NRC-AA-1204 (AK 683), adult male, from the vicinity of Nallathambi resort, (11.2865°N, 78.3381°E; ca. 1150 m asl.), Semmedu, Kolli hills, Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu state, India; collected by Akshay Khandekar, Swapnil Pawar and Tejas Thackeray on 28^th May 2019.

NRC-AA-1205 (AK 257), NRC-AA-1206 (AK 258), subadult males, NRC-AA-1207 (AK 259), NRC-AA-1208 (AK 261), NRC-AA-1209 (AK 263), adult males, NRC-AA-1210 (AK 265), adult female, same locality as holotype except collected by Akshay Khandekar, Ishan Agarwal, Nikhil Gaitonde, Varad Giri, Chaitanya R, and Aniruddha Dutta-Roy on 20^th December 2018; NRC-AA-1212 (AK690), adult male, NRC-AA-1211 (AK 689), adult female, same data as holotype.

The specific epithet is a patronym honouring the eminent ornithologist Dr. Salim Ali (1896–1987) for his immense contributions to field research and conservation in India.

Salim Ali’s dwarf gecko.

A medium-sized Cnemaspis, snout to vent length up to 41.3 mm (n = 9). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous; weakly keeled granular scales intermixed with irregularly arranged rows of enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles; last one or two rows of enlarged tubercles on flank weakly keeled, short and spine-like; 11–13 rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body, 16–18 tubercles in paravertebral rows, paravertebral rows rarely irregular (n = 1/7); ventral scales smooth, subcircular, subimbricate, subequal from chest to vent, 30–33 scales across belly at mid-body, 109–128 longitudinal scales from mental to cloaca; subdigital scansors smooth, unpaired, unnotched; 10–12 lamellae under digit I of manus and pes, 15–18 lamellae under digit IV of manus and 20–24 lamellae under digit IV of pes; males with 3–5 femoral pores on each thigh separated by 5–7 poreless scales from series of 2–4 precloacal pores, precloacal pores separated medially by three or four poreless scales (n = 7/9); tail with enlarged, strongly keeled, pointed, and spine-like tubercles forming whorls; median row of subcaudals smooth, roughly pentagonal, and distinctly enlarged. Dorsum with diffuse light tan blotches including some in a vertebral row and numerous smaller orange blotches; a single black dorsal ocellus on neck, venter off-white with black speckles; original tail in males with eight or nine faint bands, regenerated tail brown.

Cnemaspis salimalii sp. nov. is a member of the bangara clade and can be easily distinguished from all six members of the clade by a combination of the following differing or non-overlapping characters: medium sized Cnemaspis, SVL up to 41 mm (versus small Cnemaspis SVL < 35 mm in C. agarwali, C. gracilis, C. jackieii, C. mundanthuraiensis, and C. shevaroyensis); 16–18 tubercles in paravertebral rows (versus only a few irregularly arranged tubercles in paravertebral region in C. mundanthuraiensis, 10–14 in C. gracilis; 11 or 12 in C. jackieii, 12–14 in C. thackerayi); 11–13 rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body (versus eight or nine rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body in C. jackieii, 6–8 rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body in C. mundanthuraiensis); short spine-like tubercles present on flanks (versus spine-like tubercles absent on flanks in C. agarwali, C. jackieii, C. shevaroyensis, and C. thackerayi); 30–33 ventral scales across belly at mid-body (versus 24–26 ventral scales across belly at mid-body in C. agarwali, 26–29 (rarely 30) in C. gracilis, 21–24 in C. shevaroyensis, and 22–25 in C. thackerayi); single dorsal ocellus on occiput absent, single dorsal ocellus on neck present (versus a single dorsal ocellus each on occiput and neck, two pairs on either side of neck and just posterior to forelimb insertions in C. shevaroyensis; a single dorsal ocellus present on occiput and neck, two pairs on either side just anterior and sometimes posterior to forelimb insertions in C. agarwali). Cnemaspis salimalii sp. nov. is diagnosed against Cnemaspis agayagangai sp. nov., Cnemaspis fantastica sp. nov., Cnemaspis pachaimalaiensis sp. nov., and Cnemaspis rudhira sp. nov. as part of their respective descriptions below.

Adult male in good state of preservation except regenerated portion of tail tip slightly bent towards right (Fig. 3A–E). SVL 35.0 mm, head short (HL/SVL 0.25), wide (HW/HL 0.67), not strongly depressed (HD/HL 0.41), distinct from neck. Loreal region marginally inflated, canthus rostralis not distinct. Snout almost half of head length (ES/HL 0.47), nearly 2.5 times eye diameter (ES/ED 2.33); scales on snout and canthus rostralis subcircular, subequal, smooth anteriorly, becoming weakly keeled, and conical posteriorly; much larger than those on forehead and interorbital region; scales on forehead similar to those on snout and canthus rostralis except smaller and weakly conical; scales on interorbital region even smaller, granular and smooth to weakly keeled; scales on occipital and temporal region heterogeneous, slightly enlarged, weakly keeled, conical tubercles intermixed with smaller, weakly keeled and weakly conical granular scales (Fig. 4A). Eye small (ED/HL 0.20) with round pupil; supraciliaries short, larger anteriorly; seven interorbital scale rows across narrowest point of frontal bone; 30–32 scale rows between left and right supraciliaries at mid-orbit (Fig. 4A, C). Ear-opening deep, oval, small (EL/HL 0.06); eye to ear distance greater than diameter of eye (EE/ED 1.50) (Fig. 4C). Rostral more than 2× wider (1.86 mm) than high (0.80 mm), incompletely divided dorsally by a strongly developed rostral groove and internasal scale for more than half of its height; a single enlarged supranasal on each side, marginally larger than postnasals, separated from each other by a much smaller, elongated internasal scale; two postnasals, upper postnasal marginally larger than lower; rostral in contact with supralabial I, nostril, supranasal, and lower postnasal on either side; nostrils oval, surrounded by two postnasals, supranasal, and rostral on either side; two rows of scales separate orbit from supralabials (Fig. 4C). Mental enlarged, subtriangular, slightly wider (2.01 mm) than high (1.54 mm); two pairs of postmentals, inner pair roughly rectangular, much shorter (0.77 mm) than mental, separated from each other below mental by a single enlarged median chin shield; inner pair bordered by mental, infralabial I, outer postmental, enlarged median chin shield and two enlarged chin shield on either side; outer postmentals roughly subcircular, even smaller (0.63 mm) than inner pair, bordered by inner postmentals, infralabial I and II, and four enlarged chin shields on either side; four enlarged gular scales between left and right outer postmentals; all chin scales bordering postmentals more or less flat, subcircular, smooth, and much smaller than outermost postmentals; scales on rest of throat, even smaller, subequal, and smooth (Fig. 4B). Infralabials bordered below by a row or two of slightly enlarged, much elongated scales, decreasing in size posteriorly. Ten supralabials up to angle of jaw and six at midorbital position on either side; supralabial I largest, rest of the series gradually decreasing in size posteriorly; eight infralabials up to angle of jaw and six at midorbital position on either side; infralabial I largest, gradually decreasing in size posteriorly (Fig. 4C).

Figure 3. 

Cnemaspis salimalii sp. nov. (holotype, NRC-AA-1204): A dorsal aspect of body; B ventral aspect of body; C dorsal aspect of tail; D ventral aspect of tail; E lateral aspect of tail. Scale bars 10 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Figure 4. 

Cnemaspis salimalii sp. nov. (holotype, NRC-AA-1204): A dorsal aspect of head; B ventral aspect of head; C lateral aspect of right side head; D aspect of cloacal region showing precloacal and femoral pores; E ventral aspect of left manus; F ventral aspect of left pes. Scale bars 5 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Body relatively slender (BW/AGL 0.43), trunk less than half of SVL (AGL/SVL 0.38) without ventrolateral folds; short spine-like scales on flank present (Fig. 5A–C). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous; weakly keeled granular scales intermixed with irregularly arranged rows of enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles; tubercles in approximately 12 longitudinal rows at mid-body including short spine-like scales at lower flank; tubercles in paravertebral rows irregular (Fig. 5A, C). Ventral scales much larger than granular scales on dorsum, smooth, subcircular, subimbricate, subequal from chest to vent; mid-body scale rows across belly 30; 109 scales from mental to anterior border of cloaca (Fig. 5B). Scales on base of neck similar to those on belly; gular region with much smaller, subequal, smooth, flattened scales, those bordering postmentals enlarged, smooth, subcircular, and more or less flattened (Fig. 4B). Five femoral pores on left thigh and four on right, separated by seven poreless scales on left and six on right side from two precloacal pores, precloacal pores separated medially by three poreless scales (Fig. 4D).

Figure 5. 

Cnemaspis salimalii sp. nov. (holotype, NRC-AA-1204): A dorsal aspect of mid-body; B ventral aspect of mid-body; C right side lateral aspect of mid-body. Scale bars 5 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Scales on palms and soles small, smooth, rounded, and flattened; scales on dorsal aspects of limbs heterogeneous in shape and size; mixture of small granular, weakly keeled, imbricate scales that are twice the size of granules on body dorsum, largest on anterolateral aspect of hands and feet; scales on upper arm larger than lower; posterolateral aspect of limbs with small weakly keeled to smooth granular scales; ventral aspect of forelimbs with small, smooth, subimbricate scales, larger on lower arm than upper arm; ventral aspect of hindlimb with enlarged, smooth, flattened, subimbricate scales, slightly larger than body ventrals (Fig. 3A, B). Forelimbs and hindlimbs moderately long, slender (LAL/SVL 0.14; CL/SVL 0.19); digits long, with strong, recurved claw, distinctly inflected, distal portions laterally compressed conspicuously. Digits with unpaired lamellae, separated into a basal and narrower distal series by single enlarged lamella at inflection; basal lamellae series: (1-3-4-4-4 right manus, 1-4-5-8-5 right pes), (1-3-3-4-4 left manus, Fig. 4E; 1–4–5–8–5 left pes, Fig. 4F); distal lamellae series: (11-12-13-13-11 right manus, 11-12-14-14-14 right pes), (11-12-13-12-11 left manus, Fig. 4E; 11–12–14–14–14 left pes, Fig. 4F). Relative length of digits (measurements in mm in parentheses): IV (3.8) > III (3.5) > V (3.3) > II (3.1) > I (2.6) (left manus); IV (4.9) > V (4.2) = III (4.2) > II (3.7) > I (2.5) (left pes).

Tail original except tip (15.1 mm) which is regenerated, entire, subcylindrical, slender, slightly longer than snout-vent length (TL/SVL 1.28; Fig. 3C–E). Dorsal scales on tail base weakly keeled, granular, similar in size and shape to granular scales on mid-body dorsum, gradually becoming larger, flattened, imbricate posteriorly, intermixed with enlarged, strongly keeled, distinctly pointed, conical tubercles; enlarged tubercles on the tail forming whorls; six tubercles each on first eight whorls, four in whorls 9–11, only paravertebral tubercles in whorls 12–14, rest of tail tip regenerated (Fig. 3C, E). Scales on ventral aspect of tail much larger than those on dorsal aspect, subimbricate, smooth; median series distinctly larger than rest, roughly pentagonal; scales on tail base slightly smaller than those on mid-body ventrals, smooth, imbricate; a single enlarged, smooth, and conical postcloacal spur on each side (Fig. 3D).

Dorsum of head, body, limbs and tail base mottled light brown. Head with some orange blotches and alternating yellow and dark bands on labials. Two orangish-brown postorbital streaks terminating anterior to forelimb insertions and one suborbital streak extending onto throat. A single black ocellus with a margin of orangish scales on neck. Dorsum with five light tan vertebral blotches from neck to tail base, orangish-brown blotches interspersed with smaller yellowish-grey spots on rest of dorsum and flank. Dorsum of limbs more muted than back, digits with alternating dark and light bands. Tail with five indistinct dark brown bands with a brown regenerated tail tip. Venter off-white, with black speckles under limbs and throat.

Figure 6. 

Colouration in life: A Cnemaspis salimalii sp. nov., adult male (holotype, NRC-AA-1204); B Cnemaspis agayagangai sp. nov., adult male (holotype, NRC-AA-1213); C Cnemaspis fantastica sp. nov., adult male (holotype, NRC-AA-1222); D Cnemaspis pachaimalaiensis sp. nov., adult male (holotype, NRC-AA-1230). Photos by Tejas Thackeray.

Mensural, meristic and additional character state data for the type series is given in Tables 1–3 respectively. There are four adult and two subadult males and two adult females, ranging in size from 31.3–41.3 mm (Fig. 7A). All paratypes resemble the holotype except as follows: tubercles in paravertebral rows regular in all adult paratypes (condition not discernible in subadults), upper postmentals in contact with each other below mental in NRC-AA-1207, NRC-AA-1208, and NRC-AA-1212; upper postmentals bordered by mental, infralabial I, outer postmental, median chin shield and by a single large chin scale on either side in all paratypes except NRC-AA-1206 in which bordered by two chin scales on left and single on right side. Outer postmental bordered by inner postmental, infralabials I & II in all types except NRC-AA-1206, additionally, bordered by four chin scales on left and three on right side in NRC-AA-1209, four chin scales on left and five on right side in NRC-AA-1212, outer postmental bordered by inner postmental, infralabials II in NRC-AA-1206; outer postmental separated from each other medially by three enlarged chin scales in NRC-AA-1205, NRC-AA-1207, NRC-AA-1209, NRC-AA-1210, and NRC-AA-1211. Five paratypes — NRC-AA-1208, NRC-AA-1209, NRC-AA-1210, NRC-AA-1211 and NRC-AA-1212 with original and complete tails, slightly longer than body except NRC-AA-1210 (TL/SVL 1.32, 1.29, 1.22 and 1.35 respectively), tail marginally longer than body in NRC-AA-1210 (TL/SVL 1.09), tail mostly or completely missing in NRC-AA-1205, NRC-AA-1206, and NRC-AA-1207; original tail faintly banded in all paratypes (Fig. 7A).

Figure 7. 

Paratype series: A Cnemaspis salimalii sp. nov., from left to right, NRC-AA-1205–NRC-AA-1212; B Cnemaspis agayagangai sp. nov., from left to right, NRC-AA-1214–NRC-AA-1221; C Cnemaspis fantastica sp. nov., from left to right, NRC-AA-1223– NRC-AA-1229. Scale bar 10 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Cnemaspis salimalii sp. nov. is currently known only from around its type locality (from vicinity of Nallathambi resort, Semmedu, Kolli Hills, ca. 1100–1300 m asl.) in Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu (Fig. 1). The new species seems to be diurnal, scansorial, and locally abundant. At collection sites, many individuals (n = >30) were observed active during the daytime (0900–1230 hrs) on old mossy walls and tree trunks below 2 m height in moist evergreen forest patches (Fig. 8A). Individuals of the new species were observed in large numbers inactive during the night, resting on mossy walls and cement culverts along the road inside Semmedu village and Nallathambi Resort. Sympatric geckos encountered on trees and mossy walls at the locality include Cnemaspis yercaudensis Bauer & Das, Hemidactylus parvimaculatus Deraniyagala, Hemidactylus cf. frenatus, and Hemiphyllodactylus kolliensis Agarwal, Khandekar, Giri, Ramakrishnan & Karanth.

Figure 8. 

Habitats of the new species in the vicinity of the type localities: A Cnemaspis salimalii sp. nov.; B Cnemaspis agayagangai sp. nov.; C Cnemaspis fantastica sp. nov.; D Cnemaspis pachaimalaiensis sp. nov. Photos by Akshay Khandekar.

NRC-AA-1213 (AK 699), adult male, near Agaya Gangai waterfalls (11.2640°N, 78.3925°E; ca. 860 m asl.), Kolli hills, Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu state, India; collected by Akshay Khandekar, Swapnil Pawar, and Tejas Thackeray on 29^th May 2019.

NRC-AA-1215 (AK 267), NRC-AA-1214 (AK 268), adult males, same collection data as holotype; NRC-AA-1216 (AK 269), NRC-AA-1217 (AK 270) adult males, NRC-AA-1218 (AK 700), adult female, from near Arappaleeswarar temple (11.2645°N, 78.3906°E; ca. 940 m asl.); and NRC-AA-1220 (AK 702), adult male, NRC-AA-1219 (AK 701), NRC-AA-1221 (AK 703) adult females, from near Agaya Gangai waterfalls (11.2656°N, 78.3943°E; ca. 780 m asl.), collected by Akshay Khandekar, Ishan Agarwal, Nikhil Gaitonde on 20^th December 2018.

The specific epithet is for the type locality of the new species, the Agaya Gangai Waterfalls, and is used as a noun in apposition.

Agaya Gangai dwarf gecko.

A small-sized Cnemaspis, snout to vent length up to 31.8 mm (n = 9). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous; weakly keeled granular scales intermixed with a fairly regularly arranged rows of enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles; last one or two rows of enlarged tubercles on flank weakly keeled, spine-like; 10–12 rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body, 14–18 tubercles in paravertebral rows; ventral scales smooth, subcircular, subimbricate, subequal from chest to vent, 28–34 scales across belly at mid-body, 106–120 longitudinal scales from mental to cloaca; subdigital scansors smooth, unpaired, unnotched; 9–11 lamellae under digit I of manus and 9–12 lamellae under digit I of pes; 14–16 lamellae under digit IV of manus and 17–20 lamellae under digit IV of pes; males (n = 6/9) with four or five femoral pores on each thigh separated by 8–10 poreless scales from series of two precloacal pores, precloacal pores separated medially by single (rarely 2, n = 1/6) poreless scales; tail with enlarged, strongly keeled, pointed, and spine-like tubercles forming whorls; median row of subcaudals smooth, roughly rectangular, and distinctly enlarged. Dorsum orange, mottled with numerous small light grey spots and fine black spots, light grey vertebral blotches sometimes distinct; a single central black dorsal ocellus each on neck and occiput separated by a light grey blotch, ocellus on neck flanked anteriorly on each side by a slightly larger ocellus, ocellus on occiput sometimes flanked on each side by smaller, indistinct ocellus; venter off-white with black speckles, two indistinct pairs of streaks on throat; original tail in males with about 8–10 alternating dark and light grey bands, regenerated tail orange-brown.

Cnemaspis agayagangai sp. nov. is a member of the bangara clade and can be easily distinguished from all members of the clade by a combination of the following differing or non-overlapping characters: small-sized Cnemaspis with maximum SVL 32 mm (versus medium-sized Cnemaspis, SVL up to 41 mm in C. thackerayi, and C. salimalii sp. nov.); 14–18 tubercles in paravertebral rows (versus only a few irregularly arranged tubercles in paravertebral region in C. mundanthuraiensis, 10–14 in C. gracilis; 11 or 12 in C. jackieii);

10–12 rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body (versus eight or nine rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body in C. jackieii, 6–8 rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body in C. mundanthuraiensis); spine-like tubercles present on flanks (versus spine-like tubercles absent on flanks in C. agarwali, C. jackieii, C. shevaroyensis, and C. thackerayi); 28–34 ventral scales across belly at mid-body (versus 24–26 ventral scales across belly at mid-body in C. agarwali, 21–24 in C. shevaroyensis, and 22–25 in C. thackerayi); a single central dorsal ocellus each on occiput and neck, ocellus on neck flanked anteriorly on each side by a slightly larger ocellus (versus a single central dorsal ocellus each on occiput and neck in C. gracilis, C. mundanthuraiensis, C. thackerayi; single dorsal ocellus on occiput absent, single dorsal ocellus on neck present in C. salimalii sp. nov.; a single dorsal ocellus each on occiput and neck, a smaller pair on either side just anterior to forelimb insertion in C. jackieii; a single dorsal ocellus each on occiput and neck, two pairs on either side just anterior and posterior to forelimb insertions in C. shevaroyensis). Cnemaspis agayagangai sp. nov. is diagnosed against Cnemaspis fantastica sp. nov., Cnemaspis pachaimalaiensis sp. nov., and Cnemaspis rudhira sp. nov. as part of their respective descriptions below.

Adult male in good state of preservation except regenerated portion of the tail tip slightly bent towards right, small skin injury left of sternum, and claw on 2^nd digit of left foot missing (Fig. 9A–E). SVL 31.2 mm, head short (HL/SVL 0.25), wide (HW/HL 0.67), not strongly depressed (HD/HL 0.47), distinct from neck. Loreal region marginally inflated, canthus rostralis not distinct. Snout half of head length (ES/HL 0.50), almost 2.5 times eye diameter (ES/ED 2.35); scales on snout and canthus rostralis subcircular, subequal, smooth anteriorly, becoming weakly keeled, and conical posteriorly; and much larger than those on forehead and interorbital region; scales on forehead similar to those on snout and canthus rostralis except smaller, elongated, and weakly conical; scales on interorbital region even smaller, granular and weakly keeled; scales on occipital and temporal region heterogeneous, slightly enlarged, weakly keeled, conical tubercles intermixed with smaller, weakly keeled and weakly conical granular scales (Fig. 10A). Eye small (ED/HL 0.21) with round pupil; supraciliaries short, larger anteriorly; six interorbital scale rows across narrowest point of frontal bone; 27 or 28 scale rows between left and right supraciliaries at mid-orbit (Fig. 10A, C). Ear-opening deep, oval, small (EL/HL 0.05); eye to ear distance greater than diameter of eye (EE/ED 1.41) (Fig. 10C). Rostral 2× wider (1.60 mm) than high (0.80 mm), incompletely divided dorsally by a strongly developed rostral groove and internasal scale for more than half of its height; a single enlarged supranasal on each side, slightly larger than postnasals, separated from each other by a much smaller, elongated internasal scale and still smaller scale on snout; two postnasals, upper postnasal marginally larger than lower; rostral in contact with supralabial I, nostril, supranasal, and lower postnasal on either side; nostrils oval, surrounded by two postnasals, supranasal, and rostral on either side; two rows of scales separate orbit from supralabials (Fig. 10C). Mental enlarged, subtriangular, slightly wider (1.90 mm) than high (1.52 mm); two pairs of postmentals, inner pair roughly pentagonal, much shorter (0.80 mm) than mental, separated from each other below mental by a single enlarged median chin shield; inner pair bordered by mental, infralabial I, outer postmental, enlarged median chin shield and an enlarged chin shield on either side; outer postmentals roughly rectangular, even smaller (0.62 mm) than inner pair, bordered by inner postmentals, infralabial I and II, and three enlarged chin shields on either side; three enlarged gular scales between left and right outer postmentals; all chin scales bordering postmentals flat, subcircular, smooth, and smaller than outermost postmentals; scales on rest of throat, small, subequal, and smooth (Fig. 10B). Infralabials bordered below by a row or two of slightly enlarged, much elongated scales, decreasing in size posteriorly. Ten supralabials up to angle of jaw and six at midorbital position on either side; supralabial I largest, rest of the series gradually decreasing in size posteriorly; nine infralabials up to angle of jaw on left and 10 on right, five at midorbital position on either side; infralabial I largest, gradually decreasing in size posteriorly (Fig. 10C).

Figure 9. 

Cnemaspis agayagangai sp. nov. (holotype, NRC-AA-1213): A dorsal aspect of body; B ventral aspect of body; C dorsal aspect of tail; D ventral aspect of tail; E lateral aspect of tail. Scale bars 10 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Figure 10. 

Cnemaspis agayagangai sp. nov. (holotype, NRC-AA-1213): A dorsal aspect of head; B ventral aspect of head; C lateral aspect of right side head; D aspect of cloacal region showing precloacal and femoral pores; E ventral aspect of left manus; F ventral aspect of left pes. Scale bars 5 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Body relatively slender (BW/AGL 0.51), trunk less than half of SVL (AGL/SVL 0.40) without ventrolateral folds; spine-like scales on flank present (Fig. 11A–C). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous; weakly keeled granular scales intermixed with a fairly regularly arranged row of enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles; tubercles in approximately 10 longitudinal rows at mid-body including spine-like scales at lower flank; 15 (left) and 14 (right) tubercles in paravertebral row from above forelimb insertion to the hind limb insertion (Fig. 11A, C). Ventral scales much larger than granular scales on dorsum smooth, subcircular, subimbricate, subequal from chest to vent; mid-body scale rows across belly 32; 110 scales from mental to anterior border of cloaca (Fig. 11B). Scales on base of neck similar to those on belly, marginally smaller; gular region with still smaller, subequal, smooth, flattened scales, those bordering postmentals enlarged, smooth, subcircular, and flattened (Fig. 10B). Five femoral pores on either thigh, separated by eight poreless on either side from two precloacal pores, precloacal pores separated medially by two poreless scales (Fig. 10D).

Figure 11. 

Cnemaspis agayagangai sp. nov. (holotype, NRC-AA-1213): A dorsal aspect of mid-body; B ventral aspect of mid-body; C right side lateral aspect of mid-body. Scale bars 5 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Scales on palms and soles granular, smooth, rounded, and flattened; scales on dorsal aspects of limbs heterogeneous in shape and size; mixture of small granular, weakly keeled, imbricate scales which are twice the size of granules on the body dorsum, largest on anterolateral aspect of the hands and feet; posterolateral aspect of limbs with small weakly keeled to smooth granular scales; ventral aspect of forelimbs with small, smooth, subimbricate scales, larger on lower arm than upper arm; ventral aspect of hindlimb with enlarged, smooth, flattened, subimbricate scales, slightly larger than body ventrals (Fig. 9A, B). Forelimbs and hindlimbs moderately long, slender (LAL/SVL 0.15; CL/SVL 0.17); digits long, with strong, recurved claw, distinctly inflected, distal portions laterally compressed conspicuously. Digits with unpaired lamellae, separated into a basal and narrower distal series by single enlarged lamella at inflection; basal lamellae series: (1-3-3-4-3 right manus, 2-4-4-7-5 right pes), (1-3-3-4-3 left manus, Fig. 10E; 2–4–5–7–5 left pes, Fig. 10F); distal lamellae series: (8-9-10-11-9 right manus, 8-10-12-12-11 right pes), (8-10-11-10-9 left manus, Fig. 10E; 8–8*-12-12-12 left pes, Fig. 10F). Relative length of digits (measurements in mm in parentheses): IV (2.8) = III (2.8) > II (2.6) > V (2.3) > I (1.8) (left manus); IV (3.6) > V (3.1) > III (3.0) > II (2.3*) > I (1.9) (left pes).

Tail original except tip (3.1 mm) which is regenerated, entire, subcylindrical, slender, marginally longer than snout-vent length (TL/SVL 1.18; Fig. 9C–E). Dorsal scales on tail base weakly keeled, granular, similar in size and shape to granular scales on mid-body dorsum, gradually becoming larger, flattened, imbricate posteriorly, intermixed with enlarged, strongly keeled, distinctly pointed, conical tubercles; enlarged tubercles on the tail forming whorls; six tubercles each on first six whorls, four in 7–11^th whorls, rest of the tail with only paravertebral tubercles (Fig. 9C, E). Scales on ventral aspect of tail much larger than those on dorsal aspect, subimbricate, smooth; median series distinctly larger than rest, roughly rectangular; scales on tail base slightly smaller than those on mid-body ventrals, smooth, imbricate; a single enlarged, weakly keeled and conical postcloacal spur on each side (Fig. 9D).

Dorsum of head, body, and tail base orange, limbs brown. Head with numerous light grey blotches and some black spots, light grey and dark bands on labials. Two dark postorbital streaks flanked by slightly broader light grey streaks terminating anterior to forelimb insertion. A single central black dorsal ocellus on neck and one on occiput separated by a larger light grey blotch, ocellus on neck flanked anteriorly on each side by a slightly larger ocellus, ocellus on occiput flanked one each side by a smaller ocellus; all ocelli with a fine orange margin. Dorsum with six light grey vertebral blotches from forelimb insertions to tail base, interspersed with smaller light-grey spots (sometimes forming streaks) and fine black spots on rest of dorsum and flank. Dorsum of limbs more muted than back, digits with alternating dark and light bands. Tail with seven or eight alternating light grey and black bands with an orange regenerated tip. Venter off-white with black speckles, two indistinct pairs of streaks on throat.

Mensural, meristic and additional character state data for the type series is given in Tables 6–8 respectively. There are five adult male and three adult female specimens ranging in size from 29.3–31.8 mm (Fig. 7B). All paratypes resemble holotype except as follows: internasals absent, supranasals in strong contact with each other on snout in NRC-AA-1215, NRC-AA-1216, and NRC-AA-1220. Upper postmentals in contact with each other below mental in NRC-AA-1215, NRC-AA-1214, NRC-AA-1216, NRC-AA-1220, and NRC-AA-1221; upper postmentals bordered by mental, infralabial I, outer postmental, median chin shield, and by a single large chin scale on left side in NRC-AA-1219. Outer postmental bordered by inner postmental, infralabials I & II in all types, additionally, four chin scales on either side in NRC-AA-1216, four chin scales on left side in NRC-AA-1217, NRC-AA-1219, four chin scales on right side in NRC-AA-1218, NRC-AA-1220, and four chin scales on left and five on right side in NRC-AA-1221; outer postmental separated from each other medially by two enlarged chin scales in NRC-AA-1219. Three paratypes — NRC-AA-1217, NRC-AA-1218, and NRC-AA-1220 with original and complete tails, slightly longer than body (TL/SVL 1.16, 1.22, and 1.30 respectively); rest of the paratypes with original but incomplete tails. Original tail distinctly banded in all male paratypes and faintly banded in female paratypes, vertebral blotches not always distinct (Fig. 7B).

Cnemaspis agayagangai sp. nov. is currently known only from around its type locality (from Agaya Gangai waterfalls, Kolli hills, ca. 700–1000 m asl.) in Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu (Fig. 1). The new species was observed to be diurnal, rupicolous, and locally abundant. At collection sites, many individuals (n = >30) were observed active during the daytime (0900–1430 hrs) on rocks and cement walls below 2 m height in moist deciduous to semi evergreen forest patches (Fig. 8B). Individuals of the new species were observed in great numbers across the elevation gradient, along the path to the Agaya Gangai waterfalls. Sympatric geckos encountered at the locality include Cnemaspis yercaudensis, Hemidactylus cf. graniticolus, Hemidactylus leschenaultii Duméril & Bibron, Hemidactylus parvimaculatus, and Hemidactylus cf. frenatus.

NRC-AA-1222 (AK 688), adult male, near Tree view point, (11.3192°N, 78.3460°E; ca. 1060 m asl.), Kolli Hills, Solakkadu, Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu state, India; collected by Akshay Khandekar, Swapnil Pawar, and Tejas Thackeray on 28^th May 2019.

NRC-AA-1224 (AK 285), NRC-AA-1225 (AK 286), adult males, same locality data as holotype; NRC-AA-1223 (AK 284), NRC-AA-1226 (AK 684), adult females (11.3240°N, 78.3419°E; ca. 800 m asl.), Kolli Hills; and NRC-AA-1227 (AK 685), NRC-AA-1229 (AK 687), adult males, NRC-AA-1228 (AK 686), adult female (11.3270°N, 78.3392°E; ca. 600 m asl.) Kolli Hills collected by Akshay Khandekar, Ishan Agarwal, Nikhil Gaitonde, on 20^th December 2018.

The specific epithet is derived from the Greek phantastikós, alluding to the spectacular colouration of the new species.

Fantastic dwarf gecko.

A small-sized Cnemaspis, snout to vent length up to 32.5 mm (n = 8). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous; weakly keeled granular scales intermixed with a fairly regularly arranged rows of enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles; last one or two rows of enlarged tubercles on flank weakly keeled, spine-like; 11–13 rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body, 15–17 tubercles in paravertebral rows; ventral scales smooth, subcircular, subimbricate, subequal from chest to vent, 28–32 scales across belly at mid-body, 110–120 longitudinal scales from mental to cloaca; subdigital scansors smooth, unpaired, unnotched; 8–10 lamellae under digit I of manus and pes, 14–16 lamellae under digit IV of manus and 16–20 lamellae under digit IV of pes; males with four or five femoral pores on each thigh separated by 7–9 poreless scales from series of 2–4 precloacal pores, precloacal pores separated medially by one or two poreless scales; tail with enlarged, strongly keeled, pointed, and spine-like tubercles forming whorls; median row of subcaudals smooth, roughly pentagonal, and distinctly enlarged. Dorsum reddish, mottled with numerous small yellow spots some of which form an indistinct vertebral line; a single central ocellus on neck, flanked posteriorly by a pair of much larger squarish blotches and anteriorly by a pair of subequal squarish blotches, indistinct spot on occiput; venter off-white with black speckles, two distinct pairs of black streaks on throat; throat off-white with two pairs of black streaks; original tail in males with 8–9 alternating dark and light grey bands, regenerated tail orange.

Cnemaspis fantastica sp. nov. is a member of the bangara clade and can be easily distinguished from all members of the clade by a combination of the following differing or non-overlapping characters: small-sized Cnemaspis with maximum SVL 32 mm (versus medium-sized Cnemaspis, SVL up to 41 mm in C. thackerayi and C. salimalii sp. nov.); 15–17 tubercles in paravertebral rows (versus only a few irregularly arranged tubercles in paravertebral region in C. mundanthuraiensis, 10–14 in C. gracilis; 11 or 12 in C. jackieii);

11–13 rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body (versus eight or nine rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body in C. jackieii, 6–8 rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body in C. mundanthuraiensis); spine-like tubercles present on flanks (versus spine-like tubercles absent on flanks in C. agarwali, C. jackieii, C. shevaroyensis, and C. thackerayi); 28–32 ventral scales across belly at mid-body (versus 24–26 ventral scales across belly at mid-body in C. agarwali, 21–24 in C. shevaroyensis, and 22–25 in C. thackerayi); a single central ocellus on neck, flanked posteriorly by a pair of much larger squarish blotches and anteriorly by a pair of subequal squarish blotches, indistinct spot on occiput (versus a single central dorsal ocellus each on occiput and neck, ocellus on neck flanked anteriorly on each side by a slightly larger ocellus in C. agayagangai sp. nov., a single central dorsal ocellus each on occiput and neck in C. gracilis, C. mundanthuraiensis, C. thackerayi; single dorsal ocellus on occiput absent, single dorsal ocellus on neck present in C. salimalii sp. nov.; a single dorsal ocellus each on occiput and neck, a smaller pair on either side just anterior to forelimb insertion in C. jackieii). Cnemaspis fantastica sp. nov. overlaps in all morphological and meristic characters to C. agayagangai sp. nov. apart from the condition of the ventral scales in the original tail, which are roughly pentagonal and in a relatively regular series, size more than half tail width (versus irregular in shape and arrangement, size less than half tail width in C. agayagangai sp. nov.); and colour pattern, with the dorsal ocelli on the new species relatively larger and squarish with the central ocellus smallest and forming an X with five ocelli (versus four smaller, rounded subequal ocelli forming a diamond in C. agayagangai sp. nov.). Cnemaspis fantastica sp. nov. is diagnosed against Cnemaspis pachaimalaiensis sp. nov. and Cnemaspis rudhira sp. nov. as part of their respective descriptions below.

Adult male in good state of preservation except tail tip marginally bent towards right (Fig. 12A–E). SVL 31.0 mm, head short (HL/SVL 0.24), wide (HW/HL 0.66), not strongly depressed (HD/HL 0.44), distinct from neck. Loreal region marginally inflated, canthus rostralis not distinct. Snout half of head length (ES/HL 0.50), almost 2.5 times eye diameter (ES/ED 2.43); scales on snout and canthus rostralis subcircular to oval, subequal, smooth anteriorly, becoming weakly keeled, and conical posteriorly; and much larger than those on forehead and interorbital region; scales on forehead similar to those on snout and canthus rostralis except smaller, somewhat elongated, and weakly conical; scales on interorbital region even smaller, granular and weakly keeled; scales on occipital and temporal region heterogeneous, slightly enlarged, weakly keeled, conical tubercles intermixed with smaller, weakly keeled and weakly conical granular scales (Fig. 13A). Eye small (ED/HL 0.20) with round pupil; supraciliaries short, larger anteriorly; five interorbital scale rows across narrowest point of frontal bone; 24 or 25 scale rows between left and right supraciliaries at mid-orbit (Fig. 13A, C). Ear-opening deep, oval, small (EL/HL 0.06); eye to ear distance greater than diameter of eye (EE/ED 1.5) (Fig. 13C). Rostral 2× wider (1.50 mm) than high (0.53 mm), incompletely divided dorsally by a strongly developed rostral groove and internasal scale for more than half of its height; a single enlarged supranasal on each side, slightly larger than upper postnasal, separated from each other by a much smaller, elongated internasal scale and still smaller scale on snout; two postnasals, upper postnasal slightly larger than lower; rostral in contact with supralabial I, nostril, supranasal, and lower postnasal on either side; nostrils oval, surrounded by two postnasals, supranasal, and rostral on either side; two rows of scales separate orbit from supralabials (Fig. 13C). Mental enlarged, subtriangular, slightly wider (1.71 mm) than high (1.34 mm); two pairs of postmentals, inner pair roughly rectangular, much shorter (0.71 mm) than mental, in strong contact with each other below mental; inner pair bordered by mental, infralabial I, outer postmental, enlarged median chin shield and an enlarged chin shield on either side; outer postmentals roughly rectangular, even smaller (0.40 mm) than inner pair, bordered by inner postmentals, infralabial I and II, and four enlarged chin scales on left and three on right side; three enlarged gular scales between left and right outer postmentals; all chin scales bordering postmentals somewhat tubular, subcircular, smooth, and slightly smaller than outermost postmentals; scales on rest of throat, small, subequal, flattened and smooth (Fig. 13B). Infralabials bordered below by a row or two slightly enlarged, much elongated scales, decreasing in size posteriorly. Eight supralabials up to angle of jaw on left and nine on right side, and six at midorbital position on either side; supralabial I largest, rest of the series gradually decreasing in size posteriorly; eight infralabials up to angle of jaw on either side, and six at midorbital position on left and five on right side; infralabial I largest, rest of the series gradually decreasing in size posteriorly (Fig. 13C).

Figure 12. 

Cnemaspis fantastica sp. nov. (holotype, NRC-AA-1222): A dorsal aspect of body; B ventral aspect of body; C dorsal aspect of tail; D ventral aspect of tail; E lateral aspect of tail. Scale bars 10 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Figure 13. 

Cnemaspis fantastica sp. nov. (holotype, NRC-AA-1222): A dorsal aspect of head; B ventral aspect of head; C lateral aspect of right side head; D aspect of cloacal region showing precloacal and femoral pores; E ventral aspect of left manus; F ventral aspect of left pes. Scale bars 5 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Body relatively slender (BW/AGL 0.45), trunk less than half of SVL (AGL/SVL 0.39) without ventrolateral folds; short spine-like scales on flank present (Fig. 14A–C). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous; weakly keeled granular scales intermixed with a fairly regularly arranged row of enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles; tubercles in approximately 12 longitudinal rows at mid-body including spine-like scales at lower flank; 17 tubercles in paravertebral rows from above forelimb insertion to the hind limb insertion (Fig. 14A, C). Ventral scales more than twice the size than granular scales on dorsum, smooth, subcircular, subimbricate, subequal from chest to vent; mid-body scale rows across belly 30; 113 scales from mental to anterior border of cloaca (Fig. 14B). Scales on base of neck similar to those on belly, except smaller; gular region with still smaller, subequal, smooth, flattened scales, those bordering postmentals enlarged, smooth, subcircular, and somewhat tubular (Fig. 13B). Five femoral pores on left thigh and four on right, separated by eight poreless on either side from two precloacal pores, precloacal pores separated medially by a single poreless scale (Fig. 13D).

Figure 14. 

Cnemaspis fantastica sp. nov. (holotype, NRC-AA-1222): A dorsal aspect of mid-body; B ventral aspect of mid-body; C right side lateral aspect of mid-body. Scale bars 5 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Scales on palms and soles granular, smooth, subcircular, and flattened; scales on dorsal aspects of limbs heterogeneous in shape and size; mixture of small granular, weakly keeled, imbricate scales which are twice the size of granules on the body dorsum, largest on anterolateral aspect of the hands and feet; posterolateral aspect of limbs with small weakly keeled to smooth granular scales; scales on upper hand and thigh larger than lower hand and shank respectively; ventral aspect of forelimbs with small, smooth, subimbricate scales, larger on lower arm than upper arm; ventral aspect of hindlimb with enlarged, smooth, flattened, subimbricate scales, slightly larger than body ventrals (Fig. 12A, B). Forelimbs and hindlimbs moderately long, slender (LAL/SVL 0.14; CL/SVL 0.17); digits long, with strong, recurved claw, distinctly inflected, distal portions laterally compressed conspicuously. Digits with unpaired lamellae, separated into a basal and narrower distal series by single enlarged lamella at inflection; basal lamellae series: (1-3-3-4-4 right manus, 1-4-4-6-5 right pes), (1-4-4-4-4 left manus, Fig. 13E; 1–4–4–7–4 left pes, Fig. 13F); distal lamellae series: (7-9-11-11-10 right manus, 8-10-13-12-12 right pes), (8-9-11-11-10 left manus, Fig. 13E; 8–10–12–12–12 left pes, Fig. 13F). Relative length of digits (measurements in mm in parentheses): IV (2.6) = III (2.6) > II (2.4) > V (2.3) > I (1.7) (left manus); IV (3.5) > V (3.3) = III (3.3) > II (2.9) > I (1.8) (left pes).

Tail half original half regenerated, entire, subcylindrical, slender, marginally longer than snout-vent length (TL/SVL 1.16; Fig. 12C–E). Dorsal scales on tail base weakly keeled, granular, similar in size and shape to granular scales on mid-body dorsum, gradually becoming larger, flattened, imbricate posteriorly, intermixed with enlarged, strongly keeled, distinctly pointed, conical tubercles; enlarged tubercles on the tail forming whorls; six tubercles each on first four whorls, four in 5–8^th whorls, only paravertebral tubercles in 9^th and 10^th whorls, rest of the tail regenerated (Fig. 12C, E). Scales on ventral aspect of original tail much larger than those on dorsal aspect, subimbricate, smooth; median series distinctly larger than rest, roughly pentagonal; scales on tail base slightly smaller than those on mid-body ventrals, smooth, imbricate; a single enlarged, smooth to weakly keeled and conical postcloacal spur on each side (Fig. 12D).

Dorsum of head, body, limbs and tail base reddish. Head with numerous yellow spots, yellow and dark bands on labials, postorbital streaks indistinct. A single central ocellus on neck, flanked posteriorly by a pair of much larger squarish blotches and anteriorly by a pair of subequal squarish blotches, indistinct spot on occiput; all ocelli black with a fine orange and diffuse yellow margin. Dorsum mottled with numerous small yellow spots some of which form an indistinct vertebral line and fine black spots. Dorsum of limbs more muted than back with indistinct yellow bands, digits with alternating dark and light bands. Tail with four black and three light grey bands with an orange regenerated tip. Venter off-white with black speckles, two distinct pairs of black streaks on throat.

Mensural, meristic and additional character state data for the type series is given in Tables 9–11 respectively. There are four adult male and three adult female specimens ranging in size from 28.4–32.5 mm (Fig. 7C). All paratypes resemble holotype except as follows: internasal absent, supranasals in strong contact with each other on snout in NRC-AA-1223.

Upper postmentals marginally in contact with each other below mental in NRC-AA-1224; upper postmentals separated from each other below mental by a single median enlarged chin shields in NRC-AA-1227 and NRC-AA-1228; upper postmentals bordered by mental, infralabial I, outer postmental, and by a single large chin scale on either side in NRC-AA-1223, NRC-AA-1225, NRC-AA-1226, and NRC-AA-1229. Outer postmental bordered by inner postmental, infralabials I & II in all types, additionally, four chin scales on either side in NRC-AA-1223, NRC-AA-1226, NRC-AA-1228, five chin scales on right in NRC-AA-1227, and five chin scales on left and four on right side in NRC-AA-1229; outer postmental separated from each other medially by two enlarged chin scales in NRC-AA-1223, NRC-AA-1225, NRC-AA-1226, and NRC-AA-1229. Two paratypes — NRC-AA-1228 and NRC-AA-1229 with original and complete tails, slightly longer than body (TL/SVL 1.13 and 1.22 respectively); tail entire but mostly regenerated in NRC-AA-1227, equal to body length (TL/SVL 1.00); tail entire but incomplete in NRC-AA-1225 and NRC-AA-1226 (TL = 9.5 and 19.5 mm respectively); tail almost entirely regenerated and largely lost in NRC-AA-1223 and NRC-AA-1224; original tail distinctly banded in males and faintly in female paratypes; regenerated tail orangish in life and yellowish-grey in preservative. (Fig. 7C).

Cnemaspis fantastica sp. nov. is currently known only from around its type locality (Karavallicombai reserve forest, Kolli hills, between an elevational gradient of ca. 600–1100 m asl.) in Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu (Fig. 1). Like most of the other members of its clade, the new species seems to be diurnal, rupicolous, and locally abundant. At collection sites, many individuals (n = >40) were observed active during the daytime (1100–1430 hrs) on rocks, road side rocky cuttings, and building walls below 2 m height, and under cement culverts in moist deciduous to semi-evergreen forest patches (Fig. 8C). Sympatric geckos encountered at the locality include Cyrtodactylus (Geckoella) sp., Hemidactylus cf. graniticolus, Hemidactylus parvimaculatus, Hemidactylus cf. frenatus, and Hemiphyllodactylus kolliensis.

NRC-AA-1230 (AK 711), adult male, from near Mangalam waterfalls, (11.3422°N, 78.6047°E; ca. 650 m asl.), Pachaimalai hills, Trichy district, Tamil Nadu state, India; collected by Akshay Khandekar, Ishan Agarwal, Swapnil Pawar and Tejas Thackeray on 30^th May 2019.

NRC-AA-1231 (AK 708), NRC-AA-1232 (AK 709), adult males, same data as holotype; NRC-AA-1233 (AK 712), adult male, NRC-AA-1234 (AK 713), adult female, from near Shri Kaliyamman temple (11.3642°N, 78.5910°E; ca. 960 m asl.); NRC-AA-1235 (AK 730), NRC-AA-1236 (AK 731), NRC-AA-1237 (AK 753), adult males, from Pachaimalai RF (11.3167°N, 78.6018°E; ca. 840 m asl.), same data as holotype.

The specific epithet is a toponym for the Pachaimalai hills in Trichy district of Tamil Nadu, the type and currently only known locality for this species.

Pachaimalai dwarf gecko.

A small-sized Cnemaspis, snout to vent length up to 33.6 mm (n = 8). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous; weakly keeled, weakly conical, granular scales intermixed with a fairly regularly arranged rows of enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles; last one or two rows of enlarged tubercles on flank short spine-like; 10–12 rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body, 13–17 tubercles in paravertebral rows; ventral scales subcircular, smooth, subequal from chest to vent, 30–33 scales across belly at mid-body, 112–125 longitudinal scales from mental to cloaca; subdigital scansors smooth, unpaired, unnotched; 9–11 lamellae under digit I of manus and 9–12 lamellae under digit I of pes, 15–18 lamellae under digit IV of manus and 18–22 lamellae under digit IV of pes; males with 4–7 femoral pores on each thigh separated by 7–11 poreless scales from continuous series of 2–5 precloacal pores (n = 7/8); tail with enlarged, strongly keeled, pointed, and spine-like tubercles forming whorls; median row of subcaudals smooth, roughly pentagonal, and distinctly enlarged. Dorsum orange, mottled with numerous light grey spots and fine black spots; a large central black dorsal ocellus on neck flanked anteriorly and posteriorly on each side by elongate dark ocelli, smaller ocellus on occiput flanked on each side by a smaller ocellus; indistinct rows of smaller dark ocelli may be present; venter off-white with black speckles, two distinct pairs of black streaks on throat; original tail in males with 9–11 alternating dark and light grey bands, regenerated tail orange.

Cnemaspis pachaimalaiensis sp. nov. is a member of the bangara clade and can be easily distinguished from all members of the clade by a combination of the following differing or non-overlapping characters: males with continuous series of precloacal pores (versus precloacal pore series medially separated by at least one poreless scale in males of C. agarwali, C. agayagangai sp. nov., C. gracilis, C. jackieii, C. fantastica sp. nov., C. salimalii sp. nov. C. thackerayi, C. shevaroyensis; precloacal pores either absent or medially separated by 2–4 poreless scales in C. mundanthuraiensis); small-sized Cnemaspis with maximum SVL 32 mm (versus medium-sized Cnemaspis, SVL up to 41 mm in C. thackerayi, and C. salimalii sp. nov.); 13–17 tubercles in paravertebral rows (versus only a few irregularly arranged tubercles in paravertebral region in C. mundanthuraiensis, 11 or 12 in C. jackieii); 10–12 rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body (versus eight or nine rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body in C. jackieii, 6–8 rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body in C. mundanthuraiensis); short spine-like tubercles present on flanks (versus spine-like tubercles absent on flanks in C. agarwali, C. jackieii, C. shevaroyensis, and C. thackerayi); 30–33 ventral scales across belly at mid-body (versus 24–26 ventral scales across belly at mid-body in C. agarwali, 21–24 in C. shevaroyensis, and 22–25 in C. thackerayi); a large central black dorsal ocellus on neck flanked anteriorly and posteriorly on each side by elongate dark ocelli, smaller ocellus on occiput flanked on each side by a smaller ocellus; indistinct rows of smaller dark ocelli may be present (versus a single central dorsal ocellus each on occiput and neck in C. gracilis, C. mundanthuraiensis, C. thackerayi; single dorsal ocellus on occiput absent, single dorsal ocellus on neck present in C. salimalii sp. nov.; a single dorsal ocellus each on occiput and neck, a smaller pair on either side just anterior to forelimb insertion in C. jackieii). Cnemaspis pachaimalaiensis sp. nov. is diagnosed against Cnemaspis rudhira sp. nov. as part of its descriptions below.

Adult male in good state of preservation except tail slightly bent towards left (Fig. 15A–E). SVL 28.8 mm, head short (HL/SVL 0.24), wide (HW/HL 0.68), not strongly depressed (HD/HL 0.45), distinct from neck. Loreal region marginally inflated, canthus rostralis not distinct. Snout half of head length (ES/HL 0.50), almost 2.5 times eye diameter (ES/ED 2.33); scales on snout and canthus rostralis subcircular, subequal, weakly keeled, somewhat conical, and much larger than those on forehead and interorbital region; scales on forehead similar to those on snout and canthus rostralis except smaller and elongated, and weakly conical; scales on interorbital region even smaller, granular; scales on occipital and temporal region heterogeneous, enlarged, keeled, conical tubercles intermixed with much smaller, weakly keeled and weakly conical granular scales (Fig. 16A). Eye small (ED/HL 0.21) with round pupil; supraciliaries short, larger anteriorly; five interorbital scale rows across narrowest point of frontal bone; 28–30 scale rows between left and right supraciliaries at mid-orbit (Fig. 16A, C). Ear-opening deep, oval, small (EL/HL 0.05); eye to ear distance greater than diameter of eye (EE/ED 1.60) (Fig. 16C). Rostral more than twice as wide (1.40 mm) as high (0.55 mm), incompletely divided dorsally by a strongly developed rostral groove for more than half of its height; a single enlarged supranasal on each side, slightly larger than upper postnasal, separated from each other by a much smaller, elongated internasal scale and still smaller scale on snout; two postnasals, upper postnasal slightly larger than lower; rostral in contact with supralabial I, nostril, supranasal, and weakly in contact with lower postnasal on either side; nostrils oval, surrounded by two postnasals, supranasal, and rostral on either side; one or two rows of scales separate orbit from supralabials (Fig. 16C). Mental enlarged, subtriangular, marginally wider (1.64 mm) than high (1.30 mm); two pairs of postmentals, inner pair roughly rectangular, much shorter (0.63 mm) than mental, separated from each other below mental by a single enlarged median chin shield; inner pair bordered by mental, infralabial I, outer postmental, enlarged median chin shield and an enlarged chin shield on either side; outer postmentals roughly rectangular, even smaller (0.52 mm) than inner pair, bordered by inner postmentals, infralabial I and II, and four enlarged chin shields on either side; three enlarged gular scales between left and right outer postmentals; all chin scales bordering postmentals flat, subcircular, smooth, and slightly smaller than outermost postmentals; scales on rest of throat granular, small, smooth (Fig. 16B). Infralabials bordered below by a row or two of slightly enlarged, much elongated scales, decreasing in size posteriorly. Eight supralabials up to angle of jaw and six at midorbital position on either side; supralabial I largest, rest of the series gradually decreasing in size posteriorly; seven infralabials up to angle of jaw, five at midorbital position on either side; infralabial I largest, rest of the series gradually decreasing in size posteriorly (Fig. 16C).

Figure 15. 

Cnemaspis pachaimalaiensis sp. nov. (holotype, NRC-AA-1230): A dorsal aspect of body; B ventral aspect of body; C dorsal aspect of tail; D ventral aspect of tail; E lateral aspect of tail. Scale bars 10 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Figure 16. 

Cnemaspis pachaimalaiensis sp. nov. (holotype, NRC-AA-1230): A dorsal aspect of head; B ventral aspect of head; C lateral aspect of right side head; D aspect of cloacal region showing precloacal and femoral pores; E ventral aspect of left manus; F ventral aspect of left pes. Scale bars 5 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Body relatively slender (BW/AGL 0.46), trunk less than half of SVL (AGL/SVL 0.39) without ventrolateral folds; short spine-like scales on flank present (Fig. 17A–C). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous; weakly keeled granular scales intermixed with a fairly regularly arranged row of enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles; tubercles in approximately 11 longitudinal rows at mid-body including short spine-like scales at lower flank; 14 (left) and 16 (right) tubercles in paravertebral row from above forelimb insertion to the hind limb insertion (Fig. 17A, C). Ventral scales much larger than granular scales on dorsum smooth, subcircular, subimbricate, subequal from chest to vent; mid-body scale rows across belly 31; 115 scales from mental to anterior border of cloaca (Fig. 17B). Scales on base of neck similar to those on belly, marginally smaller; gular region with much smaller, smooth, granular scales, those bordering postmentals enlarged, smooth, subcircular, and flattened (Fig. 16B). Five femoral pores on left thigh and four on right, separated by 10 poreless on either side from continuous series of three precloacal pores (Fig. 16D).

Figure 17. 

Cnemaspis pachaimalaiensis sp. nov. (holotype, NRC-AA-1230): A dorsal aspect of mid-body; B ventral aspect of mid-body; C right side lateral aspect of mid-body. Scale bars 5 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Scales on palms and soles granular, smooth, rounded, and flattened; scales on dorsal aspects of limbs heterogeneous in shape and size; mixture of small granular, weakly keeled, imbricate scales which are twice the size of granules on the body dorsum, largest on anterolateral aspect of the hands and feet; posterolateral aspect of limbs with small weakly keeled to smooth granular scales; ventral aspect of forelimbs with small, smooth, subimbricate scales, larger on lower arm than upper arm; ventral aspect of hindlimb with enlarged, smooth, flattened, subimbricate scales, slightly larger than body ventrals (Fig. 15A, B). Forelimbs and hindlimbs moderately long, slender (LAL/SVL 0.14; CL/SVL 0.17); digits long, with strong, recurved claw, distinctly inflected, distal portions laterally compressed conspicuously. Digits with unpaired lamellae except for a few basal lamellae which are paired, separated into a basal and narrower distal series by single enlarged lamella at inflection; basal lamellae series: (1-3-3-4-3 right manus, 1-4-5-6-5 right pes), (1-3-3-4-3 left manus, Fig. 16E; 1–4–6–7–5 left pes, Fig. 16F); distal lamellae series: (9-11-12-11-10 right manus, 8-10-13-12-12 right pes), (8-9-11-11-11 left manus, Fig. 16E; 8–11–13–12–13 left pes, Fig. 16F). Relative length of digits (measurements in mm in parentheses): IV (2.5) > III (2.3) > V (2.0) = II (2.0) > I (1.5) (left manus); IV (3.1) > V (3.0) > III (2.9) > II (2.6) > I (1.9) (left pes).

Tail original, entire, subcylindrical, slender, marginally longer than snout-vent length (TL/SVL 1.11; Fig. 15C–E). Dorsal scales on tail base weakly keeled, granular, similar in size and shape to granular scales on mid-body dorsum, gradually becoming larger, flattened, imbricate posteriorly, intermixed with enlarged, strongly keeled, distinctly pointed, conical tubercles; enlarged tubercles on the tail forming whorls; six tubercles each on first nine whorls, four in 10–13^th whorls, rest of the tail with only paravertebral tubercles (Fig. 15A, C). Scales on ventral aspect of tail much larger than those on dorsal aspect, subimbricate, smooth; median series distinctly larger than rest, roughly pentagonal; scales on tail base slightly smaller than those on mid-body ventrals, smooth, imbricate; a single enlarged, conical, and smooth postcloacal spur on each side (Fig. 15B).

Dorsum of head, body, limbs and tail base orange-brown. Head with numerous yellow blotches and some black spots, yellow and dark bands on labials. Three dark postorbital streaks, all terminating anterior to forelimb insertions, suborbital streak continues onto throat. A large central black dorsal ocellus on neck flanked anteriorly and posteriorly on each side by elongate dark ocelli, smaller ocellus on occiput flanked on each side by a smaller ocellus; approximately three rows of three smaller dark ocelli; all ocelli with a diffuse orange margin. Dorsum mottled with smaller light-grey spots and fine black spots. Dorsum of limbs more muted than back, digits with alternating dark and light bands. Tail with seven or eight alternating light grey and black bands with an orange regenerated tip. Venter off-white with black speckles, two distinct pairs of black streaks on throat.

Mensural, meristic and additional character state data for the type series is given in Tables 12–14 respectively. There are six adult male and a single adult female specimens ranging in size from 28.6–33.6 mm (Fig. 18A). All paratypes resemble holotype except as follows: supranasals in contact with each other behind internasal in NRC-AA-1233 and NRC-AA-1237; upper postmentals in contact with each other below mental in NRC-AA-1231, NRC-AA-1233, NRC-AA-1234, and NRC-AA-1237; upper postmentals separated from each other below mental by two median enlarged chin shields in NRC-AA-1236; upper postmentals bordered by mental, infralabial I, outer postmental, and by a single large chin scale on either side in NRC-AA-1231, NRC-AA-1233, NRC-AA-1236; upper postmentals bordered by mental, infralabial I, outer postmental, median chin shield, and by a single large chin scale on either side in NRC-AA-1234, NRC-AA-1237. Outer postmental bordered by inner postmental, infralabials I & II in all types, additionally, five chin scales on either side in NRC-AA-1231, five chin scales on right in NRC-AA-1233 and NRC-AA-1236, three scales on right in NRC-AA-1232 and NRC-AA-1237; outer postmental separated from each other medially by two enlarged chin scales in NRC-AA-1231, NRC-AA-1233. Three paratypes — NRC-AA-1232, NRC-AA-1233, and NRC-AA-1235 with original and complete tails, slightly longer than body (TL/SVL 1.11, 1.27, and 1.30 respectively); tail entire but partially regenerated in NRC-AA-1234, NRC-AA-1236, and NRC-AA-1237, marginally to slightly longer than body (TL/SVL 1.08, 1.12, and 1.33 respectively); original tail entirely lost, small regenerated portion present in NRC-AA-1231. Ocelli on body between limb insertions are highly variable in all paratypes; original tail banded in all paratypes; regenerated tail orangish in life and yellowish-grey in preservative. (Fig. 18A).

Figure 18. 

Paratype series: A Cnemaspis pachaimalaiensis sp. nov., from left to right, NRC-AA-1231–NRC-AA-1237; B Cnemaspis rudhira sp. nov., from left to right, NRC-AA-1239–NRC-AA-1247. Scale bar 10 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Cnemaspis pachaimalaiensis sp. nov. is currently known only from around its type locality (near Mangalam waterfalls, Pachaimalai Hills, between an elevational gradient of ca. 600–1000 m asl.) in Trichy district, Tamil Nadu (Fig. 1). Like most other members of its clade, the new species is diurnal, rupicolous, and fairly abundant locally. At each collection site, many individuals (n = >20) were observed active during the daytime (0900–1630 hrs) on rocks, road side rocky cuttings, and building walls below 2 m height, and under cement culverts in dry deciduous to semi-evergreen forest patches (Fig. 8D). Sympatric geckos encountered at the locality include Cyrtodactylus (Geckoella) sp., Hemidactylus kolliensis Agarwal, Bauer, Giri & Khandekar, Hemidactylus leschenaultii, Hemidactylus whitakeri Mirza, Gowande, Patil, Ambekar & Patel, Hemidactylus parvimaculatus, Hemidactylus cf. frenatus, and Hemiphyllodactylus sp.

NRC-AA-1238 (AK 566), adult male, from near Sri Salaipaarai Muniappan Temple, Yercaud, in the Shevaroy hill range (11.7761°N, 78.1900°E; 1060 m asl.), Salem district, Tamil Nadu state, India, collected by Akshay Khandekar, Swapnil Pawar, and Tejas Thackeray on 2^nd January 2019.

NRC-AA-1246 (AK 567), adult male, NRC-AA-1247 (AK 568), adult female, same data as holotype; NRC-AA-1239 (AK 208), NRC-AA-1240 (AK 209), NRC-AA-1241 (AK 212) adult males, from Yercaud Ghat, in the Shevaroy hill range (11.7796°N, 78.1911°E; 1200 m asl.), and NRC-AA-1242 (AK 213) adult female (11.7655°N, 78.1884°E; 800 m asl.), collected by Akshay Khandekar, Ishan Agarwal, Nikhil Gaitonde, on 18^th December 2018; NRC-AA-1243 (AK 539), NRC-AA-1244 (AK 541), NRC-AA-1245 (AK 543), adult males, from near Botanical garden, Yercaud, in the Shevaroy hill range (11.7810°N, 78.2035°E; 1400 m asl.), same collection data as holotype.

The specific epithet is from the Sanskrit rudhira which means blood, alluding to the blood-red colouration of this beautiful species, and is used as a noun in apposition.

Scarlet dwarf gecko.

A small-sized Cnemaspis, snout to vent length up to 33.8 mm (n = 10). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous; weakly keeled granular scales intermixed with a fairly regularly arranged rows of enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles; last one or two rows of enlarged tubercles on flank weakly keeled, spine-like; 10–12 rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body, 13–17 tubercles in paravertebral rows; ventral scales smooth, subcircular, subimbricate, subequal from chest to vent, 30–32 scales across belly at mid-body, 101–121 longitudinal scales from mental to cloaca; subdigital scansors smooth, mostly unpaired, unnotched; 8–11 lamellae under digit I of manus and pes; 14–17 lamellae under digit IV of manus and 17–21 lamellae under digit IV of pes; males with four or five femoral pores on each thigh separated by 6–9 poreless scales from series of 4–6 precloacal pores, precloacal pores separated medially by single (rarely 2, n = 1/8) poreless scales; tail with enlarged, strongly keeled, pointed, and spine-like tubercles forming whorls; median row of subcaudals smooth, roughly rectangular, and distinctly enlarged. Dorsum orange, mottled with numerous small light grey spots and fine black spots with an indistinct series of light grey vertebral blotches extending from neck to tail base; single central black dorsal ocellus on neck and smaller ocellus on occiput, separated by a light grey blotch; venter off-white with black speckles, margin of throat strongly marked; original tail in males grey or with 9–11 alternating dark and light grey bands, regenerated tail orange.

Cnemaspis rudhira sp. nov. is a member of the bangara clade and can be easily distinguished from all members of the clade by a combination of the following differing or non-overlapping characters: small-sized Cnemaspis with maximum SVL 34 mm (versus medium-sized Cnemaspis, SVL up to 41 mm in C. thackerayi, and C. salimalii sp. nov.); 13–17 tubercles in paravertebral rows (versus only a few irregularly arranged tubercles in paravertebral region in C. mundanthuraiensis, 11 or 12 in C. jackieii); 10–12 rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body (versus eight or nine rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body in C. jackieii, 6–8 rows of dorsal tubercles at mid-body in C. mundanthuraiensis); spine-like tubercles present on flanks (versus spine-like tubercles absent on flanks in C. agarwali, C. jackieii, C. shevaroyensis, and C. thackerayi); 30–32 ventral scales across belly at mid-body (versus 24–26 ventral scales across belly at mid-body in C. agarwali, 26–29 (rarely 30) in C. gracilis, 21–24 in C. shevaroyensis, and 22–25 in C. thackerayi); males with two (rarely 3) precloacal pore on each side which are separated medially by single (rarely 2) poreless scales (versus males with single (rarely 2) precloacal pore on each side which are separated medially by 2–4 poreless scales in C. gracilis; precloacal pores either absent or single precloacal pores on each side which are separated medially by 2–4 poreless scales in C. mundanthuraiensis; males with continuous series of precloacal pores in C. pachaimalaiensis sp. nov.; single central dorsal ocellus each on occiput and neck (versus a single dorsal ocellus present on occiput and neck, two pairs on either side just anterior and sometimes posterior to forelimb insertions in C. agarwali; a single central dorsal ocellus each on occiput and neck, ocellus on neck flanked anteriorly on each side by a slightly larger ocellus in C. agayagangai sp. nov.; a single central ocellus on neck, flanked posteriorly by a pair of much larger squarish blotches and anteriorly by a pair of subequal squarish blotches, indistinct spot on occiput in C. fantastica sp. nov.; a large central black dorsal ocellus on neck flanked anteriorly and posteriorly on each side by elongate dark ocelli, smaller ocellus on occiput flanked on each side by a smaller ocellus; indistinct rows of smaller dark ocelli may be present in C. pachaimalaiensis sp. nov.; a single dorsal ocellus present on occiput and neck, two pairs on either side just anterior and posterior to forelimb insertions in C. shevaroyensis.

Adult male in good state of preservation except tail tip slightly bend towards left, longitudinal skin fold on vertebral region between limb insertions (Fig. 19A–E). SVL 32.3 mm, head short (HL/SVL 0.24), wide (HW/HL 0.66), not strongly depressed (HD/HL 0.47), distinct from neck. Loreal region marginally inflated, canthus rostralis not distinct. Snout half of head length (ES/HL 0.52), marginally more than 2.5 times eye diameter (ES/ED 2.6); scales on snout and canthus rostralis subcircular, subequal, and weakly keeled; much larger than those on forehead and interorbital region; scales on forehead similar to those on snout and canthus rostralis except smaller, elongated, and weakly conical; scales on interorbital region even smaller, granular and weakly keeled; scales on occipital and temporal region heterogeneous, slightly enlarged, weakly keeled, conical tubercles intermixed with smaller, weakly keeled and weakly conical granular scales (Fig. 20A). Eye small (ED/HL 0.20) with round pupil; supraciliaries short, larger anteriorly; six interorbital scale rows across narrowest point of frontal bone; 25 or 26 scale rows between left and right supraciliaries at mid-orbit (Fig. 20A, C). Ear-opening deep, oval, small (EL/HL 0.05); eye to ear distance greater than diameter of eye (EE/ED 1.50) (Fig. 20C). Rostral more than two times wider (1.56 mm) than high (0.72 mm), incompletely divided dorsally by a strongly developed rostral groove and internasal scale for more than half of its height; a single enlarged supranasal on each side, much larger than postnasals, separated from each other by a much smaller, elongated internasal scale and still smaller scale on snout; two postnasals, upper postnasal marginally larger than lower; rostral in contact with supralabial I, nostril, internasal, supranasal, and lower postnasal on either side; nostrils oval, surrounded by two postnasals, supranasal, and rostral on either side; two rows of scales separate orbit from supralabials (Fig. 20C). Mental enlarged, subtriangular, slightly wider (1.97 mm) than high (1.50 mm); two pairs of postmentals, inner pair roughly rectangular, much shorter (0.84 mm) than mental, in strong contact with each other below mental; inner pair bordered by mental, infralabial I, outer postmental, enlarged median chin shield on either side and an enlarged chin shield on left side; outer postmentals roughly rectangular, even smaller (0.63 mm) than inner pair, bordered by inner postmentals, infralabial I and II, and three enlarged chin shields on either side and median chin shield on left side; three enlarged gular scales between left and right outer postmentals; all chin scales bordering postmentals flat, subcircular, smooth, and smaller than outermost postmentals; scales on rest of throat, even smaller, flattened, subequal, and smooth (Fig. 20B). Infralabials bordered below by a row or two of slightly enlarged, much elongated scales, decreasing in size posteriorly. Ten supralabials up to angle of jaw on left, 11 on right side, and six at midorbital position on each side; supralabial I largest, gradually decreasing in size posteriorly; eight infralabials up to angle of jaw on left and nine on right, five at midorbital position on either side; infralabial I largest, gradually decreasing in size posteriorly (Fig. 20C).

Figure 19. 

Cnemaspis rudhira sp. nov. (holotype, NRC-AA-1238): A dorsal aspect of body; B ventral aspect of body; C dorsal aspect of tail; D ventral aspect of tail; E lateral aspect of tail. Scale bars 10 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Figure 20. 

Cnemaspis rudhira sp. nov. (holotype, NRC-AA-1238): A dorsal aspect of head; B ventral aspect of head; C lateral aspect of right side head; D aspect of cloacal region showing precloacal and femoral pores; E ventral aspect of left manus; F ventral aspect of left pes. Scale bars 5 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Body relatively slender (BW/AGL 0.51), trunk less than half of SVL (AGL/SVL 0.38) without ventrolateral folds; spine-like scales on flank present (Fig. 21A–C). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous; weakly keeled granular scales intermixed with a fairly regularly arranged row of enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles; tubercles in approximately 12 longitudinal rows at mid-body including spine-like scales at lower flank; 14 (left) and 15 (right) tubercles in paravertebral row from above forelimb insertion to the hind limb insertion (Fig. 21A, C). Ventral scales much larger than granular scales on dorsum smooth, subcircular, subimbricate, subequal from chest to vent; mid-body scale rows across belly 31; 115 scales from mental to anterior border of cloaca (Fig. 21B). Scales on base of neck similar to those on belly, marginally smaller; gular region with still smaller, subequal, smooth, flattened scales, those bordering postmentals enlarged, smooth, subcircular, and flattened (Fig. 20B). Four femoral pores on either thigh, separated by nine poreless on either side from four precloacal pores, precloacal pores separated medially by a single poreless scale (Fig. 20D).

Figure 21. 

Cnemaspis rudhira sp. nov. (holotype, NRC-AA-1238): A dorsal aspect of mid-body; B ventral aspect of mid-body; C right side lateral aspect of mid-body. Scale bars 5 mm; photos by Akshay Khandekar.

Scales on palm and soles granular, smooth, subcircular, subimbricate and flattened; scales on dorsal aspects of limbs heterogeneous in shape and size; mixture of small granular, weakly keeled, imbricate scales which are twice the size of granules on the body 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, larger on lower arm than upper arm; ventral aspect of hindlimb with enlarged, smooth, flattened, subimbricate scales, slightly larger than body ventrals (Fig. 19A, B). Forelimbs and hindlimbs moderately long, slender (LAL/SVL 0.15; CL/SVL 0.18); digits long, with strong, recurved claw, distinctly inflected, distal portions laterally compressed conspicuously. Digits with unpaired lamellae except basal one or two paired on some digits, separated into a basal and narrower distal series by single enlarged lamella at inflection; basal lamellae series: (1-4-4-4-4 right manus, 1-5-5-8-6 right pes), (2-3-4-4-3 left manus, Fig. 20E; 1–4–5–8–6 left pes, Fig. 20F); distal lamellae series: (9-10-13-12-10 right manus, 9-11-13-13-11 right pes), (9-10-12-12-10 left manus, Fig. 20E; 9–11–14–13–13 left pes, Fig. 20F). Relative length of digits (measurements in mm in parentheses): IV (2.6) > III (2.4) > II (2.3) = V (2.3) > I (1.9) (left manus); IV (3.9) > V (3.3) > III (3.2) > II (2.9) > I (1.8) (left pes).

Tail original except tip (5.1 mm) which is regenerated, entire, subcylindrical, slender, slightly longer than snout-vent length (TL/SVL 1.30; Fig. 19C–E). Dorsal scales on tail base weakly keeled, granular, similar in size and shape to granular scales on mid-body dorsum, gradually becoming larger, flattened, imbricate posteriorly, intermixed with enlarged, strongly keeled, distinctly pointed, conical tubercles; enlarged tubercles on the tail forming whorls; six tubercles each on first eight whorls, four in 9–12th whorls, rest of the tail with only paravertebral tubercles except original and regenerated portion of the tail lacking enlarged tubercles (Fig. 19C, E). Scales on ventral aspect of tail much larger than those on dorsal aspect, subimbricate, smooth; median series distinctly larger than rest, roughly rectangular; scales on tail base slightly larger than those on mid-body ventrals, smooth, imbricate; a single enlarged, weakly keeled and conical postcloacal spur on each side (Fig. 19D).

Dorsum of head, body, limbs and tail base orange. Head with numerous light grey and yellow blotches and fine black spots, light grey and dark bands on labials; indistinct grey postorbital streaks. A single central black dorsal ocellus on neck and a smaller one on occiput separated by a larger light grey blotch, both ocelli with an orange margin. Dorsum with numerous light-grey spots and fine black spots and six light grey vertebral blotches from forelimb insertions to tail base. Dorsum of limbs with yellow reticulation, digits with alternating dark and light bands. Tail grey with an orange regenerated tip. Venter off-white with black speckles, margin of throat strongly marked.

Figure 22. 

A Colouration in life of Cnemaspis rudhira sp. nov. showing sexual dichromatism: top adult female (paratype, NRC-AA-1247), bottom adult male (holotype, NRC-AA-1238), photo by Tejas Thackeray; B Habitat at the type locality of Cnemaspis rudhira sp. nov. showing general habitat, rocky outcrop in evergreen forest. Photo by Akshay Khandekar.

Mensural, meristic and additional character state data for the type series is given in Tables 15–17 respectively. There are seven adult male and two adult female specimens ranging in size from 27.9–33.8 mm (Fig. 18B). All paratypes resemble holotype except as follows: supranasals in strong contact with each other behind internasal on snout in NRC-AA-1243. Upper postmentals separated from each other below mental by enlarged median chin shield in NRC-AA-1246; upper postmentals bordered by mental, infralabial I, outer postmental, median chin shield, and additionally by a single large chin scale on either side in NRC-AA-1239, NRC-AA-1241, NRC-AA-1245; upper postmental bordered by both infralabial I & II on left and a single large chin scale on either side in NRC-AA-1240, and NRC-AA-1246. Outer postmental bordered by inner postmental, infralabials I & II and additionally, four chin scales on left and three on right side in NRC-AA-1239, NRC-AA-1241, NRC-AA-1244, NRC-AA-1247, four chin scales on either side in NRC-AA-1243; outer postmental bordered by inner postmental, infralabials I (on left), and four chin scales on either side in NRC-AA-1240, NRC-AA-1246; outer postmental separated from each other medially by two enlarged chin scales in NRC-AA-1242, NRC-AA-1243, and NRC-AA-1247. Four paratypes — NRC-AA-1244, NRC-AA-1245, NRC-AA-1246, and NRC-AA-1247 with original and complete tails, slightly longer than body (TL/SVL 1.32, 1.29, 1.29, and 1.19 respectively); NRC-AA-1243 with complete but fully regenerated tail, almost equal to the body (TL/SVL 1.03); NRC-AA-1240 and NRC-AA-1241 with partial but original tail; tail almost entirely lost in NRC-AA-1239 and NRC-AA-1242. Original tail distinctly banded only in two male paratypes — NRC-AA-1240 and NRC-AA-1246 (Fig. 18B).

Cnemaspis rudhira sp. nov. is known from a broad elevation gradient of ca. 800–1400 m asl. around its type locality, Yercaud, in the Shevaroy hills, Salem district, Tamil Nadu (Fig. 1). The new species was observed to be diurnal, scansorial, and locally highly abundant. At each collection site, many individuals (n = >30) were observed active during the daytime (0900–1430 hrs) on rocks, cement walls, trees, inside cement culverts etc. all below 2–3 m height in moist deciduous to evergreen forest patches (Fig. 22). Individuals of the new species were observed both daytime and at night in large numbers across the elevation gradient, along the ghat road leading to Yercaud town. Sympatric geckos encountered at the locality include Cnemaspis yercaudensis, Cnemaspis thackerayi, Cyrtodactylus (Geckoella) sp. Hemidactylus cf. graniticolus, Hemidactylus leschenaultii, Hemidactylus parvimaculatus, Hemidactylus cf. frenatus, Hemidactylus whitakeri, and Hemiphyllodactylus aurantiacus (Beddome).