis kamolnorranathi Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya; Cnemaspis huaseesom Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya; and Cnemaspis punctatonuchalis Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya in having 10 or more supralabials as opposed to nine or less. From C. affinis, C. aurantiacopes Grismer & Ngo, C. boulengeri Strauch, C. caudanivea Grismer & Ngo, C. chanthaburiensis Bauer & Das, C. flavigaster Chan & Grismer, C. tucdupensis Grismer & Ngo, Cnemaspis punctatonuchalis, and Cnemaspis niyomwanae, Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya if differs in having keeled as opposed to smooth ventral scales. Cnemaspis shahruli lacks precloacal pores which differentiates it from C. bayuensis Grismer, Grismer, Wood & Chan, C. biocellata Grismer, Chan, Nasir & Sumontha, C. dringi Das & Bauer, C. flavolineata (Nicholls), C. nigridia (Smith), C. paripari Grismer & Chan, C. perhentianensis Grismer & Chan, Cnemaspis chanardi Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya, and Cnemaspis narathiwatensis Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya. It differs further from all species of Cnemaspis except C. affinis, C. biocellata, C. harimau Chan, Grismer, Shahrul, Quah, Muin, Savage & Grismer, C. kumpoli, C. mcguirei, and C. pseudomcguirei in having a black shoulder patch enclosing a single, white ocellus.