The bent-toed geckos of the genus Cyrtodactylus are diverse, with 330 species of Asian geckos, commonly known as bent-toed geckos, bow-fingered geckos, and forest geckos. which makes it the largest genus of geckos. The genus was established by Gray, 1827 with the description of Cyrtodactylus pulchellus. Bohra et al. (2022) have described the 331st species in the genus, Cyrtodactylus ngopensi from from Tuikhur veng, Chawngbawla section, Ngopa, Champhai District, Mizoram, Northeast India, collected by Johny M.S. Dawngkima, Rochanhlua and H.T. Zonunsanga on 16 September 2021.
The new species has only been found at the type locality in Ngopa town, one of the townships in Champhai district of the south-eastern part of Mizoram. The microhabitat of the holotype is a crevice between a length of dried rotten wood and a sand wall near a public spring water, whilst the paratypes were collected from clefts in a retaining wall and stacked boulders. All the specimens were collected from anthropogenic areas fringed with secondary forest in the peripheral part of the town. Climatic conditions in the area varied between 10 and 20°C during winter and 15 to 30°C during summer; the annual rainfall is 2037.6 mm. The location is in montane subtropical forest.
Citation
Bohra SC, Zonunsanga HT, Das M, Purkayastha J, Biakzuala L, Lalremsanga HT. Morphological and molecular phylogenetic data reveal another new species of bent-toed gecko (Cyrtodactylus Gray: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Mizoram, India. Journal of Natural History. 2022 Nov 17;56(41-44):1585-608.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column] [/et_pb_row] [/et_pb_section]
