A preliminary phylogeny of the Palearctic naked-toed geckos (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) with taxonomic implications

Abstract

Palearctic naked-toed geckos are a group of gekkonid geckos that range from North Africa to northern India and western China, with their greatest diversity in Iran and Pakistan. Relationships among the constituent genera remain incompletely resolved and the monophyly of key genera remains unverified. Further, competing classifications are in current use and many species have been allocated to different genera by different authors. We used both mitochondrial (ND2) and nuclear genes (RAG1, PDC) to explore relationships among representatives of all but one genus in the group (Rhinogecko), including four genera not previously included in phylogenetic analyses (Asiocolotes, Altigekko, Indogekko, and Siwaligekko). Siwaligekko (and presumably other Tibeto-Himalayan species often referred to Cyrtopodion) are more closely related to tropical Asian Cyrtodactylus than to Palearctic naked-toed geckos. Sampled species of Asiocolotes and Altigekko are sister taxa, but both genera are here considered junior subjective synonyms of Altiphylax. Cyrtopodion sensu lato is non-monophyletic; Mediodactylus and Tenuidactylus, which have variably been considered as subgenera or synonyms of Cyrtopodion are both valid genera. Indogekko is embedded within Cyrtopodion and is here treated as a subgenus. Bunopus and Crossobamon are closely related to one-another, and with Agamura are interdigitated among taxa previously assigned to Cyrtopodion. Our data confirm the previous identification of a Saharo-Arabian Stenodactylus/Tropiocolotes/Pseudoceramodactylus clade and verify that Microgecko and Alsophylax are not members of the main clade of Palearctic naked-toed geckos. Osteological differences between Tropiocolotes and Microgecko, formerly treated as congeneric, are discussed and illustrated. The divergence between Cyrtodactylus and the Palearctic naked-toed clade predates the initial collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates, but deeper divergences within both groups are consistent with mountain building in the Himalayas and adjacent ranges as promoting cladogenic events. Miocene divergences within Tenuidactylus are consistent with vicariant speciation caused by uplift events in the Iranian and Transcaspian regions. Taxonomic implications of our phylogenetic results are discussed and a preliminary allocation of all species of padless Palearctic gekkonids to genus is provided.

Geographic Variation of Morphological Characters in Bunopus tuberculatus Blanford 1874 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) in Iran

“…The presence of various barriers, such as the Zagros Mountains in the west and the deserts of central Iran, has also likely contributed to the trait variation among populations. As has been reported for other gekkonid lizards (Macey et al 1999;Bauer et al 2013), morphological diversification and (likely) speciation within Bunopus in Iran were affected by the numerous tectonic events that took place in this region. These include the collision of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate in the early Eocene (about 50 million years ago [Mya]) and the collision of the Arabian plate with the Eurasian Plate in the late Oligocene (about 25 Mya).…”

“…Four species of tuberculated geckos have been identified (Bauer et al 2013): Bunopus tuberculatus Blanford 1874 (occurring in Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and Israel), B. crassicaudus Nikolsky 1907 (Central Iranian Plateau), B. spatalurus Anderson 1901 (north of Oman, United Arab Emirates, Saudia Arabia, Yemen), and B. blanfordii Strauch 1887 (Israel, Jordan). The occurrence of two of these species (B. tuberculatus and B. crassicaudus) has more recently been confirmed in Iran (Anderson 1999;Rastegar-Pouyani et al 2008).…”

A phylogeny of the only ground-dwelling radiation of Cyrtodactylus (Squamata, Gekkonidae): diversification of Geckoella across peninsular India and Sri Lanka

“…as outgroups were downloaded from Genbank (Table S1). DNA was extracted from tail-tips/liver stored in 100% ethanol, using Qiagen DNeasy extraction kits, and we generated 2477 base pairs of aligned data including partial sequences for two nuclear genes (RAG1, PDC) and one complete mitochondrial gene (ND2), using published primers and protocols (Bauer et al, 2013). Purification and sequencing of PCR products was (Smith, 1935;Bauer and Giri, 2004;Somaweera and Somaweera, 2009).…”

Gene rearrangements in gekkonid mitochondrial genomes with shuffling, loss, and reassignment of tRNA genes

“…Another genus, Stenodactylus , with a similar distribution, is closely related to Tropiocolotes according to recent molecular phylogenetic studies [23–26], although precise phylogeny at the species level has not been established. We examined the occurrence of the gene rearrangements found in T. tripolitanus and S. petrii mitogenomes among other species of these genera.…”