@article {131924, title = {Hemidactylus paucifasciatus (Squamata: Gekkonidae), a new species of large-bodied, tuberculate gecko from Northern Odisha, India}, journal = {ZOOTAXA }, volume = {5301}, year = {2023}, month = {06/2023}, pages = {365-382}, abstract = {

A new Hemidactylus belonging to the H. prashadi group is described herein, based on a series of four specimens from the Chota Nagpur Plateau in northern Odisha. Hemidactylus paucifasciatus sp. nov. can be diagnosed from regional congeners by its large body size (SVL up to 117.7 mm), the number of dorsal tubercle rows at mid-body, three or four bands on the dorsum, the number of enlarged tubercles in paravertebral rows, the number of femoral pores and poreless scales separating the left and right series on the femoral-precloacal row in males, and the number of ventral scales across the belly at mid-body. A mitochondrial phylogeny demonstrates that the new species is nested within the H. triedrus complex of the northern clade within the H. prashadi group, with 16.2-16.5 \% pairwise divergence in ND2 sequence data from members of the H. triedrus complex and \> 21 \% from other members of the prashadi group. Hemidactylus paucifasciatus sp. nov. is the first endemic gecko to be described from the Chota Nagpur Plateau.

}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.5301.3.3}, author = {Mohapatra, Pratyush P. and Agarwal, Ishan and Mohalik, Rakesh Kumar and Dutta, Sushil K. and Khandekar, Akshay} } @article {105477, title = {The evolutionary history of an accidental model organism, the leopard gecko Eublepharis macularius (Squamata: Eublepharidae).}, journal = {Mol Phylogenet Evol}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 Jan 12}, pages = {107414}, abstract = {

The leopard gecko, Eublepharis macularius, is a widely used model organism in laboratory and experimental studies. The high phenotypic diversity in the pet trade, the fact that the provenance of different breeding lines is unknown, and that distinct Eublepharis species are known to hybridize, implies that the continued use of E. macularius as a model requires clarity on the origin of the lineages in the pet trade. We combine multi-locus sequence data and the first range-wide sampling of the genus Eublepharis to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the Eublepharidae and Eublepharis, with an updated time-tree for the Eublepharidae. Our sampling includes five of the six recognized species and additional nominal taxa of uncertain status comprising 43 samples from 34 localities plus 48 pet-trade samples. The Eublepharidae began diversifying in the Cretaceous. Eublepharis split from its sister genera in Africa in the Palaeocene-Eocene, and began diversifying in the Oligocene-Miocene, with late Miocene-Pliocene cladogenesis giving rise to extant species. The current species diversity within this group is moderately underestimated. Our species delimitation suggests 10 species with four potentially unnamed divergent lineages in Iran, India and Pakistan. All 30 individuals of E. macularius that we sampled from the pet trade, which include diverse morphotypes, come from a few shallow E. macularius clades, confirming that lab and pet trade strains are part of a single taxon. One of the wild-caught haplotypes of E. macularius, from near Karachi, Pakistan, is identical to (10) pet-trade samples and all other captive populations are closely related to wild-caught animals from central/southern Pakistan (0.1-0.5 \% minimum pairwise uncorrected ND2 sequence divergence).

}, issn = {1095-9513}, doi = {10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107414}, author = {Agarwal, Ishan and Bauer, Aaron M and Gamble, Tony and Giri, Varad B and Jablonski, Daniel and Khandekar, Akshay and Mohapatra, Pratyush P and Masroor, Rafaqat and Mishra, Anurag and Ramakrishnan, Uma} } @article {108398, title = {Three new cryptic species of South Asian Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Karnataka, India}, journal = {VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY }, volume = {72}, year = {2022}, month = {03/2022}, pages = {115-142}, abstract = {

We describe three new small-bodied, cryptic species of south Asian Cnemaspis belonging to the mysoriensis and goaensis clades from the Mysore Plateau and the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot in Karnataka, peninsular India; and provide a key to mem-bers of each clade, besides providing the first ND2 sequence data for C. ranganaensis. Cnemaspis tigris sp. nov. from Kaiwara in Karnataka is a member of the mysoriensis clade and can be morphologically distinguished from all six described members of the clade in a number of meristic characters and subtle differences in colouration, beside \>= 12.1-23.4 \% uncorrected pairwise ND2 sequence divergence. Cnemaspis sakleshpurensis sp. nov. from Sakleshpur and C. vijayae sp. nov. from Coorg, both in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, are members of the goaensis clade and are easily diagnosed from all three described members of the clade in meristic characters beside 5.2-14.8 \% divergence from described members of the clade and 14.6 \% from each other in uncorrected pairwise ND2 sequence divergence. The discovery of these new species from two different clades and biogeographic regions is not surprising, given the steep rise in the number of species of Cnemaspis known from peninsular India. Comprehensive geographic sampling in conjunction with molecular and morphological data is essential to understand the true diversity and distributional ranges of species within this ancient clade of gekkonid lizards.

}, doi = {10.3897/vz.72.e76308}, author = {Khandekar, Akshay and Thackeray, Tejas and Agarwal, Ishan} } @article {94385, title = {Anew medium-sized rupicolous Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) of the C. bangara clade from granite boulder habitats in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, India}, journal = {ZOOTAXA}, volume = {4969}, year = {2021}, month = {05/2021}, pages = {351-366}, abstract = {

We describe a new species of the Cnemaspis bangara clade from a rocky hillock near Kugai Periya Mariamman Temple, Krishnagiri fort, Krishnagiri District of Tamil Nadu, India. Cnemaspis krishnagiriensis sp. nov. can be diagnosed from all other peninsular Indian congeners by its medium body size (maximum SVL 40 mm), heterogeneous dorsal pholidosis, spine-like tubercles absent on flanks; presence of four femoral pores on each thigh separated on either side by nine or 10 poreless scales from three continuous precloacal pores in males; tail with enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles forming four whorls on anterior portion, six tubercles in first whorl, four tubercles in second to fourth whorls, enlarged tubercles restricted to only paravertebral region on rest of the tail; median row of sub-caudals smooth and distinctly enlarged, and a unique colour pattern. The new species can be diagnosed from members of C. bangara clade by the number of dorsal tubercles rows at mid-body, the number of enlarged tubercles in paravertebral rows, the number of ventral scales across belly at mid-body, the number longitudinal ventral scales from mental to cloaca, the number of femoral and precloacal pores and poreless scales separating these series, and subtle colour pattern differences; besides 9.2-17.6 \% uncorrected ND2 sequence divergence. Cnemaspis krishnagiriensis sp. nov. is the fourth member of the recently described bangara clade and is the first that is known to be distributed \<900 m asl.. The discovery of yet another endemic species of Cnemaspis from lower elevations of the Mysore Plateau once again highlights the need of dedicated systematic sampling to uncover the true diversity of Cnemaspis. We also address a nomenclatural issue related to the recently described Cnemaspis stellapulvis Khandekar, Thackeray \& Agarwal.

}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4969.2.7}, author = {Agarwal, Ishan and Thackeray, Tejas and Khandekar, Akshay} } @article {95319, title = {A new medium-sized rupicolous Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) of the C. bangara clade from granite boulder habitats in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, India.}, journal = {Zootaxa}, volume = {4969}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 May 11}, pages = {351366}, abstract = {

We describe a new species of the Cnemaspis bangara clade from a rocky hillock near Kugai Periya Mariamman Temple, Krishnagiri fort, Krishnagiri District of Tamil Nadu, India. Cnemaspis krishnagiriensis sp. nov. can be diagnosed from all other peninsular Indian congeners by its medium body size (maximum SVL 40 mm), heterogeneous dorsal pholidosis, spine-like tubercles absent on flanks; presence of four femoral pores on each thigh separated on either side by nine or 10 poreless scales from three continuous precloacal pores in males; tail with enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles forming four whorls on anterior portion, six tubercles in first whorl, four tubercles in second to fourth whorls, enlarged tubercles restricted to only paravertebral region on rest of the tail; median row of sub-caudals smooth and distinctly enlarged, and a unique colour pattern. The new species can be diagnosed from members of C. bangara clade by the number of dorsal tubercles rows at mid-body, the number of enlarged tubercles in paravertebral rows, the number of ventral scales across belly at mid-body, the number longitudinal ventral scales from mental to cloaca, the number of femoral and precloacal pores and poreless scales separating these series, and subtle colour pattern differences; besides 9.217.6 \% uncorrected ND2 sequence divergence. Cnemaspis krishnagiriensis sp. nov. is the fourth member of the recently described bangara clade and is the first that is known to be distributed \<900 m asl.. The discovery of yet another endemic species of Cnemaspis from lower elevations of the Mysore Plateau once again highlights the need of dedicated systematic sampling to uncover the true diversity of Cnemaspis. We also address a nomenclatural issue related to the recently described Cnemaspis stellapulvis Khandekar, Thackeray Agarwal.

}, issn = {1175-5334}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4969.2.7}, author = {Agarwal, Ishan and Thackeray, Tejas and Khandekar, Akshay} } @article {92879, title = {A new small-bodied, polymorphic emCnemaspis/em Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) allied to emC. monticola/em Manamendra-Arachchi, Batuwita amp; Pethiyagoda, 2007 from the Central Western Ghats of Karnataka, India.}, journal = {Zootaxa}, volume = {4950}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 Mar 31}, pages = {zootaxa.4950.3.5}, abstract = {

We describe a new small-bodied, polymorphic Cnemaspis from near Hongadahalla village, Sakleshpur in the Central Western Ghats of Karnataka, India. Cnemaspis schalleri sp. nov. is allied to C. monticola and can be diagnosed from all other Indian Cnemaspis by its small body size; presence of spine-like tubercles on flank; heterogeneous dorsal pholidosis; presence of both precloacal and femoral pores in males; dorsal pholidosis of tail heterogeneous, composed of small, weakly keeled, flattened, sub-imbricate scales intermixed with enlarged, strongly keeled, distinctly pointed, conical tubercles forming whorls; slightly enlarged median row of sub-caudal scales, smooth at anterior half and strongly keeled posteriorly. The new species differs from C. monticola based on the number of dorsal tubercle rows at mid-body, the number of paravertebral tubercles, the number of precloacal pores and poreless scales between precloacal and femoral pores; besides 8.9-10.7 \% uncorrected ND2 sequence divergence. We also provide the first description of topotypic males of C. monticola along with the first data on live colouration and natural history. Cnemaspis schalleri sp. nov. is the second new Cnemaspis described from around Sakleshpur within a span of less than a year with minimal field survey effort. It is almost certain than the dedicated systematic sampling across the Central Western Ghats will result in the discovery of many undescribed Cnemaspis lineages.

}, issn = {1175-5334}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4950.3.5}, author = {Khandekar, Akshay and Thackeray, Tejas and Agarwal, Ishan} } @article {74440, title = {Another new Cyrtodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Guwahati, Assam, India}, journal = {ZOOTAXA}, volume = {4732}, year = {2020}, month = {02/2020}, pages = {375-392}, abstract = {

We describe a new species of Cyrtodactylus from Guwahati city in the state of Assam, India and provide additional data on the recently described Cyrtodactylus guwahatiensis. Cyrtodactylus urbanus sp. nov. falls in the newly defined khasiensis group within the Indo-Burma clade of Cyrtodactylus and is the poorly supported sister taxon to Cyrtodactylus khasiensis. The new species differs from other members of the khasiensis group in mitochondrial sequence data (12.5-17.1\% uncorrected pairwise ND2 sequence divergence) as well as aspects of morphology including the number and arrangement of precloacal pores in males, the number of mid-ventral scales and paravertebral tubercles, and colour pattern. This is the second Cyrtodactylus endemic to the Guwahati region, the fourth from Assam and the twelfth from Northeast India.

}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4732.3.2}, author = {Purkayastha, Jayaditya and Das, Madhurima and Bohra, Sanath Chandra and Bauer, Aaron M and Agarwal, Ishan} } @article {82949, title = {Geckos in the granite: two new geckos (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from rocky, scrub habitats in Rishi Valley, Andhra Pradesh, India}, journal = {ZOOTAXA}, volume = {4838}, year = {2020}, month = {08/2020}, pages = {451-474}, abstract = {

Two new species of geckos from the genera Cnemaspis and Hemidactylus are described from a granite outcrop in the Rishi Valley, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India. Cnemaspis rishivalleyensis sp. nov. and Hemidactylus rishivalleyensis sp. nov. are presently known only from their type locality and am 8.7 \% and 10.9 \% divergent from their closest known sister species, respectively. The new species are allied to the mysoriensis and murrayi clades of South Asian Cnemaspis and the bmokii group of Indian Hemidactylus, respectively. The two new species can be diagnosed from regional congeners by the number and arrangement of femoral and precloacal pores and poreless scales separating these series, body size, the number of tubercles in paravertebral rows, the number of enlarged tubercles around mid-body, the number of ventral scales across mid-body, the number of lamellae beneath digit IV of pes and manus, and subtle differences in colour pattern. Four endemic geckos now have their type localities within 10 km of each other, Cnemaspis graniticola and Cyrtodactylus rishivalleyensis from Horsley Hills and the two new species from Rishi Valley. The two new species are also the third endemic species each of Cnemaspis and Hemidactylus from Andhra Pradesh.

}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4838.4.1}, author = {Agarwal, Ishan and Thackeray, Tejas and Khandekar, Akshay} } @article {83044, title = {A new cryptic Cnemaspis Strauch (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from an isolated granite hill on the Mysore Plateau, Karnataka, India}, journal = {ZOOTAXA}, volume = {4845}, year = {2020}, month = {09/2020}, pages = {509-528}, abstract = {

We describe a cryptic new species of the Cnemaspis mysoriensis complex from an isolated rocky hillock near Yadiyur, Mandya District of south Karnataka, India. Cnemaspis siellapulvis sp. nov. can be diagnosed from all other peninsular Indian congeners by its small body size (SVL \<32 mm), presence of spine-like tubercles on the flanks, heterogeneous dorsal pholidosis, two or three femoral pores on each thigh separated on either side by eight poitless scales from a continuous series of two precloacal pores in males, tail with enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles forming whorls, median row of sub-caudals smooth and slightly enlarged, and a distinct colour pattern. The new species can be diagnosed from members of C mysoriensis Glade by the number of femoral and precloacal pores and number of poreless scales separating these series, the number of dorsal tubercles rows at mid-body, the number of ventral scales across the belly at mid-body and subtle colour pattern differences; besides 13.4-21.4 \% uncorrected ND2 sequence divergence. In this paper, we define the Cnemaspis mysoriensis Glade and provide a diagnosis and comparison against peninsular Indian congeners. We also provide major diagnostic characters for members of the C. mysoriensis Glade. The discovery of yet another endemic species of Cnemaspis from one of the many isolated granite rocky hills on Mysore Plateau highlights the possibilities of presence of many more cryptic undescribed species.

}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4845.4.3}, author = {Khandekar, Akshay and Thackeray, Tejas and Agarwal, Ishan} } @article {84065, title = {A new large-bodied, rupicolous Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) allied to Cnemaspis heteropholis Bauer, 2002 from the Central Western Ghats of Karnataka, India.}, journal = {Zootaxa}, volume = {4801}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 Jun 17}, pages = {zootaxa.4801.1.2}, abstract = {

We describe a new large-bodied, rupicolous Cnemaspis from near Sakleshpur in the Central Western Ghats of Karnataka, India. Cnemaspis magnifica sp. nov. is allied to C. heteropholis and can be diagnosed from all other Indian Cnemaspis by the absence of spine-like scales on flank; heterogeneous dorsal pholidosis, presence of only femoral pores in males, homogenous dorsal pholidosis of tail with small, smooth, regularly arranged, flattened, subimbricate scales, without whorls of enlarged tubercles, median row of sub-caudals enlarged and smooth. The new species differs from its closest congener C. heteropholis in body size, the number of longitudinal ventral scales, number of lamellae under digit I and IV of manus and pes, and subtle colour pattern differences; besides 9.1 \% uncorrected ND2 sequence divergence. We provide the first description of topotypic male of C. heteropholis along with data on its distribution and natural history. The discovery of Cnemaspis magnifica sp. nov. with minimal field survey effort indicates the need for further herpetological exploration in the region.

}, issn = {1175-5334}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4801.1.2}, author = {Khandekar, Akshay and Thackeray, Tejas and Pal, Saunak and Agarwal, Ishan} } @article {83744, title = {A new medium-bodied rupicolous Hemidactylus Goldfuss, 1820 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Sirumalai massif, Tamil Nadu, India}, journal = {ZOOTAXA}, volume = {4852}, year = {2020}, month = {09/2020}, pages = {83-100}, abstract = {

We describe a new species of the Hemidactylus acanthopholis clade from Sirumalai, an isolated massif in the Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu state, India. Hemidactylus sirumalaiensis sp. nov. can be diagnosed from all members of the prashadi group by its medium body size (SVL \<95 mm), the number of dorsal tubercles rows at mid-body, the number of enlarged tubercles in paravertebral rows, the number of femoral pores and poreless scales between series of left and right femoral pores on the femoral-precloacal row in males, the number of ventral scales across the belly at mid-body and subtle colour pattern differences. The new species is the fourth member of the acanthopholis clade and 8.5-13.4 \% divergent in ND2 sequence data from other members of the clade. We also provide data on additional specimens from a new locality of Hemidactylus kolliensis, previously known only from the male holotype. Hemidactylus sirumalaiensis sp. nov. is the first endemic and only the other vertebrate species described from Sirumalai massif in the last 133 years. Most rupicolous Hemidactylus species from peninsular India outside the Western Ghats are known only from a few localities and are likely to be geographically restricted in distribution, and large areas of suitable habitat remain unsurveyed, suggesting many more allied species remain to be discovered.

}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4852.1.4}, author = {Khandekar, Akshay and Thackeray, Tejas and Pawar, Swapnil and Agarwal, Ishan} } @article {79866, title = {A new species of South Asian Cnemaspis (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Eastern Ghats, India}, journal = {ZOOTAXA}, volume = {4802}, year = {2020}, month = {06/2020}, pages = {449-462}, abstract = {

We describe a new species from within the South Asian Glade of the polyphyletic gekkonid genus Cnemaspis from the Velikonda Range, in the Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh, India. The new species is the smallest known Indian gekkonid and can be diagnosed from all Indian congeners by its small body size (SVL \<29 mm), the absence of spine-like scales on flank, heterogeneous dorsal pholidosis, presence of precloacal pores and no femoral pores in males, tail with enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles forming whorls, median row of sub-caudals smooth and slightly enlarged, and a distinct colour pattern. This is the 12th species of Cnemaspis to be described from outside the Western Ghats and is the first endemic from the Velikonda region of the Eastern Ghats. The new species is only known from its type locality, a lowland riparian habitat (\<200 in asl.) in dry evergreen forest at the base of a similar to 1200 m asl. peak. This discovery extends the range of the genus in peninsular India by similar to 130-150 kilometres to the northeast and suggests the genus is likely to be even more widely distributed than understood. The new species is clearly allied to C. mysoriensis, C. otai and C. yercaudensis with which it shares superficial colour pattern and similar body size, but is the first species from outside the Western Ghats in which males lack femoral pores.

}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4802.3.3}, author = {Agarwal, Ishan and Bauer, Aaron M. and Khandekar, Akshay} } @article {83746, title = {A novel, diminutive Hemiphyllodactylus Bleeker, 1860 (Squamata: Gekkonidae from a sacred grove in Odisha, eastern India}, journal = {ZOOTAXA}, volume = {4852}, year = {2020}, month = {09/2020}, pages = {485-499}, abstract = {

We describe a distinct new species of Hemiphyllodactylus from a sacred grove near Humma in Ganjam District of Odisha state, eastern India. Hemiphyllodactylus minimus sp. nov. is the smallest member of the genus and can be diagnosed from all peninsular Indian congeners by its small body size (SVL \<= 32.2 mm, n=11), having 15-18 dorsal scales and eight or nine ventral scales at mid-body contained within one longitudinal eye diameter, nine or ten precloacal pores separated by 4-6 poreless scales from a series of six or seven femoral pores on each thigh in males, lamellar formula of manus 2222 and of pes 2332 \& 2333, as well as subtle colour pattern differences. Additionally, the new species is 16.0-22.7 \% divergent from all other peninsular Indian Hemiphyllodactylus in uncorrected ND2 sequence data. The new species is the first member of the genus described from Odisha state and also the first Hemiphyllodactylus known from \< 100 m asl. The discovery of Hemiphyllodactylus minimus sp. nov. from a low elevation coastal locality in the Eastern Ghats open ups the possibilities that the genus could be more widespread than currently understood and potentially harbour many more distinct undcscribcd lineages. Therefore, dedicated fine-scale sampling efforts are needed to uncover the true diversity and distribution of Hemiphyllodactylus in the region.

}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4852.4.6}, author = {Mohapatra, Pratyush P. and Khandekar, Akshay and Dutta, Sushil K. and Mahapatra, Cuckoo and Agarwal, Ishan} } @article {78093, title = {Two more new Hemiphyllodactylus Bleeker, 1860 (Squamata: Gekkonidae)~from Tamil Nadu, India.}, journal = {Zootaxa}, volume = {4729}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 Jan 29}, pages = {zootaxa.4729.2.6}, abstract = {

Two new species of the gekkonid genus Hemiphyllodactylus are described from mountains of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu, southern India. Hemiphyllodactylus nilgiriensis sp. nov. and H. peninsularis sp. nov. are \> 5 \% divergent in the mitochondrial ND2 gene from each other and members of the H. aurantiacus complex and differ from each other and members of the H. aurantiacus complex in several meristic characters and colouration. The description of these two new species takes the number of Indian Hemiphyllodactylus to six and the number of endemic geckos from Tamil Nadu to 15.

}, keywords = {Animals, Genes, Mitochondrial, India, Lizards, Phylogeny, Records}, issn = {1175-5334}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4729.2.6}, author = {Agarwal, Ishan and Bauer, Aaron M and Pal, Saunak and Srikanthan, Achyuthan N and Khandekar, Akshay} } @article {67825, title = {An expanded ND2 phylogeny of the brookii and prashadi groups with the description of three new Indian Hemidactylus Oken (Squamata: Gekkonidae).}, journal = {Zootaxa}, volume = {4619}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Jun 20}, pages = {zootaxa.4619.3.2}, abstract = {

We present an expanded ND2 phylogeny of the brookii and prashadi groups of Indian Hemidactylus. While relationships within the clades are not well resolved, we recover many well supported subclades and a number of deeply divergent lineages within each clade. We use morphological data to describe three of these divergent lineages as new species; Hemidactylus kolliensis sp. nov., a member of the prashadi group from high elevation in the Kollimalai Massif in Tamil Nadu, Hemidactylus chikhaldaraensis sp. nov. and Hemidactylus sankariensis sp. nov., both members of the brookii group, are described from high elevation of the Satpuras in Maharashtra and low elevation of Tamil Nadu, respectively. The three new species exhibit \>15\% divergence for the ND2 gene from their phylogenetic sisters and differ in a number of morphological characters from all Indian congeners. The discovery of three more endemic Hemidactylus species from rocky habitats suggests that many more remain to be discovered across India.

}, issn = {1175-5334}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4619.3.2}, author = {Agarwal, Ishan and Bauer, Aaron M and Giri, Varad B and Khandekar, Akshay} } @article {59739, title = {The hills are alive with geckos! A radiation of a dozen species on sky islands across peninsular India (Squamata: Gekkonidae, Hemiphyllodactylus) with the description of three new species}, journal = {Organisms Diversity \& Evolution}, volume = {19}, year = {2019}, month = {06/2019}, pages = {341{\textendash}361}, abstract = {

Sky Islands are high-elevation environments that are separated by warmer, low elevations, forming natural patches of unique montane habitat that often persist through changing climates. Peninsular India was ancestrally forested and has gradually become more arid since at least the Oligocene, and open landscapes have dominated since the middle-late Miocene. Mesic forests today are largely restricted to coastal mountains and some other montane habitats. A mitochondrial phylogeny and fossil-calibrated timetree of Indian Hemiphyllodactylus reveal an Indochinese origin and an endemic radiation with 12 species-level lineages, where a single species was known, that diversified in the Oligocene-Miocene across montane forest habitats in the Eastern Ghats and south India. The phylogeny also suggests the discontinuous Eastern Ghats mountain range encompasses two distinct biogeographic entities: north and south of the Pennar/Krishna-Godavari River basins. This study\ highlights the deep history of the region and the importance of montane habitats as islands of unique biodiversity that have persisted through millions of years of changing climates. We describe three new species: Hemiphyllodactylus arakuensis sp. nov., H. jnana sp. nov. and H. kolliensis sp. nov. from montane habitats above 1000\ m. The montane habitats of these species are emerging hotspots of reptile endemism, and this study emphasizes the need for systematic biodiversity inventory across India to uncover basic patterns of diversity and distribution.

}, doi = {10.1007/s13127-019-00392-5}, author = {Agarwal, Ishan and Khandekar, A and Giri, Varad B. and Ramakrishnan, Uma and Karanth, Praveen} } @article {67824, title = {Two more new species of Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the northern Western Ghats, Maharashtra, India.}, journal = {Zootaxa}, volume = {4656}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Aug 13}, pages = {zootaxa.4656.1.2}, abstract = {

We describe two new species of the gekkonid genus Cnemaspis from the northern Western Ghats in Maharashtra, India. Cnemaspis amba sp. nov. and C. koynaensis sp. nov. are members of the C. girii clade and differ genetically from each other and other members of the clade by -7.9-19.6 \% uncorrected ND2 sequence divergence. The two new species are also morphologically distinguishable from all regional congeners on the basis of condition of spine-like scales on flanks, heterogeneity of dorsal pholidosis, number of dorsal tubercle rows, number of tubercles in paravertebral rows, femoral pores, number of poreless scales between femoral pores in the precloacal-femoral scale row, and keeling and size of sub-caudal scales. Cnemaspis amba sp. nov. differs from C. koynaensis sp. nov. in lacking\  spine-like scales on flanks and in the number of longitudinal ventral scales and\  ventral scales across mid-body. Both species are known only from their mid-elevation (~800 m asl.) type localities. Discovery of two new species increases the total species of Northern Western Ghats (NWG) Cnemaspis to ten. Specific status of numerous genetically divergent lineages needs to be evaluated and it is likely that many more species remain to be discovered from the poorly explored NWG, which are typically considered low in species diversity relative to more southern regions. We also provide a table describing major diagnostic characters across all NWG Cnemaspis species and corrected type locality data for three recently named species-Cnemaspis ajijae, C. limayei and C. mahabali.

}, issn = {1175-5334}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4656.1.2}, author = {Khandekar, Akshay and Thackeray, Tejas and Agarwal, Ishan} } @article {67823, title = {Two new Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Shevaroy massif, Tamil Nadu, India, with a preliminary ND2 phylogeny of Indian Cnemaspis.}, journal = {Zootaxa}, volume = {4609}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 May 22}, pages = {zootaxa.4609.1.3}, abstract = {

We present a preliminary ND2 phylogeny of South Asian Cnemaspis, recovering a number of deeply divergent clades within Indian Cnemaspis, endemic to the southern and northern Western Ghats besides the Mysore Plateau and hills of Tamil Nadu. There are a number of unnamed lineages that are \>5\% divergent on ND2 across the phylogeny, including three from the gracilis clade on an elevation gradient (800-1400 m asl.) around Yercaud in the Shevaroy massif, Salem district, Tamil Nadu. We describe two of these as new species- Cnemaspis shevaroyensis sp. nov. and Cnemaspis thackerayi sp. nov. are both allied to Cnemaspis gracilis and can be diagnosed from all other Indian Cnemaspis by the absence of spine-like scales on flank, heterogeneous dorsal pholidosis, presence of femoral and precloacal pores, tail with enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles forming whorls, a median row of enlarged and smooth sub-caudals. They differ from C. gracilis and each other in body size, the number of tubercles around midbody, the number of tubercles in paravertebral rows, the number of femoral and precloacal pores, the number of poreless scales in-between precloacal pores and between femoral and precloacal pores, and subtle colour pattern differences; besides uncorrected mitochondrial sequence divergence (7.9-16.6 \%). We also provide a description of Cnemaspis yercaudensis from its type locality and an additional locality. The discovery of two endemic species and a third unnamed divergent lineage from an isolated massif in peninsular India outside the Western Ghats indicate that many other such understudied hill ranges may harbour high endemic biodiversity.

}, issn = {1175-5334}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4609.1.3}, author = {Khandekar, Akshay and Gaitonde, Nikhil and Agarwal, Ishan} } @article {36275, title = {The curious case of Hemidactylus gujaratensis (Squamata: Gekkonidae).}, journal = {Zootaxa}, volume = {4388}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Feb 28}, pages = {137-142}, abstract = {

Hemidactylus Oken, 1817 is one of the most speciose genera of the family Gekkonidae with more than 140 described species (Uetz et al. 2016). While this genus naturally occurs across the tropics and subtropics, a substantial part of its distribution also results from human-mediated dispersal. Carranza Arnold (2006) retrieved five broad clades in a global phylogeny of Hemidactylus, one of which has species distributed in tropical Asia. Subsequent work by Bauer et al. (2010) and Bansal Karanth (2010) revealed that the species from tropical Asia fell into two deeply divergent and potentially non-sister sub-clades-one comprising a large radiation confined to peninsular India and Sri Lanka (the Indian radiation, IR), and the other comprising species largely distributed in Southeast (SE) Asia.

}, keywords = {Animals, India, Lizards, Phylogeny, Sri Lanka}, issn = {1175-5334}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4388.1.11}, author = {Lajmi, Aparna and Datta-Roy, Aniruddha and Vyas, Raju and Agarwal, Ishan and Karanth, Praveen} } @article {27667, title = {A new species of large-bodied, tuberculate Hemidactylus Oken~(Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Eastern Ghats, India.}, journal = {Zootaxa}, volume = {4347}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Nov 13}, pages = {331-345}, abstract = {

A distinct new gecko of the genus Hemidactylus is described from Andhra Pradesh, India. This large-sized (snout to vent length up to at least 105 mm), scansorial Hemidactylus is characterized by dorsal scalation of small granules intermixed with large, pointed, trihedral tubercles that form 16-17 fairly regularly arranged longitudinal rows at midbody; 9-11 subdigital lamellae below the first and 11-13 below the fourth digit; 6-8 strongly pointed and keeled enlarged tubercles on the original tail; 20-23 femoral pores separated by 4 poreless scales in males; 11-13 supralabials and 9-11 infralabials. This is the third vertebrate endemic to the Mahendragiri Range, highlighting the significance of this topographically complex region.

}, issn = {1175-5334}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4347.2.8}, author = {Giri, Varad B and Bauer, Aaron M and Mohapatra, Pratyush P and Srinivasulu, Chelmala and Agarwal, Ishan} } @article {25698, title = {A phylogeny of open-habitat lizards (Squamata: Lacertidae: Ophisops) supports the antiquity of Indian grassy biomes}, journal = {JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY }, volume = {44}, year = {2017}, month = {09/2017}, pages = {2021-2032}, abstract = {

India is dominated by tropical grassy biomes (TGBs), traditionally considered seres or degraded forest, with low diversity relative to the restricted, ancestral wet zone. It is unclear if Indian grasslands and other open habitats are anthropogenically derived or native, old-growth habitats; without a clear timescale of grassland evolution. One way to understand grassland evolution is to study the diversification in taxa restricted to open habitats. We use a dated phylogeny of Ophisops to address questions related to the origin, diversification and inter-relationships of Indian and Saharo-Arabian Ophisops, and ultimately the origin of Indian grasslands and open habitats.

}, doi = {10.1111/jbi.12999}, author = {Agarwal, Ishan and Ramakrishnan, Uma} } @article {8759, title = {A new species of the Cyrtodactylus (Geckoella) collegalensis (Beddome, 1870) complex (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Western India.}, journal = {Zootaxa}, volume = {4170}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Sep 23}, pages = {339-354}, abstract = {

A new species of Cyrtodactylus (Geckoella) from the C. collegalensis complex is described based on a series of specimens from western and central India. Morphological and molecular data support the distinctiveness of the new form, which can be diagnosed from other Cyrtodactylus (including other Geckoella) species by its small body size (snout to vent length to 56 mm), the absence of precloacal and femoral pores, no enlarged preanal or femoral scales, and a dorsal scalation consisting wholly of small, granular scales. The new species is most closely related to C. collegalensis, C. speciosus and C. yakhuna, from which it differs by the presence of a patch of enlarged roughly hexagonal scales on the canthus rostralis and beneath the angle of jaw, its relatively long limbs and narrow body, and a dorsal colour pattern of 4-6 pairs of dark spots.

}, issn = {1175-5334}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4170.2.7}, author = {Agarwal, Ishan and Mirza, Zeeshan A and Pal, Saunak and Maddock, Simon T and Mishra, Anurag and Bauer, Aaron M} } @article {8352, title = {The role of wet-zone fragmentation in shaping biodiversity patterns in peninsular India: insights from the caecilian amphibian Gegeneophis }, journal = {JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY }, volume = {43}, year = {2016}, month = {06/2016}, pages = {1091-1102 }, abstract = {

Aim Indian biodiversity is concentrated in the wet zone, which is disjunctly distributed in the north-east and in the peninsular Western and Eastern Ghats. The Eastern Ghats region is smaller and less well explored biologically and the affinities and origins of its biota poorly understood. Our aim was to assess whether divergence between east and west lineages might have been caused by fragmentation of the wet zone during Pleistocene climatic fluctuations, by Late Miocene wet-zone contraction or by more ancient events. We present the first dated phylogenetic test of these alternatives by inferring relationships and dating divergences within a wet-zone-restricted lineage endemic to the Eastern and Western Ghats.

}, doi = {10.1111/jbi.12710 }, author = {Gower, David J. and Agarwal, Ishan and Karanth, K. Praveen and Datta-Roy, Aniruddha and Giri, Varad B and Wilkinson, Mark and San Mauro, Diego} }