New bent-toed gecko species discovered in Vietnam
Two zoologists have discovered a bent-toed gecko previously unknown to science in Cúc Phương National Park in Ninh Bình province, northern Vietnam.
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Ngô Văn Trí, a specialist at the Vietnam Institute of Tropical Biology, and Chan Kin Onn, who works at the Natural History Museum of the University of Kansas in the U.S., found the bent-toed gecko in the forests of Cúc Phương National Park.
The Cúc Phương bent-toed gecko. (Photo: Ngô Văn Trí)
Cyrtodactylus cucphuongensis — the scientific name of the Cúc Phương bent-toed gecko — has yellow-edged black spots on its head, five or six broad, irregular dark-black bands across its back, and yellow edging and black spots along both flanks. Black spots also appear between the front and hind legs. Its average body length is about 96mm.
The two researchers believe the Cúc Phương bent-toed gecko is endemic to Cúc Phương National Park and that its wild population is quite small. The species is adapted to life in limestone karst caves.
The discovery was published in the animal taxonomy journal Zootaxa on Dec. 9.
This is not the first time Ngô Văn Trí has found a new reptile species in Vietnam. Last year, he and an American scientist discovered the parthenogenetic butterfly lizard Leiolepis ngovantrii after reading the menu of a restaurant in the former Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu province (now part of Hồ Chí Minh City). What makes this lizard special is that it reproduces asexually, without the need for males. Hunting, trading or consuming protected wild species is illegal in Vietnam.
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