Khandekar Akshay, Thackeray Tejas, Agarwal Ishan
Thackeray Wildlife Foundation, Mumbai, 400051, India National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, 560065, India.
Zootaxa. 2020 Sep 4;4845(4):zootaxa.4845.4.3. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4845.4.3.
We describe a cryptic new species of the Cnemaspis mysoriensis complex from an isolated rocky hillock near Yadiyur, Mandya District of south Karnataka, India. Cnemaspis stellapulvis sp. nov. can be diagnosed from all other peninsular Indian congeners by its small body size (SVL <32 mm), presence of spine-like tubercles on the flanks, heterogeneous dorsal pholidosis, two or three femoral pores on each thigh separated on either side by eight poreless scales from a continuous series of two precloacal pores in males, tail with enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles forming whorls, median row of sub-caudals smooth and slightly enlarged, and a distinct colour pattern. The new species can be diagnosed from members of C. mysoriensis clade by the number of femoral and precloacal pores and number of poreless scales separating these series, the number of dorsal tubercles rows at mid-body, the number of ventral scales across the belly at mid-body and subtle colour pattern differences; besides 13.4-21.4 % uncorrected ND2 sequence divergence. In this paper, we define the Cnemaspis mysoriensis clade and provide a diagnosis and comparison against peninsular Indian congeners. We also provide major diagnostic characters for members of the C. mysoriensis clade. The discovery of yet another endemic species of Cnemaspis from one of the many isolated granite rocky hills on Mysore Plateau highlights the possibilities of presence of many more cryptic undescribed species.
我们描述了一种来自印度卡纳塔克邦南部曼迪亚区亚迪尤尔附近一座孤立岩丘的隐存新物种，它属于米索里叶趾虎复合体（Cnemaspis mysoriensis complex）。新物种星尘叶趾虎（Cnemaspis stellapulvis sp. nov.）可通过以下特征与印度半岛的其他同属物种相区分：体型小（体长<32毫米）、体侧有棘状瘤、背部鳞片形态不一、雄性每侧大腿有两到三个股孔，股孔两侧各有八个无孔鳞片将其与连续的两个泄殖腔前孔隔开、尾部有增大且强烈棱起的锥形瘤形成环轮、尾下正中一排鳞片光滑且略增大，以及独特的体色模式。该新物种可通过股孔和泄殖腔前孔的数量、分隔这些孔列的无孔鳞片数量、身体中部背瘤的行数、身体中部腹部的腹鳞数量以及细微的体色模式差异，与米索里叶趾虎分支的成员相区分；此外，其未校正的ND2序列分歧为13.4 - 21.4%。在本文中，我们定义了米索里叶趾虎分支，并提供了与印度半岛同属物种的诊断和比较。我们还提供了米索里叶趾虎分支成员的主要诊断特征。在迈索尔高原众多孤立的花岗岩岩丘之一发现了另一种叶趾虎特有物种，这凸显了可能存在更多未被描述的隐存物种。
