Occurrence and
comparison of Jerdon’s Gecko Hemidactylus subtriedrus Jerdon 1853
with Termite Hill Gecko Hemidactylus triedrus (Daudin 1802) from AnanthagiriHills, northern Eastern Ghats, India
S.M. Maqsood Javed1, S. Saravanan 2, Farida Tampal 2 & C. Srinivasulu 3
1,2 World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF)- APSO, Ho. No. 818,
Castle Hills, Road No. 2, Near NMDC, VijayanagarColony, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 500057, India
3 Wildlife Biology Section, Department of Zoology, University
College of Science, Osmania University, Hyderabad,
Andhra Pradesh 500007, India
Email: 1 javedwwf2007@gmail.com
Date of online
publication 26 July 2009
ISSN 0974-7907 (online) |
0974-7893 (print)
Editor: Aaron Bauer
Manuscript
details:
Ms # o2184
Received 24
March 2009
Final received
12 June 2009
Finally accepted
13 July 2009
Citation: Javed, S.M.M., S. Saravanan, F. Tampal & C. Srinivasulu(2009). Occurrence and comparison of Jerdon’sGecko Hemidactylus subtriedrus Jerdon 1853 with Termite Hill Gecko Hemidactylus triedrus(Daudin 1802) from AnanthagiriHills, northern Eastern Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 1(7): 366-369.
Copyright: © S.M. Maqsood Javed, S. Saravanan, Farida Tampal & C. Srinivasulu 2009.
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium
for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate
credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Author Details: S.M. Maqsood Javed is a Senior Field Researcher cum Education Officer,
World Wide Fund for Nature- India (WWF), Andhra Pradesh State Office located at
Hyderabad. His interest lies in biodiversity studies with special emphasis on Arachnofauna and Herpetofauna.
S. Sarvanan is Education Officer,
World Wide Fund for Nature – India (WWF), Andhra Pradesh State Office located
at Hyderabad. His interest lies in Herpetofauna and
Ornithology.
Farida Tampalis State Director of the Andhra Pradesh State Office of World Wide Fund for
Nature – India (WWF) located at Hyderabad. She is interested in understanding
the biodiversity of the Eastern Ghats with special emphasis on Ecology, Arachnofauna and Herpetofauna.
C. Srinivasuluis Assistant Professor in Department of Zoology of University College of
Science, Osmania University in Hyderabad. He is the
head of the research laboratory at Osmania University
that focuses on biodiversity inventorying, conservation, ecology and animal
taxonomy with special reference to Eastern Ghats and Godavari river basin in
Andhra Pradesh.
Author
Contribution: S.M.M.Javed, S. Saravananconducted the field surveys; C.Srinivasulu, S.M.M. Javed and F. Tampal wrote the
paper.
Acknowledgement: The authors are
very much thankful to Shri Hitesh Malhotra,
IFS, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife
Warden, Andhra Pradesh for constant support and encouragement. SMMJ, SS and FT
expresses gratitude to Shri Anil Kumar V. Epur, Chairman, WWF-AP State Committee, Hyderabad and Shri Ravi Singh, Secretary General & CEO, WWF-India,
New Delhi for constant support and encouragement. We also express our thanks toShri Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Managing Director and ShriP.V. Ramana Reddy, IFS, Executive Director, Andhra
Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, Hyderabad for constant support and
permitting us to conduct biodiversity studies in APTDC Eco-tourism sites. CS
thanks Prof. T. Tirupathi Rao,
Vice Chancellor, Osmania University and the Head,
Department of Zoology, Osmania University, Hyderabad
for encouragement and facilities. We are also thankful to Dr. Aaron M. Bauer,
Herpetologist, Villanova University, USA and Mr. P.P. Mohapatra,
Herpetologist and Research Scholar, Orissa for constructive suggestions and
helping with references. Lastly, we would like to thank Mr. P.S.M. Srinivas, Manager Corporate for exploring new places and
all the WWF-Staff of APSO, Hyderabad for their constant support and timely
suggestions.
Abstract:Recent herpetological surveys in northern Eastern Ghats of
Andhra Pradesh yielded sightings of Jerdon’s Gecko Hemidactylus subtriedrus Jerdon 1853. Little
is known about its distribution and taxonomic status. This species closely resembles the Termite
Hill Gecko Hemidactylus triedrus(Daudin 1802) and it has often been taxonomically
confused with it. Therefore, through
this communication we provide information on the occurrence of Jerdon’s Gecko along with details showing the level of
resemblance and differences from Termite Hill Gecko.
Keywords: Ananthagiri Hills, Andhra Pradesh,
Eastern Ghats, Hemidactylus subtriedrus, Hemidactylus triedrus.
Jerdon’s Gecko Hemidactylus subtriedrus Jerdon 1853 is one of the rare, endangered and
endemic species of India (Molur & Walker
1998). Little is known about its
distribution and taxonomic status (Smith 1935; Zug et al. 2007). This species closely resembles the Termite
Hill Gecko Hemidactylus triedrus(Daudin 1802) and it has often been taxonomically
confused with it. Recent herpetological
surveys in northern Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh yielded sightings of Jerdon’s Gecko in February 2009. Through this note, we communicate the
occurrence of Hemidactylus subtriedrus from a second location in Andhra Pradesh
after Jerdon’s discovery in 1853 from the Nellore
District (type locality not precise, but accepted as Nellore and Ellore in southern India, the regions adjoining the borders
Nellore and Vellore districts of the Madras Presidency of British India).
The Ananthagiri Hill range is located in the northern parts of
the Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh. It
is an unbroken chain of rugged hills and plateaus that spreads over an area of
about 300+ km2. The river Gosthani bisects the hill
ranges. The Ananthagiri Hills possess typical
Southern tropical dry deciduous and Southern tropical moist deciduous forest
types intermingled with scrub (Champion & Seth 1968). The importance of this landscape has been
recognized internationally with the “Eastern Deccan Plateau moist forests” of
northern Eastern Ghats being designated as a “Global 200 Ecoregion”
(WWF 2007). The AnanthagiriHills support a very high biodiversity. The flora is represented by mixture of
moist and dry species like Adina cordifolia, Mallotus phillipensis,Pterocarpus marsupium,Terminalia tomentosa,Macaranga peltata,Chloroxylon swietenia,Tectona grandis,Anogeissus latifolia,Ficus benjamina,Ficus hispida,Butea monosperma,Bauhinia semla, Bauhinia racemosa, Bauhinia vahlii,
with undergrowth consisting of Bambusa arundinacea, Helecteris isora, Grewia hirsuta, etc. The fauna includes highly threatened species like Panthera pardus, Melursus ursinus, Tetraceros quadricornis, Anthracoceros coronatus, etc. The overall climate of this region is hot and dry most of the year. Air
temperature rises to a summer peak of 360C and dips to 50C in winter. The
average rainfall is about 900-1500 mm per annum.
World Wide Fund
for Nature - India (WWF), Andhra Pradesh State Office in collaboration with
Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) has initiated a six
months (January to August 2009) survey-based biodiversity documentation project
in APTDC Eco-tourism sites, which fall within the northern and central Eastern
Ghats of Andhra Pradesh. The outcome of
these surveys will be documented in the form of a biodiversity field guide for
eco-tourism enthusiasts. WWF and APTDC consider that documenting our existing
natural heritage is one of the effective methods for its sustainable
conservation and management. During the
first phase of a biodiversity survey at APTDC eco-tourism sites in the northern
Eastern Ghats (Tyda, Borra,Ananthagiri and ArakuValley), we observed a few specimens of Jerdon’sGecko Hemidactylus subtriedrus Jerdon, 1853 in the Arakuvalley (18o20’N & 82o50’E) (Image 1). This species is restricted to eastern Andhra Pradesh along the coastal
region. It closely resembles Hemidactylus triedrus(Daudin, 1802), which is a widely distributed species
in central and western Andhra Pradesh (restricted to NallamalaiHills and plains of Deccan plateau) and also in other parts of India, as well
as Pakistan. An endemic subspecies, H. t. lankae,
occurs in Sri Lanka. We provide photo vouchers of both species to show the
level of resemblance as well as differences between the two (Images 2 & 3).
Material and
Methods
We surveyed the
study area for three days (between 16 and 18 February 2009 from 2100 to 2300
hr). During the survey two specimens
were encountered and the photo voucher (NHM.OU.REP.PV.1-2009) of one specimen
has been deposited in the Natural History Museum of OsmaniaUniversity, Hyderabad, India. The
specimen was captured and released after examination (not sexed), measurement
and photography. The measurements (in
mm) were taken with Mitutoyo digital calipers (to the
nearest 0.1mm): snout-vent length (SVL; from tip of snout to vent) = 60.10,
trunk length (TRL; distance from axilla to groin
measured from posterior edge of forelimb insertion to anterior edge of hind
limb insertion) = 33.00, body width (BW; maximum width of body) = 11.78, crus length (CL; from base of heel to knee) = 6.6; tail
length (TL; from vent to tip of tail) = 69.00, tail width (TW; measured at
widest point of tail) = 4.45; head length (HL; distance between retroarticular process of jaw and snout-tip) = 12.60, head
width (HW; maximum width of head) = 10.00, head height (HH; maximum height of
head, from occiput to underside of jaws) = 7.09,
forearm length (FL; from base of palm to elbow) = 4.22; orbital diameter (OD;
greatest diameter of orbit) = 3.00, nares to eye
distance (NE; distance between anteriormost point of
eye and nostril) = 5.10, snout to eye distance (SE; distance between anteriormost point of eye and tip of snout) = 6.15, eye to
ear distance (EE; distance from anterior edge of ear opening to posterior
corner of eye) = 4.78, internarial distance (IN;
distance between nares) = 1.50, interorbitaldistance (IO; shortest distance between left and right supraciliaryscale rows) = 5.60.
Description
The head is
large, oviform and distinct from the neck (Image 2). Snout is longer than the distance between the
eye and the ear-opening, l.4 times the diameter of the orbit. Snout covered with convex granules, which may
be keeled; hinder part of head with minute granules intermixed with roundish
tubercles. Rostral is subquadrangular,
not twice as broad as deep (ratio of breadth to depth < 2), with median
cleft above; nostril pierced between the rostral and
the first labial; 12 upper and 10 lower labials; mental large, triangular or
pentagonal, at least twice as long as the adjacent labials; Two pairs of postmentals are present, the outer pair is smaller
than the inner. Forehead is concave and ear-opening is narrow, sub-oval,
slightly oblique. Body and limbs
moderate. Digits free, moderately
dilated, inner well developed; infra-digital lamellae slightly oblique, 8 under
the first digit, 12 under the forth. Upper surface of body covered with small
flat granular scales, intermingled with large flat scales and large conical
tubercles arranged in 16 to 20 more or less irregular longitudinal series.
Abdominal scales large, smooth, rounded, imbricate. Tail rounded, feebly depressed, tapering, and
covered above with irregular, small as well as large, smooth imbricated scales and rings of large, conical, pointed,
keeled tubercles, beneath with a median series of transversely dilated
plates. Light pinkish brown above,
generally with more or less defined transverse darker bands bordered by pure
yellow tubercles surrounded by deep-brown rings. There is no variation observed in comparison
to the original description given by Smith (1935).
Comparison of Jerdon’s Gecko with Termite Hill Gecko:
The Jerdon’s Gecko differs from that of the Termite Hill Gecko
in the following aspects:
1. Forth toe lamellae 12 (vs.7-10 lamellae) (Images 11 & 12).
2. Infralabials10 (vs. 7-8 infralabials) (Images 5 & 6).
3. Ear opening narrow, sub-oval and
slightly oblique (vs. wide, oval and oblique) (Images 5 & 6).
4. Dark bands on the dorsum broad,
unbroken and with yellow margins (vs. narrow faded bands, each broken
distinctly in to two by white tubercles with black margins) (Images 2 & 3).
5. Bands on the body and tail 12 (vs.14) (Juvenile H. triedrus closely resembles
the adult H. subtriedrus) (Images 2 to 4).
6. Tubercles on the dorsum and tail
sparse, conical and straight (vs. dense, trihedral and posteriorly slanting) (Images 7 to 10).
Until now, Jerdon’s Gecko had only been recorded from the Nellore
district, Andhra Pradesh, and the Vellore district, Tamil Nadu (Smith 1935;Sanyal & Dasgupta 1990;
Sharma 2002). This species has also been reported earlier from Aurangabad,
Maharashtra (Anon 1884) and recently reported from Bastar,
Chhattisgarh (Sanyal & Dasgupta1990; Chandra & Gajbe 2005); Kanpur, Uttar
Pradesh (based on the collection of specimen in 1975 by S. Praveen, deposited
in Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates) and NiyamgiriHills, Rayagada and Kalahandidistricts, Orissa (Dutta et al. 2005). Literature
references to its occurrence in Ellore, Andhra
Pradesh needs to be confirmed as recent surveys in the Ellururegion of the Krishna district did not yield H. subtriedrus. We suspect that the Ellorementioned by Jerdon (1853) and subsequent authors
could be Vellore of Tamil Nadu. If that is the case, our observations
constitute the second record of this species in Andhra Pradesh, India.
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