A new cryptic species of ground-dwelling Hemidactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from southern India

Mirza, Zeeshan A.

doi:10.11606/issn.2316-9079.v17i2p169-180

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(23 reference statements)

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“…S1). To this end, location data from fieldwork and published literature (Agarwal et al, 2019(Agarwal et al, , 2011Bauer et al, 2010b;2010a;Chaitanya et al, 2018;Dandge and Tiple, 2015;Gaikwad et al, 2009;Giri and Bauer, 2006;Giri, 2008;Giri and Bauer, 2008;Giri et al, 2017;Lajmi et al, 2019;Mirza and Sanap, 2014;Mirza, 2018;Mirza et al, 2018Mirza and Raju, 2017;Murthy et al, 2014;Srikanthan et al, 2018;Srinivasulu et al, 2018Srinivasulu et al, , 2014 was collected for 48 divergent lineages in the Indian radiation. No information on species from the Indian radiation was available on Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF; http://www.gbif.org/) except in the case of human commensal species from outside Peninsular India and Sri Lanka, which are likely to have been moved around recently.…”

Section: Ancestral State Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eocene–Oligocene cooling and the diversification of Hemidactylus geckos in Peninsular India

Lajmi

Karanth

2020

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution

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The Eocene-Oligocene cooling marks a global shift towards a cooler and drier climate, concurrent with significant turnover in biota globally. In Peninsular India, palynological investigations suggest a shift from wet rainforest vegetation to dry and seasonal species during this period. However, the grassland and open habitats that dominate this region at present expanded relatively recently due to Late Miocene intensification of monsoon seasonality. We test the possible role of these climatic shifts in generating the dry habitat diversity of an endemic radiation of Hemidactylus geckos distributed in both wet and dry habitats, by investigating whether (a) the beginning of the diversification of dry habitat lineages overlap with the Eocene-Oligocene cooling or late Miocene aridification and (b) accompanied by an increase in diversification. Molecular data (two nuclear and two mitochondrial gene fragments) were generated for samples collected across Peninsular India, and along with previously published data, a time-calibrated phylogeny was reconstructed. Ancestral state reconstruction of dry and wet habitat states was carried out on the time-calibrated phylogeny and γ-statistics along with a test for diversity-dependent diversification utilized to examine the trend in lineage accumulation. Results show the ancestral node of this radiation to have a dry habitat state, which began diversifying between 39 and 32 million years ago, concurrent with the Eocene-Oligocene cooling. Furthermore, lineage diversification fit a diversitydependent model of diversification and the γ-statistics revealed an early increase in diversification followed by a slowdown later. The deep divergences of dry habitat lineages concurrent with the Eocene-Oligocene cooling suggest that this could have served as an ecological opportunity facilitating an early increase in lineage diversification of Hemidactylus in this region. These results suggest an ancient origin and long persistence of arid ecosystems in Peninsular India.

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Section: Ancestral State Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eocene–Oligocene cooling and the diversification of Hemidactylus geckos in Peninsular India

Lajmi

Karanth

2020

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution

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“…Overall dorsal color pattern is either striped ( C. rishivalleyensis , C. speciosus , and C. yakhuna yakhuna ) or spotted ( C. collegalensis , C. srilekhae , C. varadgirii , and C. yakhuna zonatus ). A spotted form from coastal Kerala has been known for some time (Boulenger, 1885; Mirza et al, 2010), and collections from the region show that it is distinct from known members of the complex in color pattern, dorsal pholidosis, and mitochondrial sequence data. We describe this form as a new species, Cyrtodactylus chengodumalaensis sp.…”

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A New Spotted Species of the Cyrtodactylus (Geckoella) collegalensis (Beddome, 1870) (Reptilia: Squamata) Complex from Coastal Kerala, Southwestern India

Agarwal

Umesh²,

Das

et al. 2023

Journal of Herpetology

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We describe a new spotted species of ground-dwelling gecko of the genus Cyrtodactylus (Geckoella) from coastal Kerala, southwestern India, by using an integrative taxonomic approach. The new species is a member of the C. collegalensis species complex, with 10.0–13.5% uncorrected mitochondrial sequence divergence from the other six members of the C. collegalensis complex. The new species is also recognized in tree-based delimitation methods and can be morphologically diagnosed by a spotted dorsal pattern of four to six pairs of spots (occasionally fused into figure 8–shaped markings) from the banded species C. speciosus, C. rishivalleyensis, and C. yakhuna and from the spotted C. collegalensis, C. srilekhae, and C. varadgirii by the presence of a few scattered enlarged dorsal scales. This is the only Indian member of the C. collegalensis complex with a relatively broad distribution at low elevations, other than C. varadgirii from western India (distributed in Maharashtra, southern Gujarat, and western Madhya Pradesh). The sister species to the new species is the Sri Lankan C. yakhuna, which is a banded form from low elevations. The new species is the second gecko to have been described from Chengodumala and endemic to northern and central Kerala, highlighting the importance of this area, which is under increasing anthropogenic pressure. We also provide notes on the dorsal pholidosis of C. rishivalleyensis, which was overlooked in its original description.

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Two new species of Hemidactylus Goldfuss, 1820 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the rocky outcrops of the Deccan plateau, peninsular India

Adhikari

Achyuthan

Kumar

et al. 2022

Zootaxa

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The gekkonid diversity of the under-explored dry zones in Peninsular India is not yet completely inventoried, as evidenced by frequent new species descriptions. Here, we describe two new species of Hemidactylus from the dry rocky zones of Deccan Plateau viz. Hemidactylus mahonyi sp. nov. from Sandur Hills and Hemidactylus srikanthani sp. nov. from Devarayana Durga Hills, Karnataka State of Peninsular India. The new species belong to the morphologically cryptic H. murrayi Clade but differ from each other and the known congeners by a set of morphological characters and possess non-overlapping distribution ranges. Furthermore, the new species are also divergent (> 6.4% uncorrected p-distance) from their nearest related congeners, and from one another with respect to the ND2 mitochondrial gene. Recently, other new species of reptiles have been described from the two aforesaid type localities, indicating that further bio-inventories in the dry zones of peninsular India will yield more such novelties.

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A new cryptic species of ground-dwelling Hemidactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from southern India

Cited by 4 publications

References 20 publications

Eocene–Oligocene cooling and the diversification of Hemidactylus geckos in Peninsular India

Eocene–Oligocene cooling and the diversification of Hemidactylus geckos in Peninsular India

A New Spotted Species of the Cyrtodactylus (Geckoella) collegalensis (Beddome, 1870) (Reptilia: Squamata) Complex from Coastal Kerala, Southwestern India

Two new species of Hemidactylus Goldfuss, 1820 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the rocky outcrops of the Deccan plateau, peninsular India

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