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Issue: Vol. 3774 No. 4: 7 Mar. 2014
Type: Article
Published: 2014-03-07
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3774.4.6
Page range: 381–394
Abstract views: 41
PDF downloaded: 5

Cyrts in the city: A new Bent-toed Gecko (Genus Cyrtodactylus) is the only endemic species of vertebrate from Batu Caves, Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia

Department of Biology, La Sierra University, 4500 Riverwalk Parkway, Riverside, California 92515 USA.
Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, 150 East Bulldog Boulevard, Provo, Utah 84602 USA.
Biodiversity Institute and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA.
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Pulau Pinang, Penang, Malaysia. enter for Marine and Coastal Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Centre for Drug Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Pulau Pinang, Penang, Malaysia.
new species Cyrtodactylus karst limestone conservation endemic biodiversity Batu Caves Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

Cyrtodactylus metropolis sp. nov. from Batu Caves massif, Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia is differentiated from all congeners by having a unique suite of morphological and color pattern characteristics. Remarkably, this species has been overlooked despite a plethora of field studies at Batu Caves from 1898 to the present and no specimens had ever been examined until now. As with all other limestone forest-adapted Cyrtodactylus in Peninsular Malaysia, C. metropolis sp. nov. is not a cave-adapted species but is far more common on the exterior surfaces of the Batu Caves limestone massif and its surrounding limestone vegetation. We suggest that researchers devote time exploring the exterior surfaces of limestone massifs as well the interiors of their caves.