Corresponding authors: Surya Narayanan (
Academic editor: Uwe Fritz
We describe a new species of rupicolous
The Afro-Asian gekkonid genus
During our recent fieldwork in the Male Mahadeshwara wildlife sanctuary (
Map showing the type localities of the members of
The specimens were collected inside the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (
The Male Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary was established in 2013 and is surrounded by Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary to the North and East, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve to the South, and Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve to the West. The
Genomic DNA was extracted from tail tissue samples stored in absolute ethanol at –20°C, using the DNeasy (QiagenTM) blood and tissue kit. We generated DNA sequence data for two individuals of
Bidirectional sequences were manually checked using the CHROMAS (
Maximum Likelihood (
All morphological characters (mensural and meristic) follow
Comparative data for the species from
The inferred phylogenies from both the
Ganeshaiah’s dwarf gecko.
Keeranhola Village, Male Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary, Chamarajanagar district, Karnataka, India (
BNHS 3146,
Dorsal (upper) and ventral (lower) aspects of the Holotype (BNHS 3146) of
BNHS 3147,
Dorsal aspect of the paratypes of
The specific epithet of this new species is a patronym in honour of Professor K.N. Ganeshaiah, who served as a Professor of Plant Genetics and Breeding at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, and was a founding trustee of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (
Live images of
A small-sized
From the members of the
Adult male in good state of preservation except for tail tip slightly missing.
Body relatively slender (
Scales on palm and soles granular, smooth, subcircular, subimbricate and flattened; scales on dorsal aspects of limbs heterogeneous; mixture of small granular, weakly keeled, imbricate scales twice the size of granules on dorsum, largest on anterolateral aspect of the hands and feet; posterolateral aspect of limbs with small weakly keeled to smooth granular scales; scales on lower arm and shank small, subimbricate, and keeled; ventral aspect of forelimbs with small, smooth, subimbricate scales; ventral aspect of hind limb with enlarged, smooth, flattened, subimbricate scales, slightly larger than ventrals. Forelimbs and hind limbs moderately long, slender (LAL/
Tail partly original except the posterior end (15 mm) which is regenerated, about 2–3mm dissected for analysis, subcylindrical, slender, slightly longer than snout-vent length (
The dorsal aspect of the body is overall yellowish and orangish, intermixed with numerous grey irregular spots on the body. The well-developed tubercles are greyish, and brighter along the lateral side of the body. Head overall yellowish with irregular brownish patches. The dorsum apart from the greyish tubercles and ocelli, possesses several irregularly shaped orange patches. One roughly rhomboidal ocellus on the occiput, a single thick black ocellus slightly posterior to the neck, paired with two darker anterior ocelli and two faint posterior ocelli. The central ocellus on the neck is much closer to the anterior pair than it is to the posterior ones. The limbs are brownish above with conspicuous irregularly shaped patches; digits are blackish with irregularly shaped yellow spots. The ventral side of the head is whitish in the middle and covered a by yellowish border along the sides starting from the infralabials and extending to the neck where it is prominent, three pairs of parallel black streaks, one starting from below the ocular and other from the posterior of the ocular region extending till the base of the neck and the third and innermost starting below the outer postmentals and extending till the base of the neck where both streaks are connected; body mostly creamish white. The original tail is greyish including the tubercles that form a series of whorls. The regenerated portion is orangish with numerous tiny black speckles. In preservatives, the colour remains the same except for the yellow and orange which turned paler on both the dorsal and ventral surfaces.
A. Overall habitat of the MM Hills WLS. Inset image showing the microhabitat from where the holotype was collected.
Morphometric and meristic differences are provided in Table
Mensural data for the type series of
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Type status | Holotype | Paratype | Paratype | Paratype | Paratype | Paratype | Paratype | Paratype |
Location | MM Hills | MM Hills | MM Hills | MM Hills | MM Hills | MM Hills | MM Hills | MM Hills |
Sex | Male | Male | Male | Male | Male | Female | Female | Female J |
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29.1 | 31.9 | 29.4 | 32.2 | 32.4 | 32.8 | 30.6 | 26.6 |
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31.2 | 38.6 | 25.5* | 38.7 | 45.2 | 39.5 | 29.9 | |
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3.1 | 3.4 | 2.6 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 2.2 | 2.1 |
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5.5 | 6.2 | 5.6 | 6 | 6.1 | 6.2 | 5.8 | 4.3 |
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11.2 | 12.4 | 12.2 | 14.6 | 14.1 | 14.9 | 12.9 | 12.6 |
BH | 3.1 | 2.9 | 2.7 | 3 | 3.1 | 2.7 | 3 | 2.8 |
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5.3 | 6.5 | 5.4 | 5.7 | 5.6 | 5.3 | 7.4 | 5.4 |
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8.6 | 8.4 | 8.7 | 9.2 | 9.1 | 9.4 | 8.1 | 7.9 |
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4.8 | 4.9 | 4.7 | 5.4 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 5.1 | 4.4 |
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3.6 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.2 | 2.5 |
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1.2 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 1.3 |
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2.4 | 2.4 | 1.8 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 2.5 | 2.1 |
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3.5 | 3.8 | 3 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 3.49 | 3.1 |
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2.8 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 2.5 | 2.4 |
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0.9 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1 | 0.8 |
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2.8 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 2.9 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 2 |
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0.4 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
Meristic data for the type series of
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Type status | Holotype | Paratype | Paratype | Paratype | Paratype | Paratype | Paratype | Paratype |
Location | MM Hills | MM Hills | MM Hills | MM Hills | MM Hills | MM Hills | MM Hills | MM Hills |
Sex | Male | Male | Male | Male | Male | Female | Female | Female J |
SL L&R | 9&9 | 8&7 | 7&8 | 8&9 | 8&8 | 8&8 | 7&7 | 8&8 |
IL L&R | 6&6 | 7&7 | 6&7 | 7&8 | 7&7 | 7&7 | 6&6 | 7&7 |
SL M L&R | 7&7 | 7&6 | 7&7 | 7&7 | 7&7 | 7&7 | 7&7 | 7&7 |
IL M L&R | 5&5 | 6&6 | 6&6 | 6&7 | 6&6 | 6&6 | 6&6 | 6&6 |
PVT | 18 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 15 |
DTR | 14 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 13 |
MVSR | 24 | 24 | 25 | 28 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 26 |
VS | 124 | 114 | 118 | 122 | 120 | 119 | 121 | 121 |
LamF1 L&R | 10&10 | 10&10 | 10&10 | 10&10 | 9&9 | 10&10 | 9&9 | 9&10 |
LamF4 L&R | 16&17 | 15&15 | 16&18 | 15&16 | 15&16 | 16&16 | 16&16 | 16&16 |
LamT1 L&R | 9&9 | 9&9 | 10&10 | 10&10 | 9&9 | 9&9 | 9&9 | 10&9 |
LamT4 L&R | 19&20 | *&17 | 20&21 | 19&19 | 21&21 | 21&20 | 19&20 | 20&19 |
LamT5 L&R | 16&16 | 16&16 | 18&19 | 16&17 | 16&17 | 16&16 | 16&16 | 16&16 |
6 | 2&2 | 2&2 | 2&2 | 2&2 | NA | NA | NA | |
SBPP | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | NA | NA | NA |
SB |
7&7 | 7&7 | 8&8 | 7&8 | 8&8 | NA | NA | NA |
FP L&R | 5&5 | 5&5 | 5&5 | 5&5 | 5&5 | NA | NA | NA |
Graph showing the species discovery pattern of the Indian
The taxonomy of Indian
Although most recent studies used a minimum of 5 % as the genetic cut-off within gekkonids,
We thank the Karnataka Forest Department for the permission to collect the specimens (PCCF(WL)/E2/CR-15/2021-22).
List of genbank accession numbers used for the phylogenetic analyses in this study.
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AK 107 |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Salem District, Sankari |
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NRC-AA-1215 (AK 267) |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Namakkal District, Agaya Gangai Waterfalls |
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NRC-AA-1214 (AK 268) |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Namakkal District, Agaya Gangai Waterfalls |
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ZM003 |
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India, Kerala |
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ZM003 |
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India, Kerala, Peppara |
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AK 212 |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Salem District, Yercaud |
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NRC-AA-1223 (AK 284) |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Namakkal District, Kollimalai ghat |
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NRC-AA-1224 (AK 285) |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Namakkal District, Kollimalai ghat |
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CESG 131 |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Namakkal District, Kollimalai ghat |
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BNHS 3146 |
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India, Karnataka, MM Hills |
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BNHS 3149 |
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India, Karnataka, MM Hills |
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CESL607 |
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India, Kerala, Palakkad District, near Chittur River |
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AK 135 |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore District, Valparai |
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CES L 606 |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Palakkad District, Chennathanair RF |
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CES L 607 |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Palakkad District, Chennathanair RF |
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CES G 385 |
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India, Kerala, Palakkad District, near Chittur river |
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CES L192 |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Vairavankulam RF, near Karuppanadhi dam |
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CES L 044 |
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India, Kerala, Wayanad District, Manikunjmalai |
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NRC-AA-1176 (AKR 443) |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Tirunelveli District, Mundanthurai forest range |
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NRC-AA-1231 (AK 708) |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Tiruchirapalli District, Pachaimalai |
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NRC-AA-1232 (AK 709) |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Tiruchirapalli District, Pachaimalai |
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NRC-AA-1239 (AK 208) |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Salem District, Yercaud |
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NRC-AA-1240 (AK 209) |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Salem District, Yercaud |
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NRC-AA-1241 (AK 212) |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Salem District, Yercaud |
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NRC-AA-1242 (AK 213) |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Salem District, Yercaud |
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NRC-AA-1205 (AK 257) |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Namakkal District, Kollimalai |
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NRC-AA-1206 (AK 258) |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Namakkal District, Kollimalai |
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NCBS-BH674 (AK 204) |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Salem District, Yercaud |
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NCBS-BH674 (AK 204) |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Salem District, Yercaud |
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CES G143 |
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India, Tamil Nadu, Salem District, Yercaud |
Partition schemes and models used for the phylogenetic analyses.
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HKY+F+G4 | TVM+I+G | |
TN+F+G4 | GTR+I+G | |
TIM+F | GTR+G |
Uncorrected pairwise distances for the mitochondrial ND2 gene among the
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4.5 | 4.5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
4.6 | 4.6 | 0.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
12.1 | 12.1 | 11.2 | 11.2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
11.4 | 11.4 | 10.7 | 10.8 | 0.7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
11.8 | 11.8 | 11.5 | 11.1 | 1.1 | 1.4 | |||||||||||||||||||||
11.6 | 11.6 | 10.8 | 10.6 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||
10.5 | 10.5 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 14.0 | 13.8 | 13.7 | 13.5 | |||||||||||||||||||
10.5 | 10.5 | 8.8 | 8.8 | 13.9 | 13.9 | 13.6 | 13.4 | 0.0 | ||||||||||||||||||
10.2 | 10.2 | 8.6 | 8.6 | 13.7 | 13.6 | 13.5 | 13.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 | |||||||||||||||||
10.3 | 10.3 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 11.3 | 11.3 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | ||||||||||||||||
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10.6 | 10.6 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 14.2 | 13.7 | 14.1 | 13.5 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.3 | 5.8 | ||||||||||||||
9.2 | 9.2 | 7.9 | 8.0 | 13.4 | 12.8 | 13.8 | 13.2 | 10.3 | 10.3 | 10.2 | 9.7 | 10.2 | ||||||||||||||
9.2 | 9.2 | 7.9 | 8.0 | 13.4 | 12.8 | 13.8 | 13.2 | 10.3 | 10.3 | 10.2 | 9.7 | 10.2 | 0.0 | |||||||||||||
10.0 | 10.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 12.9 | 12.9 | 12.5 | 12.3 | 10.4 | 10.4 | 10.4 | 9.7 | 10.4 | 9.5 | 9.5 | ||||||||||||
9.8 | 9.8 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 13.2 | 13.2 | 12.8 | 12.6 | 10.1 | 10.1 | 10.1 | 10.0 | 10.1 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 1.0 | |||||||||||
10.3 | 10.3 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 14.4 | 14.1 | 14.1 | 13.8 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 8.1 | 7.7 | 10.3 | 10.3 | 10.6 | 10.3 | ||||||||||
10.2 | 10.2 | 8.6 | 8.6 | 13.7 | 13.6 | 13.5 | 13.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 7.7 | 7.3 | 10.2 | 10.2 | 10.4 | 10.1 | 0.3 | |||||||||
8.9 | 8.9 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 13.3 | 13.1 | 12.8 | 12.5 | 10.9 | 10.9 | 10.9 | 10.3 | 10.5 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 11.1 | 10.9 | ||||||||
9.1 | 9.1 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 13.8 | 13.6 | 13.4 | 13.0 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 10.3 | 10.1 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 9.8 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 11.5 | 0.4 | |||||||
10.0 | 10.0 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 13.6 | 13.4 | 13.2 | 12.9 | 11.2 | 11.2 | 11.2 | 10.6 | 10.5 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 9.9 | 9.9 | 11.5 | 11.2 | 0.2 | 0.6 | ||||||
11.0 | 11.0 | 9.8 | 9.8 | 14.1 | 13.8 | 13.5 | 12.8 | 9.8 | 9.8 | 9.8 | 5.7 | 9.2 | 10.7 | 10.7 | 10.8 | 10.4 | 9.8 | 9.8 | 11.6 | 12.6 | 11.6 | |||||
11.3 | 11.3 | 9.9 | 10.0 | 15.4 | 14.7 | 14.7 | 14.7 | 8.3 | 9.0 | 8.5 | 11.4 | 7.9 | 10.6 | 10.6 | 10.4 | 10.4 | 8.8 | 8.5 | 11.2 | 13.4 | 11.5 | 1.8 | ||||
17.5 | 17.5 | 17.5 | 17.5 | 20.0 | 19.6 | 19.6 | 19.4 | 16.5 | 15.6 | 15.9 | 18.4 | 16.7 | 18.1 | 18.1 | 17.0 | 16.5 | 15.4 | 15.9 | 17.0 | 18.4 | 17.3 | 13.5 | 15.9 | |||
17.1 | 17.1 | 16.8 | 16.8 | 20.1 | 19.7 | 19.7 | 19.5 | 15.8 | 15.6 | 15.9 | 18.1 | 16.1 | 17.5 | 17.5 | 16.2 | 15.8 | 15.1 | 15.9 | 16.5 | 17.6 | 17.2 | 12.5 | 15.0 | 1.1 | ||
13.9 | 13.9 | 13.1 | 13.4 | 16.7 | 16.2 | 16.8 | 16.7 | 12.7 | 13.1 | 12.8 | 12.3 | 13.2 | 13.5 | 13.5 | 14.6 | 14.3 | 13.1 | 12.8 | 13.7 | 14.3 | 14.2 | 13.8 | 13.2 | 14.5 | 14.2 |