A new cave-dwelling species of Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Khammouane Province, southern Laos

Abstract

A new cave-dwelling bent-toed gecko, Cyrtodactylus lomyenensis sp. nov. is described from a karst forest in Gnommalath District, Khammouane Province, southern Laos. It differs from all other species of Indochinese-Thai Cyrtodactylus in the following combination of characters: maximum SVL of at least 71.2 mm; head dorsum yellowish with irregular brown blotches; presence of a brown nuchal loop reaching the posterior edge of the orbit; four narrow yellowish-cream transversal bands with irregular anterior and posterior black edges on a brown background between limb insertions; no precloacal groove; 39-40 precloacal-femoral pores in males, arranged in a continuous row; females with 32 precloacal-femoral pores in a continuous row, smaller than those of males; five postanal tubercles on each side; 16-18 subdigital lamellae on first toe; 19-23 subdigital lamellae on fourth toe; no tubercles on tail dorsum; and a median row of enlarged subcaudal scales.