Description of a new forest-dwelling bent-toed gecko of the Cyrtodactylus intermedius group (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, northeastern Thailand

A new forest-dwelling bent-toed gecko of the Cyrtodactylus intermedius group is described from a dry evergreen forest habitat in the Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve, Wang Nam Khiao District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, northeastern Thailand. Based on an integrative taxonomic approach using molecular analyses of the mitochondrial ND2 gene and statistical analyses of morphological characteristics it was revealed that the Sakaerat population is the sister species of C. kulenensis from Banteay Srei District, Siem Reap Province, Cambodia and differs morphologically from all other species in the C. intermedius group.

Cyrtodactylus sakaeratensis sp. nov. is differentiated from its congeners by having the combination of a SVL 64.6–80.0 mm in adult males (n = 14) and 65.0– 83.1 mm in adult female (n = 8); 9–11 supralabial and nine or 10 infralabial scales; 27 or 28 paravertebral tubercles; 17–19 longitudinal rows of dorsal tubercles; 46–48 ventral scales; seven or eight expanded subdigital lamellae on the 4 th toe; 12 or 13 unmodified subdigital lamellae on 4 th toe; 20 total subdigital lamellae on the 4 th toe; 22–28 total number of enlarged femoral scales; enlarged femoral and precloacal scales continuous; seven or eight pore-bearing precloacal scales in males; three rows of enlarged post-precloacal scales; two or three postcloacal tubercles; proximal femoral scales greater than 1/2 the size of distal femoral scales; absence of interdigital pocketing between the digits; and posterior border of the nuchal loop pointed.

Uncorrected pairwise genetic divergences (p- distances) between the new species and other species of the C. intermedius group ranged from 6.02–29.10%. The presence of this new species, currently known only from Sakaerat’s dry evergreen forest, implies that additional undescribed Cyrtodactylus species may exist in other unexplored habitats of northeastern Thailand.