TitleA new large species of gecko of the genus Hemidactylus Oken, 1817 (Reptilia: Sauria: Gekkonidae) from the Eastern Ghats, India.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2017
AuthorsMirza ZA, Bhosale H, Patil R
JournalC R Biol
Date Published2017 Oct 13
ISSN1768-3238
Abstract

A new large species of gecko superficially resembling Hemidactylus maculatus Duméril & Bibron and its allied large Hemidactylus is described from Eastern Ghats. The new species, Hemidactylus kangerensis sp. nov. can be easily distinguished from members of the H. maculatus complex based on the number of femoral pores, i.e. 18-21 on each side, separated medially by 4 non-pored scales. A phylogenetic analysis based on partial sequence of mitochondrial gene cytochrome b shows that the gecko is a member of the "H. prashadi" clade and is sister to H. maculatus, from which it differs in an uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence of 10%. The discovery of a new large gecko from Eastern Ghats advocates the need for biodiversity assessment across the neglected Eastern Ghats.

DOI10.1016/j.crvi.2017.09.003
Alternate JournalC. R. Biol.
PubMed ID29037458