16-Feb-2020: Cyrtodactylus urbanus; a new species of Urban lizard

Guwahati, the largest city in the Northeast, has yielded a new species of Urban lizard – the urban bent-toed gecko.

The new species of lizard, zoologically named Cyrtodactylus urbanus, is markedly different in molecular structure, blotch and colour from the Cyrtodactylus guwahatiensis, or the Guwahati bent-toed gecko, that was discovered two years ago. It was also the 12th recorded gecko from the Northeast.

All bent-toed geckos in Northeast India were thought to be a single species, the Cyrtodactylus khasiensis found primarily in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya.

Though the urban bent-toed gecko falls within the khasiensis group, it differs from other members of this group in mitochondrial sequence data as well as aspects of morphology.