New bent-toed gecko species discovered in Vietnam
Scientists from Germany, Russia and Vietnam have described a new species of bent-toed gecko in the genus Cyrtodactylus from Đồng Nai province and the former Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province in southern Vietnam. The new gecko is named after Cát Tiên National Park in southern Vietnam, where the first type specimen was collected.
A detailed description of the species was published in July 2009 in issue 2161 of Zootaxa, a journal based in New Zealand.
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The Cát Tiên bent-toed gecko. |
Type specimens of the species were also collected in the Vĩnh Cửu Nature Reserve, in the former Vĩnh Cửu district of Đồng Nai province, and in the Núi Dinh area of the former Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province, now part of Hồ Chí Minh City.
The Cát Tiên bent-toed gecko, Cyrtodactylus cattienensis, can be distinguished from other bent-toed geckos around the world by the following features: a relatively small body, with a snout-vent length of up to 69 mm; a dark brown nuchal band behind the neck that extends to the rear edge of the eye socket; and 4-6 alternating dark brown and light brown bands on the body.
The tail bears 4-12 alternating white and blackish-brown bands. The dorsal tubercles are arranged in 16-22 rows along the body; there are 28-42 rows of ventral scales at midbody; there is no lateral skin fold on the flanks; the tail is not flattened, its base is not swollen and its scales are arranged in rings; males have 6-8 precloacal pores in a continuous series forming an obtuse angle; there are 3-8 enlarged femoral scales; and the subcaudal scales are small, rounded and overlapping.
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This article was translated from Vietnamese.
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