The urban bent­toed gecko: Cyrtodactylus Urbanus

The urban bent­toed gecko: Cyrtodactylus Urbanus

• Guwahati, the largest city in the Northeast, has yielded a new species of lizard – the urban bent­toed gecko.
• The new species of lizard, zoologically named  Cyrtodactylus Urbanus, is markedly different in molecular structure, blotch, and color from the  Cyrtodactylus guwahatiensis, or the Guwahati bent­toed gecko, that was discovered two years ago.
• The study on the urban bent­toed gecko has been published in the latest edition of Zootaxa, a peer­reviewed scientific mega journal for animal taxonomists
• All bent­toed 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 such as the number and arrangement of certain pores in males, the number of midventral scales and color pattern
• Guwahati is home to 26 species of amphibians, 57 species of reptiles, 214 species of birds and 36 species of mammals. The city provides that edge for urban biodiversity to thrive because it encompasses 18 hills, eight reserve forests, two wildlife sanctuaries and a Ramsar site (wetland) besides the Brahmaputra river.