A new species of Hemiphyllodactylus Bleeker, 1860 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh, India

A new species of the genus Hemiphyllodactylus (slender geckos) is described from the Tirumala Hill ranges in the Seshachalam Biosphere Reserve of the southern Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh, southern India. This novel species exhibits 9.7–12.9 % divergence in uncorrected pairwise distances of NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND 2) sequence data from its closely related congeners in peninsular India, namely H. jnana (9.5–12.6 %), H. nilgiriensis (10.9–12.9 %), and H. peninsularis (10.5–11.2 %), and had previously been suggested as an undescribed species by earlier researchers based on molecular phylogenetic analyses.

The new species, represented by five individuals, reached a maximum observed snout – vent length (SVL) of 33.7 mm and differs from its peninsular Indian congeners by the following combination of characters: 12–16 chin scales; 16–17 dorsal scales; 9–11 ventral scales at midbody; males with 6–8 precloacal pores and 5–7 femoral pores on each thigh, separated by 7–10 poreless scales; and lamellar formula of manus 2-2 - 2 - 2 and pes 2-2 - 2 - 2.

This is the second species of the genus Hemiphyllodactylus to be reported from Andhra Pradesh, after H. arakuensis.