Molecular evidence for the taxonomic status of Hemidactylus brookii group taxa (Squamata: Gekkonidae)

Hemidactylus brookii has one of the widest distributions and, arguably, one of the most confused taxonomic histories of any gekkonid lizard. Nuclear (RAG1 and PDC) and mitochondrial (ND2, cyt b ) DNA sequence data were employed to examine relationships among a sample of putative H. brookii , including a topotypical specimen from Borneo. Two clades were recovered, one consisting of specimens from Borneo (Sarawak), Myanmar, Peninsular Malaysia and Karnataka, southwestern India, and another of specimens from Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Kerala, southwestern India. Both clades are well supported and deeply divergent from one another, whereas genetic variation within each clade is limited. None of the analytical approaches used recovered a well-supported monophyletic H. brookii sensu lato . Near uniformity of H. brookii sensu stricto in East Asia suggests that this species has spread to this region relatively recently. The name H. parvimaculatus Deraniyagala 1953 is available for the Sri Lankan clade and this form should be treated as a valid species. Existing data cannot be used to distinguish whether this species has colonized Sri Lanka from South India or vice versa. The Palghat Gap provides a candidate barrier to gene flow between H. brookii and H. parvimaculatus . Although the identity of H. brookii complex geckos in East Asia and Sri Lanka appears resolved, the situation in India and Pakistan remains complex and thorough revisionary work, coupled with phylogenetic studies, is needed to determine species boundaries in this regio

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Occurrence of the Ceylon Frogmouth Batrachostomus Moniliger (Family Podargidae) in Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary, Maharashtra

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Two new species of yellow-tailed Hemidactylus Goldfuss, 1820 (Squamata Gekkonidae) from rocky outcrops on the Telangana Plateau, India

Lajmi, Aparna, Giri, Varad B., Singh, Taneraw, Agarwal, Ishan (2020): Two new species of yellow-tailed Hemidactylus Goldfuss, 1820 (Squamata Gekkonidae) from rocky outcrops on the Telangana Plateau, India. Zootaxa 4895 (4): 483-504, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4895.4.

FIGURE 4 in A new cryptic rock-dwelling Hemidactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from south India

FIGURE 4. Pericloacal region of adult male Hemidactylus graniticolus sp. nov. (BNHS 1859) showing a series of 25 femoral pores on left and 27 on right side separated mesially by one scale

Molecular data in conjunction with morphology help resolve the Hemidactylus brookii complex (Squamata: Gekkonidae)

Molecular data are increasingly being used to resolve cryptic species complexes; however, subsequent formal species description and taxonomic revisions often remain incomplete. Given that most species are described based on morphology-based alpha taxonomy, one cannot resolve nomenclatural issues of species complexes without the aid of morphology. In this study, we examined the taxonomic status of a long-known human commensal and species complex, Hemidactylus brookii. To this end, samples of H. cf. brookii and related species were collected across India. We analyzed molecular as well as morphological data to resolve the taxonomy of this species complex. Seven deeply divergent, well-supported clades were recovered using the mitochondrial phylogeny, five of which were also retrieved in the nuclear tree. One of these consists of five morphologically distinct species of ground-dwelling Hemidactylus. The genetic distances across each clade of putative species of H. brookii sensu lato were comparable to that between morphologically distinct species of ground-dwelling Hemidactylus. Meristic characters such as number of precloacal-femoral pores, number of non-pore bearing scales interrupting the series of pored scales, dorsal pholidosis, and presence/absence of divided lamellae can be used to distinguish these putative species from each other. However, morphological characters of H. brookii sensu stricto did not correspond to any of the putative species studied. The study also revealed that the ``H. brookii complex'' in India includes two commensal species, Hemidactylus parvimaculatus and Hemidactylus murrayi. Furthermore, these two lineages have independently acquired adaptations that could have assisted them in exploiting human habitat. An identification key to diagnose species within this complex and rest of the Hemidactylus in India is proposed

An expanded ND2 phylogeny of the brookii and prashadi groups with the description of three new Indian Hemidactylus Oken (Squamata: Gekkonidae)

We present an expanded ND2 phylogeny of the brookii and prashadi groups of Indian Hemidactylus. While relationships within the clades are not well resolved, we recover many well supported subclades and a number of deeply divergent lineages within each clade. We use morphological data to describe three of these divergent lineages as new species; Hemidactylus kolliensis sp. nov., a member of the prashadi group from high elevation in the Kollimalai Massif in Tamil Nadu, Hemidactylus chikhaldaraensis sp. nov. and Hemidactylus sankariensis sp. nov., both members of the brookii group, are described from high elevation of the Satpuras in Maharashtra and low elevation of Tamil Nadu, respectively. The three new species exhibit > 15% divergence for the ND2 gene from their phylogenetic sisters and differ in a number of morphological characters from all Indian congeners. The discovery of three more endemic Hemidactylus species from rocky habitats suggests that many more remain to be discovered across India

FIGURE 4 in A new ground-dwelling species of Cnemaspis Strauch (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the northern Western Ghats, Maharashtra, India

FIGURE 4. Juvenile of Cnemaspis kolhapurensis sp. nov. (not collected) showing the strongly contrasting broad pale dorsal stripe and dark lateral stripes, as well as brightly colored tail