Jerdon's day gecko

Jerdon's day gecko
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Sauria
Infraorder: Gekkota
Family: Gekkonidae
Subfamily: Gekkoninae
Genus: Cnemaspis
Species: C. jerdonii
Binomial name
Cnemaspis jerdonii
(Theobald, 1868)
Synonyms
  • Gymnodactylus jerdonii
    Theobald, 1868
  • Gonatodes jerdonii
    Boulenger, 1885
  • Cnemaspis jerdoni [sic]
    M.A. Smith, 1935
  • Cnemaspis jerdonii
    Kluge, 1993[1]

Jerdon's day gecko, Cnemaspis jerdonii, is a species of gecko, which is endemic to India and Sri Lanka.

Etymology

The specific name, jerdonii, is in honor of British biologist Thomas C. Jerdon.[2]

Description

In habit, Cnemaspis jerdonii is similar to Cnemaspis kandianus and Cnemaspis gracilis. Its digits are not dilated, but with rather large plates under the basal part, the most distal of these plates being the largest and longitudinally oval in shape. Its upper surface is covered with uniform, small granules, smooth on the back, a little larger and keeled on the snout; a few erect spine-like tubercles are on the flanks. The rostral is four-sided, nearly twice as broad as deep, with a median cleft above; the nostrils are pierced between the rostral and the three nasals; eight to 10 upper and seven or eight lower labials are present; the mental is large, triangular or pentagonal, with small chin-shields passing gradually into the granules of the throat, which are rather large, flat, and smooth. Ventral scales are hexagonal, imbricate, and smooth. The male has five to 12 femoral pores on each side, with no preanal pores. The tail is cylindrical, tapering, and covered with smooth scales, in its basal half with a few scattered larger tubercles; the median series of subcaudals is enlarged. In color, it is grey-brown above, clouded with darker; the small lateral spines are white, sometimes with a black cervical spot; it is whitish beneath, the throat is sometimes brown-dotted.[3]

Notes

  1. "Cnemaspis jerdonii ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  2. Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Cnemaspis jerdoni [sic]", p. 134).
  3. Boulenger GA. 1890. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. London: Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xviii + 541 pp. (Gonatodes jerdonii, pp. 78-79).

References

External links


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