v14i2.363
Volume 14 | Number 2 | November 2025
Major Article
eISSN: 1800-427X (online)
DOI:10.47605/tapro.v14i2.363
Submitted date: 10 February 2025
Accepted date: 9 June 2025
Published date: 14 July 2025
Pp. 107–120.
A NEW DAY GECKO OF THE Cnemaspis podihuna (REPTILIA: GEKKONIDAE) CLADE FROM NORTHEAST INDIA
Amit Sayyed*, Madhurima Das, A.A. Thasun Amarasinghe, Rupankar Bhattacharjee & Jayaditya Purkayastha
*Corresponding author. E-mail: amitsayyedsatara@gmail.com
Abstract
We describe a new species of Cnemaspis from Assam, a valley of an antecedent river, the Brahmaputra, in northeastern India that belongs to the C. podihuna species group. The new species is the second Cnemaspis reported from the mainland Indian subcontinent, representing the entire podihuna clade. It is small (SVL 30.8–35.7 mm) and diurnal. The new species is genetically and morphologically allied to C. assamensis in northeast India, and also morphologically allied to the members of the C. podihuna group in Sri Lanka, especially to C. molligodai and C. manoae, but is distinguished by its larger body size but with lower number of midbody scale rows, higher number of miventrals and ventral scale rows across the belly, no tubercles on lower flanks, three enlarged rows of thigh scales parallel to the enlarged femoral scale row, and fewer poreless scales separating precloacal and femoral pore scales in males. The new species is also genetically divergent from C. assamensis by p-distances of 6.0–7.2% and from Sri Lankan congeners by 21.2–24.8% in the mitochondrial ND2 gene. With this new species, only two species of Cnemaspis are now known from the podihuna clade in India, but additional species likely remain unrecognized.
Section Editor: Suranjan Karunarathna
LSID:urn:lsid:zoobank.org
DOI:10.47605/tapro.v14i2.363
Submitted date: 10 February 2025
Accepted date: 9 June 2025
Published date: 14 July 2025
Pp. 107–120.
A NEW DAY GECKO OF THE Cnemaspis podihuna (REPTILIA: GEKKONIDAE) CLADE FROM NORTHEAST INDIA
Amit Sayyed*, Madhurima Das, A.A. Thasun Amarasinghe, Rupankar Bhattacharjee & Jayaditya Purkayastha
*Corresponding author. E-mail: amitsayyedsatara@gmail.com
Abstract
We describe a new species of Cnemaspis from Assam, a valley of an antecedent river, the Brahmaputra, in northeastern India that belongs to the C. podihuna species group. The new species is the second Cnemaspis reported from the mainland Indian subcontinent, representing the entire podihuna clade. It is small (SVL 30.8–35.7 mm) and diurnal. The new species is genetically and morphologically allied to C. assamensis in northeast India, and also morphologically allied to the members of the C. podihuna group in Sri Lanka, especially to C. molligodai and C. manoae, but is distinguished by its larger body size but with lower number of midbody scale rows, higher number of miventrals and ventral scale rows across the belly, no tubercles on lower flanks, three enlarged rows of thigh scales parallel to the enlarged femoral scale row, and fewer poreless scales separating precloacal and femoral pore scales in males. The new species is also genetically divergent from C. assamensis by p-distances of 6.0–7.2% and from Sri Lankan congeners by 21.2–24.8% in the mitochondrial ND2 gene. With this new species, only two species of Cnemaspis are now known from the podihuna clade in India, but additional species likely remain unrecognized.
Section Editor: Suranjan Karunarathna
LSID:urn:lsid:zoobank.org
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