Cyrtodactylus vairengtensis sp. nov. Figs. 3–7; Table 3 Holotype: Adult male ([MZMU 2903]; Fig. 3), from the jointed weathered siltstone bed along a public link road (24.501111°N; 92.762222° E; elevation 230 m a.s.l.), in the backyard of UPC-NEI church building, Hall Veng, Vairengte, Kolasib District, Mizoram, north-east India collected on 5 June 2022 by Zosiamliana Colney and Joseph Vanlalhriata. Paratypes: One adult male (MZMU2904) and one female (MZMU2905), same collection details as holotype. Two adult males (MZMU2901, MZMU2902) collected from a rocky wall covered by vegetation along Aitlang road (24.495556 °N; 92.757500 °E; elevation 168 m a.s.l.), Field Veng, Vairengte, Kolasib District, Mizoram, north-east India on 5 June 2022 by Zosiamliana Colney, H. T. Lalremsanga, Lal Muansanga and Joseph Vanlalhriata and two adult females (MZMU2626, MZMU2742) collected along a narrow public slope stone steps walkway (24.501111 °N; 92.762222°E; elevation 230 m a.s.l.), Hall Veng, Vairengte, Kolasib District, Mizoram, northeast India by Zosiamliana Colney, C. Lalfamkima, Alfred Lalsanglura and Joseph Vanlalhriata on 12 November 2021 and 2 April 2022. Diagnosis: Cyrtodactylus vairengtensis sp. nov. is a moderate-sized gecko (adult SVL 57.6–73.6 mm) having 10–11 supralabials and 10–11 infralabials; 22–23 longitudinal rows of dorsal tubercles which are rounded and conical to feebly keeled; 34–39 continuous series of paravertebral tubercles between the level of axilla and groin; 35–41 mid-ventral scale rows across the ventral region; 9–11 precloacal pores in males; 5–9 precloacal pits (no pitted scales in one specimen) in females and 14–17 subdigital lamellae under toe IV; ventral surface of tail without transversely arranged enlarged subcaudal scales. Dorsum has dark brown blotches intermixed with bordering whitish patches that form an irregular body pattern; original tail has alternating dark brown and transverse whitish bands. Description of holotype: Holotype in good preservation condition. Adult male, SVL 60.6 mm. Head less than one-third of SVL (HL/SVL 0.30), longer than broad (HW/HL 0.55), somewhat depressed (HD/HW 0.68) and distinct from neck, snout less than half of the head length (SO/HL 0.36); scales on the canthus rostralis, snout and forehead are homogeneous, interorbital area flat, canthus rostralis broadly rounded; loreal region inflated with granular scales; scales on the interorbital and occipital regions somewhat homogeneous in size; scales on the interorbital region of the head to the nape are slightly smaller than those of the forehead, somewhat blunt and juxtaposed having no distinct tubercles; eye approximately one-quarter of the head length (OD/HL 0.23); vertical pupil with crenulate margins; supraciliaries moderate in size, blunt, somewhat oval, those present in the middle (above the orbit) are largest and most prominent; ear opening oval, obliquely orientated, small (EL/HL 0.077); orbit to ear distance is less than the eye diameter (OE/OD 0.93); rostral wider than long (RL/RW 0.57), partially and dorsally divided by a poorly developed rostral groove; single enlarged supranasal on either side, separated by five small granular internasals; rostral in contact with the first supralabial, nasals, two supranasals and five small internasals; nostrils semicircular, openings laterally orientated, posterior half covered by the nasal pad, each nasal is in broad contact with the rostral and surrounded by the supranasal, first supralabial, and four small postnasals; a single row of small granular scales separate the orbit from the supralabials; mental wider than long (ML/MW 0.53), triangular; two well developed postmentals on either side; the inner pair of postmentals more than one and a half of the size of the outer pair (PMIIL/PMIL 0.52), bordered by the mental, infralabial I, the outer postmental and five gular scales on either side; outer postmentals bordered by inner postmental, infralabials I and II, and four gular scales on either side; 11 supralabials on each side, bordered by a row of medium to large sized scales, somewhat flat and elongated; 11 infralabials on each side, a row of enlarged gular scales (largest anteriorly) ventrally bordering infralabials II to V; gular region with small granular scales throughout except for a few scale rows bordering the mental, postmentals and infralabials which are larger, flat and juxtaposed. Body moderately slender, trunk length approximately half of the snout to vent length (TRL/SVL 0.47); dorsal scales are mostly heterogeneous, small rounded granule like scales intermixed with irregularly arranged, bluntly conical and feebly keeled enlarged tubercles (3–4 times the size of granular scales) becoming slightly smaller and more conical towards the flanks, the largest on the mid-dorsum; tubercles extending posteriorly from the occipital region to the second segment of the tail and are smaller on the nape than those of the dorsum; 23 mid-dorsal tubercle rows throughout the dorsum; 34 paravertebral tubercles between the level of the axilla and the level of the groin; ventrolateral folds are poorly developed, not denticulate but with a single row of continuous, projected smooth tubercles; ventral scales smooth, cycloid, imbricate to sub-imbricate and are in 40 rows, much larger than dorsals and are slightly smaller in size under thighs; ten distinct precloacal pores in a continuous series; a single row of six slightly enlarged scales (median scale being the largest) between the precloacal pores and the vent; four small postcloacal tubercles on both the sides of the tail base. Forearm (FL/SVL 0.16) and tibia (CL/SVL 0.18) short; digits narrow, without a scansorial pad, strongly inflected at each joint, all bearing robust, recurved claws; subdigital lamellae transversely widened beneath the basal phalanx; basal lamellae 4-5-6-5-5 on the right manus and 4-6-5-6-5 on the right pes; distal lamellae (intervening rows of non-lamellar granular scales between the basal and distal lamellae series in parentheses): 5(4)-7(2)-8(3)-8(3)-8(3) on the right manus, 5(4)-7(2)-10(2)-8(4)-10(3) on the right pes; interdigital webbing absent from both the manus and pes; relative length of digits: I 1) that accounted for 75% of the total variation, and the three components accounted for 59% of the total variation of the data, with PC1, PC2 and PC3 representing 32%, 15%, and 11% respectively. The representation of the first two components depicts the clustering of the new specimens and C. aaronbaueri with a marginal separation between them along the first and second principal components. Furthermore, ordination of the second and third components also depicts a marginal separation between the new specimens and C. aaronbaueri along the second principal components. Therefore, based on morphology and genetic assessment, we consider the new specimens from Vairengte as a new species of Cyrtodactylus. Distribution and Natural History: We have collected individuals of the new species only from Vairengte town, one of the townships in the Kolasib District, bordering the Cachar District (Assam) in the extreme northnortheast of Mizoram. The area lies with in an ecotonal region between the Lushai upland hills in Mizoram and the Cachar lowland plains in Assam. The approximate aerial distances from the type locality of the new species to the type locality of its closest sister species, C. aaronbaueri (Purkayastha et al. 2021) is ca. 78 km towards the south, in the State capital, Aizawl. The species is found to be nocturnal and all the specimens of C. vairengtensis sp. nov. were collected between ca. 2100-2240 h, from ca. 80 cm to 260 cm above ground. The holotype and two paratypes (MZMU2904 & MZMU2905) were on jointed weathered siltstone bed along a public link road (Fig. 6A), whilst other paratypes were collected from a rocky wall covered by vegetation along public light vehicle road (Fig. 6B) and stone steps (Fig. 6C). All the specimens were collected from anthropogenic areas fringed with secondary forest in the peripheral part of the town. Climatic conditions in the area varied between 15°C and 21°C during winters and 27°C to 34°C during summers; the annual average rainfall is 2,674.5 mm (Guhathakurta et al. 2020). The forest type of the location is tropical semievergreen forest as per the classification by Singh et al. (2002), corresponding to the semievergreen 2B/C2 forest type (Champion & Seth 1968), and the vegetation around the area comprises mixed plantation trees such as Areca catechu, Artocarpus heterophyllus and Tectona grandis. Other common plants include Amomum dealbatum, Ananas comosus, Blumea lanceolaria, Manihot esculenta, Melocanna baccifera, Mikania micrantha, Musa paradisiaca, Mussaendra roxburghii and Thysanolaena maxima. Ferns such as Adiantum pedatum, A. aleuticum, Athyrium felix, Diplazium esculentum and Dryopteris filix were also abundant. Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from the name of Vairengte town, Kolasib District of the state of Mizoram from where the type series were collected. Suggested common name. Vairengte bent-toed gecko

Published as part of Lalremsanga, Hmar Tlawmte, Colney, Zosiamliana, Vabeiryureilai, Mathipi, Malsawmdawngliana, Fanai, Bohra, Sanath Chandra, Biakzuala, Lal, Muansanga, Lal, Das, Madhurima & Purkayastha, Jayaditya, 2023, It's all in the name: Another new Cyrtodactylus Gray (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from northern Mizoram, North-east India, pp. 553-575 in Zootaxa 5369 (4) on pages 561-567, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5369.4.5, http://zenodo.org/record/10150612