The genus Coleodactylus (Sphaerodactylinae, Gekkota) revisited: A molecular phylogenetic perspective

Molecular phylogeny, species limits, and biogeography of the Brazilian endemic lizard genus Enyalius (Squamata: Leiosauridae): An example of the historical relationship between Atlantic Forests and Amazonia

“…Species of this clade were found with higher diploid numbers than the basic pleurodont Iguania karyotype of 2n = 36 (12 + 24m), as 2n = 37 (12M + 24m + 1B) or 2n = 38 (12M + 24m + 1B/2B), both in E. bilineatus (Bertolotto et al, 2002), 2n = 38 (14m + 24m) in E. catenatus (Bertolotto, 2006), and 2n = 46 (22M + 34m) in E. erythroceneus (Rodrigues et al, 2006). Recent molecular studies on lizard genera (Leposoma and Coleodactylus) distributed in the same areas as Enyalius in the Atlantic Forest central corridor also found higher diversity than previously thought (Geurgas et al, 2008;Pellegrino et al, 2011;Rodrigues et al, 2013;and our unpublished data), suggesting additional species candidates. Our results reinforce the idea that a molecular sequence-based approach is a very useful tool in overcoming difficulties imposed by taxonomically complex groups in which morphology alone failed to properly diagnose taxa.…”

The hidden diversity of Coleodactylus amazonicus (Sphaerodactylinae, Gekkota) revealed by molecular data

“…Although the broad geographic range of the genus renders it of considerable interest to the reconstruction of the biogeographical history of the Neotropical region, Coleodactylus remains a poorly known group. Until recently (Geurgas et al, 2008), the relationships among species were based exclusively on pre-cladistic interpretations of shared plesiomorphic character states and geographical distribution of species (Vanzolini, 1957). This was partially due to the difficulties of working with lizards so small that character survey is a hard task.…”

Polistinae biogeography in the Neotropics: history and prospects

“…Even so, Haffer (1969) proposed initially that climatic-vegetational changes during the Pleistocene (1.8-0.1 Mya) were the main causes for novelties and speciation processes to arise in the Amazonian rainforest. This idea suffered criticisms (e.g., Bush and Oliveira 2006) and was not supported by many studies that contested the short timespan for speciation events predicted initially by the author since most of the Neotropical groups likely arose before the Pleistocene (e.g., Zink and Slowinski 1995, Costa 2003, Geurgas et al 2008). …”