Finaritra! A splendid new leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus) species from Marojejy National Park in north-eastern Madagascar

Ratsoavina, Fanomezana M.; Raselimanana, Achille P.; Scherz, Mark D.; Rakotoarison, Andolalao; Razafindraibe, Jary H.; Glaw, Frank; Vences, Miguel

doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4545.4.7

Cited by 802 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…A fragment of about 450 bp of the mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene was amplified using the primer pair 12Sa 5′-AAACTGGGATTAGATACCCCACTAT−3′ and 12Sb 5′-GAGGGTGAGGGCGGTG-TGT−3′ [ 28 ]. This marker was chosen considering its wide use on Uroplatus geckos and the number of available sequences in public repositories [ 13 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This applies also to the geckos of the genus Uroplatus , which have been the subject of several morphological and molecular studies (see e.g., [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]), but only U . phantasticus (Boulenger, 1888) has a known karyotype, leaving the chromosome diversity of the genus completely unexplored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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First Insights on the Karyotype Diversification of the Endemic Malagasy Leaf-Toed Geckos (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Uroplatus)

Mezzasalma

Brunelli

Odierna

et al. 2022

Animals

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We provide here the first karyotype description of eight Uroplatus species and a characterization of their chromosomal diversity. We performed a molecular taxonomic assessment of several Uroplatus samples using the mitochondrial 12S marker and a comparative cytogenetic analysis with standard karyotyping, silver staining (Ag-NOR) and sequential C-banding + Giemsa, +Chromomycin A3 (CMA3), +4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). We found chromosomal variability in terms of chromosome number (2n = 34–38), heterochromatin composition and number and localization of loci or Nucleolar Organizer Regions (NORs) (alternatively on the 2nd, 6th, 10th or 16th pair). Chromosome morphology is almost constant, with karyotypes composed of acrocentric chromosomes, gradually decreasing in length. C-banding evidenced a general low content of heterochromatin, mostly localized on pericentromeric and telomeric regions. Centromeric bands varied among the species studied, resulting in CMA3 positive and DAPI negative or positive to both fluorochromes. We also provide evidence of a first putative heteromorphic sex chromosome system in the genus. In fact, in U. alluaudi the 10th pair was highly heteromorphic, with a metacentric, largely heterochromatic W chromosome, which was much bigger than the Z. We propose an evolutionary scenario of chromosome reduction from 2n = 38 to 2n = 34, by means of translocations of microchromosomes on larger chromosomes (often involving the NOR-bearing microchromosomes). Adding our data to those available from the literature, we show that similar processes characterized the evolutionary radiation of a larger gecko clade. Finally, we hypothesize that sex chromosome diversification occurred independently in different genera.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First Insights on the Karyotype Diversification of the Endemic Malagasy Leaf-Toed Geckos (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Uroplatus)

Mezzasalma

Brunelli

Odierna

et al. 2022

Animals

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“…When encountering an individual, we stopped the standardized search time and identified the individual 92 . We identified individuals based on morphological characteristics with the help of field guides 93 – 95 . We took DNA samples to determine the species for those individuals that proved difficult to identify using morphological characteristics only.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Win-win opportunities combining high yields with high multi-taxa biodiversity in tropical agroforestry

et al. 2022

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Resolving ecological-economic trade-offs between biodiversity and yields is a key challenge when addressing the biodiversity crisis in tropical agricultural landscapes. Here, we focused on the relation between seven different taxa (trees, herbaceous plants, birds, amphibians, reptiles, butterflies, and ants) and yields in vanilla agroforests in Madagascar. Agroforests established in forests supported overall 23% fewer species and 47% fewer endemic species than old-growth forests, and 14% fewer endemic species than forest fragments. In contrast, agroforests established on fallows had overall 12% more species and 38% more endemic species than fallows. While yields increased with vanilla vine density and length, non-yield related variables largely determined biodiversity. Nonetheless, trade-offs existed between yields and butterflies as well as reptiles. Vanilla yields were generally unrelated to richness of trees, herbaceous plants, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and ants, opening up possibilities for conservation outside of protected areas and restoring degraded land to benefit farmers and biodiversity alike.

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“…To identify individuals to species level during fieldwork, we used morphological characteristics and referred to keys and visualisations available in ‘A Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar’ (Glaw and Vences 2007) and additional literature (Rakotoarison et al 2017; Ratsoavina et al 2019). For those individuals which we could not identify with confidence in the field with the available literature, we extracted tissue samples for follow-up DNA analysis and/or collected the specimen.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential responses of amphibians and reptiles to land-use change in the biodiversity hotspot of north-eastern Madagascar

Fulgence

Martin

Randriamanantena

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Large expanses of tropical rainforest have been converted into agricultural landscapes cultivated by smallholder farmers. This is also the case in north-eastern Madagascar; a region that retains a significant proportions of forest cover despite shifting hill rice cultivation and vanilla agroforestry. The region is also a global hotspot for herpetofauna diversity, but how this diversity is affected by land-use change remains largely unknown. Using a space-for-time study design to uncover land-use effects, we compared species diversity and community composition in seven prevalent land uses: unburned (old-growth forest, forest fragment, and forest-derived vanilla agroforest) and burned (fallow-derived vanilla agroforest, woody fallow, herbaceous fallow) land-use types, and rice paddy. We conducted six comprehensives, time-standardized searches across at least ten replicates of each land-use type and applied genetic barcoding to confirm species identification. We documented an outstanding diversity of endemic herpetofauna (119 species): amphibian species richness at the plot level was highest in old-growth forest and significantly lower in all other land-use types. Plot-level reptile species richness was significantly higher in the unburned land-use types than burned land-use types. For both amphibians and reptiles, the less-disturbed land-use types showed more uneven communities and particularly in old-growth forest, the species composition differed significantly from all other land-use types. Amphibians showed a higher level of forest dependency compared to reptiles (38% versus 28% of species exclusively occurred in old-growth forest). Our analyses thus revealed that the two groups respond differently to land-use change: we found less pronounced losses of reptile species richness especially in unburned agricultural habitats, suggesting that reptiles are less susceptible to land-use change than amphibians. Overall, old-growth forest harboured a unique diversity, but some species also thrived in agroforestry systems, especially if these were forest-derived. This highlights the importance of conserving old-growth forests and non-burned land-use types within the agricultural landscape.

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Finaritra! A splendid new leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus) species from Marojejy National Park in north-eastern Madagascar

Cited by 802 publications

References 0 publications

First Insights on the Karyotype Diversification of the Endemic Malagasy Leaf-Toed Geckos (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Uroplatus)

First Insights on the Karyotype Diversification of the Endemic Malagasy Leaf-Toed Geckos (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Uroplatus)

Win-win opportunities combining high yields with high multi-taxa biodiversity in tropical agroforestry

Differential responses of amphibians and reptiles to land-use change in the biodiversity hotspot of north-eastern Madagascar

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