Herpetology Notes, volume 7: 241-243 (2014) (published online on 16 April 2014)
New locality record of Treutler’s gecko Hemidactylus treutleri Mahony, 2009 in Andhra Pradesh, India Golusu Baburao1* and Bhava Mothilal Krishna Kumar2
The gekkonid lizard genus Hemidactylus is one of the most dominant groups of reptiles in India (Venugopal, 2010). In India, 25 species of this genus are currently recognized (Agarwal et al., 2011). From the Deccan plateau 11 species of Hemidactylus have been reported (Venugopal, 2010). Treutler’s gecko Hemidactylus treutleri is endemic to Deccan plateau and was discovered and described by Mahony (2009) from Golconda fort in Hyderabad (17°22’57.83”N, 78°24’6.99”E; 539 m asl), Andhra Pradesh. The species was also observed later further south in Rishi valley (13°37’59.94”N, 78°27’26.67”E; 750 m asl) of Tirupathi foothills (Sreekar et al., 2010). Hemidactylus treutleri had, in the past, been mistook for the more common and widespread Hemidactylus cf. brookii Gray, 1845 (Mahony, 2011) because of its superficial morphological similarity. However, a deeper taxonomic investigation by Mahony (2009) revealed that it differs from H. cf. brookii (Mahony, 2009, 2011). The status of H. treutleri is listed as a Least Concern (LC) species on the IUCN Red list 2013. In November 2012, we have conducted a herpetofaunal survey at Dakkal Gutta area (18°34’8.28”N, 78°18’11.10”E; 417 m asl), Yellareddy Pally village, in Nizamabad district, Andhra Pradesh. The habitat consists of rocky boulders and scrub jungle. Adjacent to this hillock, a small lake is present (Fig. 1). This rocky hillock and the adjacent watershed have a remarkable diversity of herpetofauna. During our midday survey
Care Earth Trust, old no 8/new no.15, 2nd main road, Thillaiganga nagar, Chennai-600 061, India. 2 Pitchandikulam Bio-resource Center, Auroville, Tamilnadu 605101, India. *Corresponding author:
[email protected]
underneath rock boulders, we sighted three live adult H. treutleri. The specimens were resting during our observations. The individuals were photographed with Sony DSC-S930 for identification (Fig. 2 and 3). Later on specimens were identified and corroborated using literature Mahony (2009). No further specimens were recorded in our entire survey that lasted three days (18 hours). Sympatric reptiles sighted at Dakkal Gutta were Hemidactylus leschenaultii, H. frenatus, H. sp., Psammophilus blanfordanus, Calotes versicolor, Sitana ponticeriana, Eutropis carinata, E. macularia, Lygosoma punctatum, Ptyas mucosa and Naja naja. The present record from Dakkal Gutta is the northernmost record of the species in Andhra Pradesh. Previous records were far away from the present record (138 km away from Hyderabad and 553 km from Rishi valley, Fig. 4). Hence, this is a clear indication that the range of H. treutleri is not yet well documented. Further surveys in Deccan, particularly in and around rocky outcrops will help us better document its geographic range.
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Figure 1. Habitat of Hemidactylus treutleri at Dakkal Gutta.
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Figure 2. An adult Hemidactylus treutleri from Dakkal Gutta of Yellareddy Pally village.
Golusu Baburao & Bhava Mothilal Krishna Kumar
Figure 3. An adult Hemidactylus treutleri from Dakkal Gutta of Yellareddy Pally village.
Figure 4. Map of Andhra Pradesh and distance between new and previous records of Hemidactylus treutleri in Andhra Pradesh. Green circles shows previous records and the red circle refer to new record.
Acknowledgement. We are expressing our sincere thanks to Mr. S.R. Ganesh for review the manuscript and also for his valuable comments on report. We also thankful to Mr. Dinesh and Stephen Jayaseelan for providing the map.
References Agarwal, I., Giri, V.B., Bauer, A.M. (2011): A cryptic rockdwelling Hemidactylus (Squamata: Geckkonidae) from south India. Zootaxa 2765: 21-37.
New locality record of Treutler’s gecko Hemidactylus treutleri in India
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Mahony, S. (2009): A new species of Gecko of the genus Hemidactylus (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) from Andhra Pradesh, India. Russian Journal of Herpetology 16: 27-34. Mahony S. (2011): A Taxonomic revision of Hemidactylus brookii Gray: a re-examination of the type series and some Asian synonyms, and a discussion of the obscure species Hemidactylus subtriedrus Jerdon (Reptilia: Gekkonidae). Zootaxa 3042: 37-67. Venugopal, D.P. (2010): An updated and annotated list of Indian lizards (Reptilia: Sauria) based on a review of distribution records and checklists of Indian reptiles. Journal of Threatened Taxa 2: 725-738. Sreekar, R., Shreekanth, D., Yashada, K. (2010): Predation on Hemidactylus treutleri (Squamata: Gekkonidae) by the peninsular rock agama Psammophilus dorsalis (Squamata: Agamidae) in Rishi valley, Andhra Pradesh, India. Herpetology Notes 3: 033-035.
Accepted by Philip de Pous
