CYRTODACTYLUS RUKHADEVA

A new species of bent-toed gecko was discovered in the Tenasserim mountains in Suan Phueng district, Ratchaburi province. An arboreal species, Cyrtodactylus rukhadeva takes its name from the Rukha Deva, mythical tree nymphs that protect the forest in Thai mythology. While this species is physically and genetically distinct from related species from the Brevipalmatus group, most of the species within this group look quite similar, given that they evolved alongside one another in similar habitats.

Found in the mountainous evergreen tropical forests of the Tenasserim mountains, primarily in bamboo and dry dipterocarp forests, these lizards are usually seen near large tree holes or hiding around the roots of strangler fg trees. Most were found around two metres above the ground, but at least one was found at six metres above the ground, leading researchers to conclude that this species usually prefers the upper canopy, but might be forced to move further down in the presence of rain or strong winds.

This gecko is very aggressive, opening its mouth and waving its tail side to side when threatened. This discovery again highlights the biodiversity and range-restricted endemism in the Dawna Tenasserim landscape on the border of Thailand and Myanmar which has yet to be fully explored or the species there fully described.

Grismer, L.L., Suwannapoom, C., Pawangkhanant, P., Nazarov, R.A., Yushchenko, P.V., Naiduangchan, M., Le, M.D., Luu, V.Q. and Poyarkov, N.A. (2021) A new cryptic arboreal species of the Cyrtodactylus brevipalmatus group (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the uplands of western Thailand. Vertebrate Zoology 71: 723-746. doi. org/10.3897/vz.71.e76069