Amphibians and Reptiles from Arabia

Haas, Georg; Battersby, John

doi:10.2307/1440386

Cited by 24 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…) and the clade formed by the two members of the species ‘ Bunopus’ spatalurus should be assigned a different generic name. Haas and Battersby (), using distinct morphological characters described a new genus and species Trachydactylus jolensis Haas and Battersby . Trachydactylus jolensis was found to be morphologically similar to Bunopus spatalurus Anderson, 1901 by Leviton and Anderson (), but because the authors were not convinced of the generic allocation of the species, they suggested the combination Trachydactylus spatalurus .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taxonomy and biogeography ofBunopus spatalurus(Reptilia; Gekkonidae) from the Arabian Peninsula

Pous

Machado

Metallinou

et al. 2015

J Zoolog Syst Evol Res

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In the last decade, taxonomic studies have drastically increased the number of species known to inhabit the Arabian deserts. While ongoing phylogenetic studies continue to identify new species and high levels of intraspecific genetic diversity, few studies have yet explored the biogeographic patterns in this arid region using an integrative approach. In the present work, we apply different phylogenetic methods to infer relationships within the Palearctic naked‐toed geckos. We specifically address for the first time the taxonomy and biogeography of Bunopus spatalurus Anderson, 1901, from Arabia using multilocus concatenated and species tree phylogenies, haplotype networks and morphology. We also use species distribution modelling and phylogeographic interpolation to explore the phylogeographic structure of Bunopus spatalurus hajarensis in the Hajar Mountains and the roles of climatic stability and possible biogeographic barriers on lineage occurrence and contact zones in this arid mountain endemism hot spot. According to the inferred topology recovered using concatenated and species tree methods, the genus ‘Bunopus’ is polyphyletic. Bunopus tuberculatus and B. blanfordii form a highly supported clade closely related to Crossobamon orientalis, while the two subspecies of ‘Bunopus’ spatalurus branch together as an independent highly supported clade that diverged during the Miocene according to our estimations. Within B. s. hajarensis, three geographically structured clades can be recognized that according to our estimations diverged during the Late Miocene to Pliocene. The paleodistribution models indicate climatic stability during the Late Pleistocene and the lineage occurrence, and predicted contact zones obtained from phylogeographic interpolation therefore probably result from the older splits of the groups when these lineages originated in allopatry. As demonstrated by the results of the multilocus molecular phylogenetic analyses and the topological test carried out in this study, the genus ‘Bunopus’ is not monophyletic. To resolve this, we resurrect the genus Trachydactylus Haas and Battersby, 1959; for the species formerly referred to as Bunopus spatalurus. Considering the morphological differences, the high level of genetic differentiation in the 12S mitochondrial gene and the results of the phylogenetic and the cmos haplotype network analysis, we elevate Trachydactylus spatalurus hajarensis to the species level Trachydactylus hajarensis (Arnold, 1980).

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taxonomy and biogeography ofBunopus spatalurus(Reptilia; Gekkonidae) from the Arabian Peninsula

Pous

Machado

Metallinou

et al. 2015

J Zoolog Syst Evol Res

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“…arabicus , (ii) clade B, that includes five Arabian species ( S. leptocosymbotes Leviton and Anderson, 1967 [83], S. doriae , S. slevini Haas, 1957 [37], S. grandiceps Haas, 1952 [84] and S. affinis (Murray, 1884) [85] grouped in 2 sub-clades, and (iii) clade C, formed by the four African species ( S. petrii, S. stenurus Werner, 1899 [86], S. mauritanicus Guichenot, 1850 [87] and S. sthenodactylus (Lichtenstein, 1823) and the southwest Arabian endemic S. yemenensis Arnold, 1980 [31]. …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gravel plains, hard sand and aeolian soft sand all have their characteristic species that show specialized morphological adaptations. These include the presence of depressed and fringed toes, which increase the surface area and improve grip in the aeolian sand dune specialists Stenodactylus doriae (Blanford, 1874 [35]) , S. petrii Anderson, 1896 [36] and S. arabicus (Haas, 1957 [37]). Extensive webbing is also observed between the fingers for efficient sand burrowing in S. arabicus [31,32,38].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A morphology-based phylogenetic hypothesis has been proposed by Arnold (1980) [31]. Although these two characters are also present in Pseudoceramodactylus khobarensis Haas, 1957 [37], which was widely accepted as a Stenodactylus member [31,39], a recent phylogenetic study by Fujita and Papenfuss (2011) [40] including specimens of the former and six out of the twelve species of the genus Stenodactylus proposed the resurrection of the genus Pseudoceramodactylus . This was done in order to deal with the resulting paraphyly of Stenodactylus , caused by the branching of two representatives of the genus Tropiocolotes between P. khobarensis and the six Stenodactylus included in their analyses .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Conquering the Sahara and Arabian deserts: systematics and biogeography of Stenodactylus geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae)

et al. 2012

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BackgroundThe evolutionary history of the biota of North Africa and Arabia is inextricably tied to the complex geological and climatic evolution that gave rise to the prevalent deserts of these areas. Reptiles constitute an exemplary group in the study of the arid environments with numerous well-adapted members, while recent studies using reptiles as models have unveiled interesting biogeographical and diversification patterns. In this study, we include 207 specimens belonging to all 12 recognized species of the genus Stenodactylus. Molecular phylogenies inferred using two mitochondrial (12S rRNA and 16S rRNA) and two nuclear (c-mos and RAG-2) markers are employed to obtain a robust time-calibrated phylogeny, as the base to investigate the inter- and intraspecific relationships and to elucidate the biogeographical history of Stenodactylus, a genus with a large distribution range including the arid and hyper-arid areas of North Africa and Arabia.ResultsThe phylogenetic analyses of molecular data reveal the existence of three major clades within the genus Stenodactylus, which is supported by previous studies based on morphology. Estimated divergence times between clades and sub-clades are shown to correlate with major geological events of the region, the most important of which is the opening of the Red Sea, while climatic instability in the Miocene is hypothesized to have triggered diversification. High genetic variability is observed in some species, suggesting the existence of some undescribed species. The S. petrii - S. stenurus species complex is in need of a thorough taxonomic revision. New data is presented on the distribution of the sister species S. sthenodactylus and S. mauritanicus.ConclusionsThe phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus Stenodactylus presented in this work permits the reconstruction of the biogeographical history of these common desert dwellers and confirms the importance of the opening of the Red Sea and the climatic oscillations of the Miocene as major factors in the diversification of the biota of North Africa and Arabia. Moreover, this study traces the evolution of this widely distributed and highly specialized group, investigates the patterns of its high intraspecific diversity and elucidates its systematics.

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“…The work of Balletto et al, 1985 is considered as the more precise surveys dealing with the morphological and classification of Arabian anura. However, there are few research on the distribution of frogs and toads in kingdom of Saudi Arabia and neighboring country such as Yemen (Schmidt, 1953;Hass, 1957Hass, , 1961Briggs, 1980Briggs, , 1981.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First report of the karyotype of Bufo dhufarensis from Saudi Arabia

Al-Shehri¹,

Al-Saleh

2010

Journal of King Saud University - Science

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We report for the first time the description of the karyotype of the Dhufar toad Bufo dhufarensis from Saudi Arabia. This karyotype consists of 22 chromosomes and could be classified into two categories; eight pairs of metacentric and three pairs of submetacentric chromosomes. The 10th pair of this karyotype has a secondary constriction on the long arms of both male and female chromosomes. The fundamental number of this species is 44.

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Amphibians and Reptiles from Arabia

Cited by 24 publications

References 0 publications

Taxonomy and biogeography ofBunopus spatalurus(Reptilia; Gekkonidae) from the Arabian Peninsula

Taxonomy and biogeography ofBunopus spatalurus(Reptilia; Gekkonidae) from the Arabian Peninsula

Conquering the Sahara and Arabian deserts: systematics and biogeography of Stenodactylus geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae)

First report of the karyotype of Bufo dhufarensis from Saudi Arabia

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