A new large species of gecko of the genus Hemidactylus Oken, 1817 (Reptilia: Sauria: Gekkonidae) from the Eastern Ghats, India

Abstract

A new large species of gecko superficially resembling Hemidactylus maculatus Duméril & Bibron and its allied large Hemidactylus is described from Eastern Ghats. The new species, Hemidactylus kangerensis sp. nov. can be easily distinguished from members of the H. maculatus complex based on the number of femoral pores, i.e. 18-21 on each side, separated medially by 4 non-pored scales. A phylogenetic analysis based on partial sequence of mitochondrial gene cytochrome b shows that the gecko is a member of the "H. prashadi" clade and is sister to H. maculatus, from which it differs in an uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence of 10%. The discovery of a new large gecko from Eastern Ghats advocates the need for biodiversity assessment across the neglected Eastern Ghats.

First appearance deceives many: disentangling theHemidactylus triedrusspecies complex using an integrated approach

“…A 25 μl reaction was set containing 11.5 μl of Qiagen™ TopTaq PCR Master Mix, 11.5 μl of water, 0.5 μl of each primer and one μl template DNA, carried out with an Eppendorf Mastercycler Nexus GSX1. Thermo-cycle profile used for amplification were as follows: 94 C for 5 min, (denaturation temperature 94 °C for 30 s, annealing temperature 45 °C for 50 s, elongation temperature 72 °C for 1 min) × 35 cycles, 72 °C for 10 min, hold at 4 °C for ND2 and for cyt b as described by Mirza, Bhosale & Patil (2017) . PCR product was cleaned using Qiagen™ PCR Purification Kit and sequenced with a 3730 DNA Analyzer.…”

“…Sequences for ND2 , cyt b and two nuclear genes Recombination activating gene 1 ( RAG1 ) and Phosducin ( PDC ) gene of selected Hemidactylus spp. of the “ brookii group” of Bauer et al (2010) were downloaded from GenBank and selection of taxa follows Mirza, Bhosale & Patil (2017) ( Table S1 ). Downloaded sequences were aligned in MEGA6 ( Kumar, Stecher & Tamura, 2016 ) using ClustalW ( Thompson & Gibson, 2003 ) with default settings.…”

“…Recent advances and availability of affordable, rapid DNA sequencing facilities have greatly enhanced our attempts in defining and delimiting species and numerous studies have benefitted from an integrated approach involving morphological and molecular data. Over the past five years, numerous new species of reptiles have been described from across the globe and in particular, from India and neighboring regions, using an integrated approach ( Zug et al, 2006 ; Agarwal et al, 2016 ; Deepak et al, 2016 ; Mirza et al, 2016 ; Giri et al, 2017 ; Mirza, Bhosale & Patil, 2017 ).…”

“…This error was corrected in an erratum which stated that the account of H. subtriedrus on page 85 ( Theobald, 1876 ) be merged with that of H. subtriedrus on page 75 ( Theobald, 1876 ). Based on a female specimen of the then undescribed species H. kangerensis Mirza, Bhosale & Patil ( Javed et al, 2011 ; Giri et al, 2017 ; Mirza, Bhosale & Patil, 2017 ) from Khammam district, Andhra Pradesh, Boulenger (1885) considered the specimen conspecific with H. subtriedrus and added additional characters like lamellae and labial counts which he considered to distinguish H. subtriedrus from H. triedrus . He, however, erroneously gave the type locality for the species as Ellore (now Eluru, Andhra Pradesh).…”

“…H. subtriedrus appeared on checklists and inventories of reptilian fauna of the Eastern Ghats of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Telangana and northern Andhra Pradesh ( Sanyal & Dasgupta, 1990 ; Chandra & Gajbe, 2005 ; Murthy & Aengals, 2008 ; Javed et al, 2009 ). This population however, is a member of the H. maculatus sensu lato and represents H. sushilduttai Giri, Bauer, Mohapatra, Srinivasulu & Agarwal or H. kangerensis ( Agarwal, Giri & Bauer, 2011 ; Javed et al, 2011 ; Mahony, 2011 ; Mirza & Sanap, 2014 ; Giri et al, 2017 ; Mirza, Bhosale & Patil, 2017 ). Bauer et al (2010) presented molecular data for a captive specimen of H. subtriedrus and two specimens of H. triedrus from India and Pakistan as well as a specimen from Sri Lanka and proposed validity of H. subtriedrus .…”