Morphological and molecular phylogenetic data reveal another new species of bent-toed gecko (Cyrtodactylus Gray: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Mizoram, India

ABSTRACT

A new species of Cyrtodactylus is described herein on the basis of morphological and phylogenetic evidence inferred from the mitochondrial nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide hydride dehydrogenase subunit 2 gene from Mizoram, Northeast India. The new species is distinguished from its congeners by an adult snout-vent length of 62.6–68.6 mm; 10–11 supralabials; 9–11 infralabials; dorsal tubercles rounded, conical to weakly keeled and in 19–20 longitudinal rows; 32–36 paravertebral tubercles between the level of axilla and groin; 32–39 mid-ventral scale rows across the ventral region; 6 precloacal pores in males and 0–6 precloacal pits in females; 14–18 subdigital lamellae under toe IV; no single row of transversely enlarged subcaudal scales; indistinct pattern of alternating dark brown blotches on the dorsum of the body. Morphologically and genetically, the new species is recovered as the sister species to C. aaronbaueri, but is genetically distinct by an uncorrected p-distance of 0.099–0.1, and morphologically in the number of precloacal pores, mid-ventral scale rows, paravertebral tubercles on the trunk, dorsal tubercle rows, dorsal spot, and subdigital lamellae on pes.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8E9144FA-EFAF-4C7D-B64F-667706643EC5

KEYWORDS:

• Cyrtodactylus
• morphology
• new species
• Northeast India
• phylogeny
• taxonomy

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Chief Wildlife Warden, Environment, Forests and Climate Change Department, Government of Mizoram, for the permit to collect herpetofauna within the state (Permit no. A.33011/2/99-CWLW/225). We are also thankful to Rochanhlua and Johny M.S. Dawngkima for their assistance in the fieldwork.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2022.2119178

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT, New Delhi) [sanction no. DBT-NER/AAB/64/2017]; Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO, New Delhi) [sanction no. DGTM/DFTM/GIA/19-20/0422]; DST-SERB, New Delhi [DST No. EEQ/2021/000243]; International Herpetological Symposium, Inc. (IHS), USA; and The Rufford Foundation, UK [Grant Number 36737-1].