Globetrotting geckos: Historical biogeography suggests an Indian origin and “Out-Of-India” dispersal for the cosmopolitanHemidactylusgeckos

Abstract

Aim – Following the breakup of Gondwana dispersal events both into and out of India have influenced the biotic assembly of the surrounding landmasses. The cosmopolitan Hemidactylus presents an intriguing group to examine these instances, particularly given its sister relationship with the endemic Dravidogecko found in India′s Western Ghats. Despite earlier theories of Afro–Arabian or Southeast Asian origins for Hemidactylus, its deep divergence from Dravidogecko (~57 million years ago) suggests a potential Indian origin, thus contradicting an ″Into–India″ scenario proposed for the current Indian tetrapod groups. We thus aim to resolve the origins and shed light on the inter–continental dispersals in Hemidactylus by reconstructing its biogeographic history. Location – Worldwide Taxon – Hemidactylus Geckos Methods – We use six nuclear genes to reconstruct a reduced representation backbone phylogeny of Hemidactylus using likelihood, Bayesian, and coalescent based methods. We further assemble a timetree using a concatenated dataset of nuclear and mitochondrial markers from 132 of the 192 Hemidactylus species by constraining the topology with the backbone phylogeny and secondary calibrations. We use this chronogram to reconstruct ancestral geographic ranges using BioGeoBEARS, employing a time-stratified approach in conjunction with plate tectonics information to explicitly test four hypotheses regarding the origin of the genus — An Indian origin, a Southeast Asian origin, a Saharo–Arabian origin, or an Afrotropical origin. Results – Our findings suggest that the ancestral lineage of Hemidactylus and Dravidogecko colonized the drifting Indian plate from Southeast Asia approximately 57 million years ago, eventually evolving into the two genera in the Indian subcontinent. Following this, Hemidactylus dispersed multiple times from India to Africa and Asia. Main Conclusion – This study proposes an Indian origin for these widely distributed geckos, representing a rare instance of an ″Out–of–India″ dispersal scenario observed in a non–Gondwanan squamate group. Additionally, our research underscores the significance of incorporating sister taxa in biogeographic analyses to avoid misinterpretations of ancestral ranges.