An Undescribed Gecko (Gekkonidae: Cyrtodactylus) from Deer Cave, Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak, with Comments on the Distribution of Bornean Cave Geckos

Authors

Donald A. McFarlane, Claremont McKenna College; Pitzer College; Scripps CollegeFollow
Joyce Lundberg, Carleton University
Keith Christenson

Document Type

Article

Department

Biology (CMC), WM Keck Science (CMC), Biology (Pitzer), WM Keck Science (Pitzer), Biology (Scripps), WM Keck Science (Scripps), WM Keck Science

Publication Date

2009

Abstract

Geckos of the genus Cyrtodactylus are a speciose group in Southeast Asia, with at least nine species known from the island of Borneo (Das & Ismail, 2001; Das, 2006). Of these species, Cyrtodactylus cavernicolus has the smallest known range and is therefore the most vulnerable, a status that is reflected in the species having been designated a Totally Protected Species in Sarawak. Confirmed records of C. cavernicolus are known only from Niah Cave, located in an isolated limestone block known as the Gunung Subis massif, approximately 13 km² in extent. The Niah Cave Gecko is presumed to be dependent on the bat and swift guano ecosystems of the larger cave passages (c.f. Harrison, 1961), and its core habitat may be limited to Niah Great Cave which has some 1 x 10^5" m² of passages (data from survey by Wilford, 1964). The only published record of the species from outside the Niah massif is a single record from the Melinau Gorge of Gunung Mulu National Park (Hikida, 1990).

Comments

Posted with permission from publisher.

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Recommended Citation

McFarlane, D. A., Lundberg, J. and Christenson, K. (2009). "An undescribed gecko (Gekkonidae: Cyrtodactylus) from Deer Cave,Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak, with comments on the distribution of Bornean cave geckos." Herpetological Bulletin 110: 33-35.