Lawder's bent-toed gecko

Lawder's bent-toed Gecko
Conservation status
Data Deficient  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Gekkonidae
Genus:	Cyrtodactylus
Species:	C. lawderanus
Binomial name
Cyrtodactylus lawderanus (Stoliczka, 1871)
Synonyms[2]
Gymnodactylus lawderanus Stoliczka, 1871 Alsophylax himalayensis Annandale, 1913 Cyrtodactylus lawderanus — Underwood, 1954 Gonydactylus lawderanus — Kluge, 1991 Cyrtopodion lawderanus — Rösler, 2000 Siwaligekko lawderanus — Khan, 2003 Cyrtopodion lawderanum — Frost, 2007 Cyrtodactylus lawderanum — Agarwal et al., 2014

Lawder's bent-toed gecko (Cyrtodactylus lawderanus) is a species of gecko, a lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species is endemic to northern India (western Himalayas, Kumaon). Its type locality is "Kumaon", restricted to Almora by Malcolm Arthur Smith.^[2] It is named after Mr. A. Lawder who collected the holotype. His identity is not known for sure, but he is likely to have been A.W. Lawder who was a member of the Geological Society of London, as was Ferdinand Stoliczka who described the species.^[3] It is sometimes placed in the genus Cyrtopodion.

Description

The body of C. lawderanus is rather slender and elongate, depressed, and covered above with numerous granules intermixed with small roundish tubercles. The upper side of the head is equally granular, with the granular scales being somewhat larger on the snout. The rostral is large, and broad, with the nostril pierced between the rostral, the first labial, and two nasals. It has 9 upper and 8 lower labials. The mental is triangular, partially wedged in between two elongate chin-shields, forming a suture below it. Each of the chin-shields is followed along the labials by three other somewhat rounded shields. The ear-opening is small and rounded. The ventral scales are small. Two pairs of preanal pores occur in the male, are close together, and form an angle. The general colour above is greyish brown, very densely marbled and spotted with dark brown, with some indistinct undulating, whitish cross bands on the body, and margined on the anterior edges with blackish brown. A somewhat indistinct dark band runs from the nostril through the eye to the ear. The front and hind edges of the eye are white. The labials are spotted and speckled with brown. The underside of the body is whitish. The length of the body is nearly 2 inches.^[4]

Reproduction

C. lawderanus is oviparous.^[2]

References

1. Srinivasulu C, Giri V (2021). "Cyrtodactylus lawderanus". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T202870A2757479.en. Accessed on 13 December 2024.
2. Cyrtodactylus lawderanus at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 6 October 2017.
3. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Cyrtopodion lawderanum, p. 152).
4. Boulenger GA (1890). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. London: Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xviii + 541 pp. (Gymnodactylus lawderanus, p. 64).

Further reading

• Annandale N (1913). "Some new and interesting Batrachia and Lizards from India, Ceylon and Borneo". Records of the Indian Museum 9: 301–307. (Alsophylax himalayensis, new species, pp. 305–306 + Plate XV, figures 1, 1a, 1b, 1c).
• Smith MA (1935). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. II.—Sauria. London: Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 440 pp. + Plate I + 2 maps. (Gymnodactylus lawderanus, pp. 58–59, Figure 18).
• Stoliczka F (1871). "Notes on new or little known Indian lizards". Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Calcutta) 1871: 192–195. (Gymnodactylus lawderanus, new species, p. 194).