Description of a morphologically distinct and phylogenetically divergent new species of the leopard gecko in the genus Eublepharis Gray, 1827 (Reptilia, Eublepharidae) from India
Pratyush P. Mohapatra, Sumidh Ray, Ashis K. Das, Ranjit Satrusallya, Sudheer K. Jena, Bharath Bhupathi, Ritesh Das, Ajay Kumar Mahapatra
Abstract
Eublepharis, an Asian-endemic genus of leopard geckos, represents the third largest genus within the family Eublepharidae. India harbors six recognized species in the genus Eublepharis, representing the highest species diversity for this genus reported from any single country to date. In this work, a new species of the genus, Eublepharis jhuma sp. nov., is described based on three specimens... The discovery of a new reptile from the Chota Nagpur Plateau highlights the role of more extensive study in the region. Furthermore, its occurrence in the Kaimur Plateau, the easternmost Vindhyan escarpments, highlights the allopatric speciation from the sister species, E. satpuraensis, shaped by deep-time geological processes.
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Description of a morphologically distinct and phylogenetically divergent new species of the leopard gecko in the genus Eublepharis Gray, 1827 (Reptilia, Eublepharidae) from India
