Two new species of Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from southern India.

We describe two new species of Cnemaspis from Alagarkovil, Madurai District and Mekkarai, Shenkottai, Tenkasi, southern India, based on molecular and morphological data. The new species differ from their congeners by genetic divergences of 4.816.1% and 14.831.6% for the ND2 mitochondrial gene. Two new species belong to the Cnemaspis gracilis and Cnemaspis beddomei clades, respectively. Molecular data for the newly described Cnemaspis aaronbaueri from its type locality is also presented, and its phylogenetic position is established.

A new Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the northern Western Ghats, Maharashtra, India.

A new species belonging to the genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 is described from the Rangana Fort mountain range of the northern Western Ghats, Maharashtra, India. A preliminary 16S rRNA phylogeny of Indian Cnemaspis is provided and the phylogenetic position of the new species is established within the goaensis clade. The new species, Cnemaspis ranganaensis sp. nov. can easily be distinguished from all Indian congeners by having 3 or 4 spine-like tubercles on the flanks, conical tubercles absent on flank, dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous, presence of precloacal and femoral pores in males, 8 or 9 poreless scales between femoral and precloacal pores; gular scales flat, smooth; 93-101 paravertebral scales, 59-63 mid-dorsal scales; 93-101 longitudinal scales from mental to cloaca, 30-31 scales across belly; ventral scales smooth, imbricate; tail with small, granular, keeled, pointed, subimbricate scales intermixed with enlarged, strongly keeled, conical tubercles forming whorls; scales on ventral side of tail imbricate, smooth, with three rows of large, slightly elongated median subcaudals. The new species is closely related to C. goaensis, from which it differs by a genetic divergence of 1.9-3.0%. Molecular phylogenetic reconstruction supports the distinctiveness of the new species.

Description of a cryptic new species of Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Western Ghats of Kerala State of India.

We describe a cryptic new species of gecko of the genus Cnemaspis Strauch from the southern Western Ghats of Kerala. This medium-sized Cnemaspis species is differentiated from all other Indian congeners by a suite of the following distinct morphological characters: heterogeneous mid-dorsal scales, 6-7 supralabials; 113-120 paravertebral rows of tubercles; 71-85 mid-dorsal scales; absence of spine-like tubercles on flanks; subimbricate, smooth ventral scales; 135-140 mid-ventral scales; subdigital lamellae under fourth digit of manus 23-25; subdigital lamellae under fourth digit of pes 24-25; males with 7-8 precloacal pores; median row of subcaudals enlarged, smooth, a series of two large scales alternating, containing one divided scale; head and neck colouration brownish-yellow, consistent in adult males; adult females with orange coloured head and neck. Recent new descriptions of Cnemaspis species together with the present discovery show that the southern Western Ghats species have been overlooked by previous studies. Therefore we suggest further studies to evaluate the diversity of Cnemaspis in this region.