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Issue: Vol. 2982 No. 1: 2 Aug. 2011
Type: Articles
Published: 2011-08-02
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2982.1.4
Page range: 40–48
Abstract views: 118
PDF downloaded: 1

Deciphering the cryptic species diversity of dull-coloured day geckos Phelsuma (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Madagascar, with description of a new species

Technical University of Braunschweig, Zoological Institute, Mendelssohnstr. 4, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Biologia, Sezione di Zoologia e Citologia, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy Current address: CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, R. Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
Technical University of Braunschweig, Zoological Institute, Mendelssohnstr. 4, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Zoologische Staatssammlung München, Münchhausenstr. 21, 81247 München, Germany
CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, R. Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, R. Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, R. Campo Alegre, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
Technical University of Braunschweig, Zoological Institute, Mendelssohnstr. 4, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Reptilia Squamata Gekkonidae Phelsuma new species Madagascar Ambalavao

Abstract

We describe a new Phelsuma species from the relictual forest of Anja Reserve (13 km south from Ambalavao, on the central high plateau of southern Madagascar). Phelsuma gouldi sp. nov. seems to be an arboreal and possibly rockdwelling species that has been observed in the private Anja Reserve (949 m a.s.l.), and possibly near Betroka almost 160 km further south-west. The species belongs to the P. mutabilis species group and differs from the other three species of the group, P. mutabilis, P. breviceps, and P. borai by a high genetic divergence of more than 10% in the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene, and by a combination of 7–9 subdigital lamellae under the fourth toe, 6–7 supralabials, one internasal, and numerous details of throat scalation. Phelsuma mutabilis comprises three mitochondrial clades with divergences of more than 4% in the 16S rRNA gene, but the lack of distinct morphological differences and absence of a geographical structure among these clades indicate that this pattern is currently best considered as reflecting intraspecific variability.

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