Cnemaspis are a genus of day geckos from Asia. They are among the most diverse genera of geckos with more than 100 species.
Researchers have described two species of Cnemaspis dwarf gecko new to science and coming from India. Cnemaspis are a genus of day geckos from Asia. They are among the most diverse genera of geckos with more than 100 species.
Photo by Akshay Khandekar, Tejas Thackeray, Ishan Agarwal, Satpal Gangalmale, Saurabh Kininge and Sunil M. Gaikwad.
The geckos, Cnemaspis basalticola also know as the basalt dwarf gecko or Ratangad dwarf gecko, and Cnemaspis kalsubaiensis, the Kalsubai dwarf gecko, were discovered on the northern peaks of India’s Northern Western Ghats of Maharashtra. According to the researchers are 9.9% divergent from each other and 15% divergent from C. uttaraghati, of which they are both phylogenetically and morphologically allied.
They are both distinguished from other species in the girii clade based on non-overlapping morphological characters that include body size irregular paravertebral tubercles, and high subdigital lamellae counts. Both have a maximum snout to vent length of 35-43 mm and both new species, inlcuding C. uttaraghati, are found within 10 to 25 km from each other. This, the researchers say, provides an extreme example of micro-endemism in the Northern Western Ghats.
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The researchers include Akshay Khandekar, Tejas Thackeray, Ishan Agarwal, Satpal Gangalmale, Saurabh Kininge and Sunil M. Gaikwad. An abstract of their paper describing the two new species, “Two new species of South Asian Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the far northern peaks of the Western Ghats, India” can be read on the Zootaxa website.
Cnemaspis are a genus of day geckos from Asia. They are among the most diverse genera of geckos with more than 100 species. They tend to be slim geckos with clawed digits with circular pupils and eyelid that are completely round the eye. Their skin is more granular and with an uncompressed tail. Researchers in 2021 discovered a new Cnemaspis gecko species that is so agile it was named after action star Jackie Chan, Jackie’s day gecko (Cnemaspis jackieii).
