Cyrtodactylus gubernatoris

Cyrtodactylus gubernatoris (Annandale, 1913)

Figs. 2C and D, and 3B

Gymnodactylus gubernatoris Annandale 1913: 316 Plate XVII

Holotype [by original designation]. ZSIK 17275, adult male, " Sikhim Himalayas (Darjiling) at low altitudes…. 1000–3000 ft " [= Darjeeling district [ca. 305–914 m asl.], West Bengal state, India] collected by H.E. Lord Carmichael of Skirling, before 1913 (Annandale, 1913: 317).

Paratype. ZSIK 17276, juvenile, same details as holotype.

Additional material. BNHS 2207, adult male, BNHS 2208–2210, three adult females; near Singtam town (27.24430°N 88.47018°E; ca. 450 m asl.), East Sikkim district, Sikkim state, India, collected by A. Datta-Roy, U. Kodandaramaiah & I. Agarwal, 28 November 2009.

Diagnosis and comparisons with regional congeners. A moderate sized Cyrtodactylus, snout-vent length to 70.5 mm; body relatively slender; limbs and digits moderately long; two pairs of well-developed postmentals, inner pair longer than outer and in broad contact behind mental; twenty or twenty-one rows of keeled, rounded dorsal tubercles; 36–45 paravertebral tubercles; 34–37 mid-body ventral scale rows; no precloacal groove; eight or nine precloacal pores in a single series on males and 7–9 smaller pores on females, 6–9 femoral pores on each side on males separated from precloacal pores by twelve or thirteen scales, femoral pores absent on females. Five to seven basal and 10–13 apical subdigital lamellae beneath Digit IV of pes, with two or three intervening rows of nonlamellar granular scales between basal and distal lamellae series. Subcaudal scalation of original tail without median series of paired enlarged plates. Dorsal pattern of six or seven paired transversely arranged small dark spots on trunk and sacrum, longitudinal markings on the neck. Original tail with approximately 12 dark bands (first five similar to dorsal spots), alternating with light brown bands proximally, and white bands distally beyond the 6th dark band.

Cyrtodactylus gubernatoris differs from the following regional congeners in having nine large precloacal pores separated by twelve or thirteen poreless scales from 6–9 femoral pores on males: C. ayeyarwadyensis, C. cayuensis, C. gansi, C. himalayicus, C. khasiensis, C. mandalayensis, C. markuscombaii, C. martinstolli and C. tamaiensis (PcFP series with <3 non pore-bearing scales); its smaller body size (max SVL 70.5 mm): C. russelli and C. slowinskii (SVL> 90 mm); twenty or twenty-one DTR: C. fasciolatum (15–17 DTR). Cyrtodactylus gubernatoris is differentiated from the new species after their descriptions.

Distribution and Natural History. These geckos were found soon after dark on a rocky road cutting near a seepage in degraded moist deciduous forest. Six individuals were found within a few minutes of searching around the seepage indicating that they may be locally abundant. Cyrtodactylus gubernatoris was described from the Darjeeling Hills and has been reported from adjacent Sikkim in checklists without specific specimen information (Chettri & Bhupathy 2007).

Remarks. Agarwal et al. (2014) incorrectly considered this material to represent an undescribed species, “ Cyrtodactylus sp. Sikkim ” (CES09/1197 = BNHS 2207).