Marine subsidies alter the diet and abundance of insular and coastal lizard populations. Á/ Oikos 109: 145 Á/153.We evaluated the impact of marine materials on the diet and abundance of arthropodivorous lizards inhabiting islands and the coast of the Gulf of California.Here, marine materials are brought onto land by seabirds and by tidal action, and both subsidy pathways cause arthropod abundance to increase. We evaluated Uta stansburiana (side-blotched lizard) diets in three habitats defined by having: (1) no marine subsidies available, (2) only seabird-derived subsidies, and (3) only tidal-derived subsidies. Stable isotope data indicated that lizard diets are subsidized indirectly by seabird and tidal activity. For example, in coastal areas we determined that 40% of a lizard's diet contains arthropods that have consumed algae. Such subsidies may explain why we found that lizards in coastal areas occupy a significantly higher trophic position than lizards in unsubsidized areas. We analyzed eight years of survey data on all arthropodivorous lizards to determine if diet subsidies result in increased lizard abundance. We found that lizards were more abundant in coastal areas than they were in inland habitats, and that they were more abundant on islands with seabirds than on islands without seabird populations. This study provides insight into the importance and effect of marine-derived nutrients from multiple sources on vertebrate consumers inhabiting islands and coastal areas.

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The gekkonid genus Cyrtodactylus is the third most speciose vertebrate genus in the world, containing well over 300 species that collectively range from South Asia to Melanesia across some of the most diverse landscapes and imperiled habitats on the planet. A genus-wide phylogeny of the group has never been presented because researchers working on different groups were using different genetic markers to construct phylogenies that could not be integrated. We present here Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference mitochondrial and mito-nuclear phylogenies incorporating of 310 species that include dozens of species that had never been included in a genus-wide analysis. Based on the mitochondrial phylogeny, we partition Cyrtodactylus into 31 well-supported monophyletic species groups which, if used as recommended herein, will increase the information content of future integrative taxonomic analyses that continue to add new species to this genus at an ever-increasing annual rate. Data presented here reiterate the outcome of several previous studies indicating that Cyrtodactylus comprises an unprecedented number of narrow-range endemics restricted to single mountain tops, small islands, or karst formations that still remain unprotected. This phylogeny can provide a platform for various comparative ecological studies that can be integrated with conservation management programs across the broad diversity of landscapes and habitats occupied by this genus. Additionally, these data indicate that the true number of Cyrtodactylus remains substantially underrepresented.

Conserving the planet's biodiversity is greatly handicapped, in that only a small fraction of it (∼14-75%) has been described so far. Integrative taxonomy is making significant inroads in light of this challenge by incorporating multiple data sets across a wide range of disciplines that simultaneously elucidate phylogenetic structure and delimit species-level lineages within a unified species concept. An integrative taxonomic approach to the classification of the gekkonid genus Hemiphyllodactylus Bleeker, 1860 reveals that it is far more diverse than posited by a recent taxonomic revision based solely on morphology, and that it is composed of at least 19 species, most of which are montane upland or insular endemics. Three new species (Hemiphyllodactylus dushanensis sp. nov., Hemiphyllodactylus jinpingensis sp. nov., and Hemiphyllodactylus longlingensis sp. nov.) from southern China previously considered to be subspecies of Hemiphyllodactylus yunnanensis (Boulenger, 1903) are elevated to full species status, and 10 new species-level lineages ranging from Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Peninsular Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia are identified. One new species, Hemiphyllodactylus tehtarik sp. nov. from Gunung Tebu, Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia, is described herein, and is differentiated from all other species of Hemiphyllodactylus on the basis of morphology, colour pattern, and an 18.1-31.5% sequence divergence from all other congeners. Hemiphyllodactylus larutensis (Boulenger, 1900) is removed from the synonymy of H. harterti (Werner, 1900). Using an integrative taxonomic approach imbues the revised classification of 849 Hemiphyllodactylus with more objectivity, stability, and phylogenetic history, while identifying undescribed species-level lineages in potential need of conservation.

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The taxonomy and phylogeny of the Cyrtodactylus pulchellus complex along the Thai-Malay Peninsular region has been the focus of many recent studies and has resulted in the recognition of 17 species. However, the majority of these studies were focused on Peninsular and insular Malaysia where there were specimens and genetic vouchers. The taxonomic status and phylogenetic relationships of the Thai species in this complex remain unresolved, due to the lack of genetic material of some species, especially C. phuketensis and C. macrotuberculatus from Thai populations. In this study, we investigated the phylogenetic relationship between C. phuketensis and its closely related species C. macrotuberculatus, using both morphometric and molecular data. Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) gene revealed that C. phuketensis is embedded within a C. macrotuberculatus clade with 1.45–4.20% (mean 2.63%) uncorrected pairwise sequence divergences. Morphological comparisons showed nearly identical measurements of C. phuketensis and C. macrotuberculatus and overlapping ranges in meristic characters. Based on these data, C. phuketensis is considered to be a variant of C. macrotuberculatus, thus rendering C. phuketensis a junior synonym of C. macrotuberculatus.

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This is the first herpetological survey and checklist of the Mount Tebu (Gunung Tebu) region including the upland areas of Gunung Tebu, the surrounding lowlands of Hutan Lipur Lata Belatan, and the nearby lowland region of Hutan Lipur Lata Tembaka in Terrengganu, northeastern Peninsular Malaysia. Expanding upon the only previous herpetological survey in this region from Gunung Lawit (Dring 1979), we record a total of 106 species including 43 species previously unknown from this portion of Peninsular Malaysia.Key words: Southeast Asia, Banjaran Timur, conservation Peninsular Malaysia is a topographically complex region bearing three major mountain systems: the Banjaran (mountain range) Bintang range in the West, the Banjaran Titiwangsa range in central Peninsular Malaysia, and the Banjaran Timur range in the northeast. The latter is a sculpted series of jagged, isolated, mountainous corridors, and is the second largest upland system in Peninsular Malaysia. These mountains are composed of an array of imbricating peaks, hills, and plateaus dissected by several rivers and streams. Peninsular Malaysia's fragmented upland systems have long been known to harbor a significant amount of herpetofaunal diversity and endemism (e.g