18. Cnemaspis manoae

Amarasinghe & Karunarathna, 2020

Publication :

Amarasinghe AAT & S Karunarathna (2020). A new diminutive day gecko species of the genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) from Pilikuttuwa, near the capital of Sri Lanka. Taprobanica 9 (1): 71–82.

Remarks :

We discovered Cnemaspis manoae from the lowland wetzone (alt. 50 m a.s.l.) forests and adjacent human habitations which have a dense tree cover in Gampaha District, near Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. This species occurs in at least three localities: Pilikuttuwa, Maligatenna, and Vaarana at an elevation range of approximately 40–160m a.s.l. Surrounding habitats of the type locality are currently being destroyed by pineaple plantations invading the natural forests, and illegal logging inside the forest.

Etymology:
The specific epithet is an eponym latinized as a noun in the genitive singular, honoring Mrs. Mano Kalupahana, the biology teacher of the first author at his senior high school, The Royal College, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka. The author expresses sincere appreciation for her remarkable generous teaching and advice, which encouraged the first author to study zoology, and marked the turning point in his becoming a taxonomist.

English name: Mano’s Day-gecko
Sinhala (local) name: මනෝගේ දිවාසැරි-හූනා