Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5584 No. 4: 11 Feb. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-02-11
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5584.4.2
Page range: 482-504
Abstract views: 285
PDF downloaded: 7

A new sandstone-dwelling leaf-toed gecko (Gekkonidae: Dixonius hinchangsi) from Khon Kaen Province, northeastern Thailand

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences; Rue Vautier 29; B-1000 Brussels; Belgium
Ecological Genetics Research Unit; Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme; Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences; University of Helsinki; Helsinki 00014; Finland
Nakhonratchasima Zoo; 111 M. 1; Ratchasima-Pak Tongchai Rd.; Chaimongkol; Muang; Nakhon Ratchasima 30000; Thailand
Ranong Marine Fisheries Research and Development Center; 157 Chaloem Phrakiat Rd.; Paknam; Muang; Ranong 85000; Thailand
Department of Biology; Faculty of Science; Khon Kaen University; Muang; Khon Kaen 40002; Thailand
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences; Rue Vautier 29; B-1000 Brussels; Belgium
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences; Rue Vautier 29; B-1000 Brussels; Belgium; Royal Museum for Central Africa; Leuvensesteenweg 13;3080 Tervuren; Belgium
Faculty of Science and Technology; Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya; 109 M. 2; Tham Yai Subdistrict; Thung Song District; Nakhon Si Thammarat Province 80110; Thailand
Reptilia Gekkota morphology taxonomy Southeast Asia Isan

Abstract

We describe Dixonius hinchangsi sp. nov. from a sandstone area near Hin Chang Si, Khon Kaen Province, northeastern Thailand. The new species differs from all currently recognized Dixonius by the following combination of morphological characters and pattern: maximal known snout-vent length of 50.1 mm, 12 longitudinal rows of dorsal tubercles; 30 to 34 paravertebral tubercles; 23 to 27 longitudinal rows of ventral scales across the abdomen; six to eight precloacal pores in males, no pores in females; no canthal stripe; strongly barred lips; and a spotted to uniform dorsal pattern in males and females. We provide a cranial osteological description and a phylogenetic analysis of the new species. This discovery brings the number of recognized Dixonius species to 19, among them nine species endemic to Thailand.

 

References

  1. Altschul, S.F., Gish, W., Miller, W., Myers, E.W. & Lipman, D.J. (1990) Basic local alignment search tool. Journal of Molecular Biology, 215 (3), 403–410. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-2836(05)80360-2
  2. Annandale, N. (1905a) Notes on some Oriental geckos in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, with descriptions of new forms. The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 7, 15 (85), 26–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/03745480509443635
  3. Annandale, N. (1905b) Contributions to Oriental herpetology II.- Notes on the Oriental lizards in the Indian Museum, with a list of the species recorded from British India and Ceylon. Part I. Journal & Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1, 81–93, pls. I–II.
  4. Bauer, A.M., Good, D.A. & Branch, W.R. (1997) The taxonomy of the Southern African Leaf-toed Geckos (Squamata: Gekkonidae), with a review of Old World “Phyllodactylus” and the description of five new genera. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 49 (14), 447–497.
  5. Bauer, A.M., Sumontha, M., Grossmann, W., Pauwels, O.S.G. & Vogel, G. (2004) A new species of Dixonius (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Kanchanaburi Province, western Thailand. Current Herpetology, 23 (1), 17–26. https://doi.org/10.5358/hsj.23.17
  6. Botov, A., Phung, T.M., Nguyen, Q.T., Bauer, A.M., Brennan, I.G. & Ziegler, T. (2015) A new species of Dixonius (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Phu Quy Island, Vietnam. Zootaxa, 4040 (1), 48–58. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4040.1.4
  7. Boulenger, G.A. (1898) Third report on additions to the lizard collection in the Natural History Museum. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1898, 912–923. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1898.tb03194.x
  8. Das, I. (2004) A new species of Dixonius (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from southern Vietnam. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 52 (2), 629–634.
  9. Dierckxsens, N., Mardulyn, P. & Smits, G. (2016) NOVOPlasty: de novo assembly of organelle genomes from whole genome data. Nucleic Acids Research, 45 (4), e18. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkw955
  10. Donbundit, N., Sumontha, M., Suthanthangjai, M., Suthanthangjai, W. & Pauwels, O.S.G. (2024) Another new micro-endemic limestone-dwelling leaf-toed gecko (Gekkonidae: Dixonius) from Phetchaburi Province, western Thailand. Zootaxa, 5447 (4), 531–546. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5447.4.5
  11. Evans, S.E. (2008) The skull of lizards and tuatara. In: Gans, C., Gaunt, A.S. & Adler, K. (Eds.), Biology of the Reptilia. Vol. 20. The Skull of Lepidosauria. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Ithaca, New York, pp. 1–347.
  12. Geissler, P., Krohn, A.R. & Rennert, D. (2011) Herpetofaunal records in coastal dune areas, Binh Thuan Province, southern Vietnam, with the rediscovery of Oligodon macrurus Angel, 1927. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 18 (4), 317–324.
  13. Grismer, L.L., Chav, T., Neang, T., Wood, P.L., Grismer, J.L., Youmans, T.M., Ponce, A., Daltry, J.C. & Kaiser, H. (2007) The herpetofauna of the Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary and checklist of the herpetofauna of the Cardamom mountains, Cambodia. Hamadryad, 31 (2), 216–241.
  14. Grossmann, W., Schäfer, C. & Harbig, P. (1996) Phyllodactylus siamensis Boulenger. Sauria, Suppl., 18 (3), 357–360.
  15. Jackman, T.R., Bauer, A.M. & Greenbaum, E. (2008) Phylogenetic relationships of the geckos of the genus Nactus and their relatives (Squamata: Gekkonidae). Acta Herpetologica, 3 (1), 1–18.
  16. Luu, V.Q., Grismer, J.L., Hoang, T.T., Murdoch, M.L. & Grismer, L.L. (2023a) Another new species of Dixonius (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Gia Lai Province in the Central Highlands, Vietnam. Evolutionary Systematics, 7, 267–284. https://doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.7.105850
  17. Luu, V.Q., Nguyen, T.H., Le, M.D., Grismer, J.L., Ha, H.B., Sitthivong, S., Hoang, T.T. & Grismer, L.L. (2023b) Two new species of Dixonius from Vietnam and Laos with a discussion of the taxonomy of Dixonius (Squamata, Gekkonidae). ZooKeys, 1163, 143–176. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1163.101230
  18. Manthey, U. & Manthey, S. (2017) Amphibien und Reptilien von Laos—ein Reisebericht Teil 2: Lao Pako & Luang Namtha mit einem Abstecher nach Xishuangbanna, China (Feb./März 2003). Sauria, 39 (3), 3–27.
  19. Minh, B.Q., Nguyen, M.A.T. & von Haeseler, A. (2013) Ultrafast Approximation for Phylogenetic Bootstrap. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 30 (5), 1188–1195. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/mst024
  20. Mocquard, F. (1904) Lézards recueillis par M. A. Pavie en Indo-Chine. In: Pavie, A. (Ed.), Mission Pavie Indo-Chine 1879–1895. Études diverses. III. Recherches sur l’histoire naturelle de l’Indo-Chine orientale. Ernest Leroux, Paris, pp. 486–488, pl. XXXIII, fig. 1
  21. Ngo, V.T. & Ziegler, T. (2009) A new species of Dixonius from Nui Chua National Park, Ninh Thuan Province, southern Vietnam (Squamata, Gekkonidae). Zoosystematics and Evolution, 85 (1), 117–125. https://doi.org/10.1002/zoos.200800018
  22. Nguyen, T.H., Luu, V.Q., Sitthivong, S., Ngo, H.T., Nguyen, T.Q., Le, M.D. & Ziegler, T. (2021) A new species of Dixonius (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Vientiane Capital, Laos. Zootaxa, 4965 (2), 351–362. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4965.2.8
  23. Nguyen, T.H., Sitthivong, S., Ngo, H.T., Luu, V.Q., Nguyen, T.Q., Le, M.D. & Ziegler, T. (2020) A new species of Dixonius (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the karst forest of Khammouane Province, central Laos. Zootaxa, 4759 (4), 530–542. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4759.4.4
  24. Pauwels, O.S.G., Chomngam, N., Larsen, H. & Sumontha, M. (2020) A new limestone-dwelling leaf-toed gecko (Gekkonidae: Dixonius) from coastal hills in Cha-am, peninsular Thailand. Zootaxa, 4845 (1), 97–108. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4247.5.2
  25. Pauwels, O.S.G., Das, S., Brecko, J., Bringsøe, H. & Sumontha, M. (2024) Rediscovery and redescription of Dixonius siamensis (Boulenger, 1899) (Squamata: Gekkonidae), type species of the genus, with lectotype designation. Zootaxa, 5543 (3), 301–328. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5543.3.1
  26. Pauwels, O.S.G., Das, S., Camara, L.B., Chirio, L., Doumbia, J., d’Udekem d’Acoz, C., Dufour, S., Margraf, N. & Sonet, G. (2023) Rediscovery, range extension, phylogenetic relationships and updated diagnosis of the Ornate Long-tailed Lizard Latastia ornata Monard, 1940 (Squamata: Lacertidae). Zootaxa, 5296 (4), 501–524. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5296.4.1
  27. Pauwels, O.S.G., Panitvong, N., Kunya, K. & Sumontha, K. (2021) A new sandstone-dwelling leaf-toed gecko (Gekkonidae: Dixonius mekongensis) from the Thai-Lao border. Zootaxa, 4969 (3), 526–538. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4969.3.5
  28. Ponta, G., Memon, B., LaMoreaux, J., Julawong, J. & Wongsawat, S. (2013) Karst Landforms in the Saraburi Group Limestones, Thailand. In: Land, L., Doctor, D.H. & Stephenson, J.B. (Ed.), Proceedings of the 13th Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst, Carlsbad, New Mexico, 6–10 May 2013, pp. 299–309. https://doi.org/10.5038/9780979542275.1140
  29. Schubert, M., Lindgreen, S. & Orlando, L. (2016) AdapterRemoval v2: rapid adapter trimming, identification, and read merging. BMC Research Notes, 9, 88. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-016-1900-2
  30. Sievers, F., Barton, G.J. & Higgins, D.G. (2020) Multiple Sequence Alignment. In: Baxevanis, A.D., Bader, G.D. & Wishart, D.S. (Ed.), Bioinformatics. 4th Edition. Wiley, Hoboken, New Jersey, pp. 227–250.
  31. Singtuen, V., Vivitkul, N. & Pringproh, W. (2022) Geology of Hin Chang Si Sandstone Geoheritage in Khon Kaen Province for geotourism planning of northeastern Thailand. Open Journal of Geology, 12, 641–647. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojg.2022.129029
  32. Stöver, B.C. & Müller, K.F. (2010) TreeGraph 2: Combining and visualizing evidence from different phylogenetic analyses. BMC Bioinformatics, 11 (7). [published online] https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-11-7
  33. Sumontha, M., Chomngam, N., Phanamphon, E., Pawangkhanant, P., Viriyapanon, C., Thanaprayotsak, W. & Pauwels, O.S.G. (2017) A new limestone-dwelling leaf-toed gecko (Gekkonidae: Dixonius) from Khao Sam Roi Yot massif, peninsular Thailand. Zootaxa, 4247 (5), 556–568. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4247.5.2
  34. Sumontha, M. & Pauwels, O.S.G. (2020) A new leaf-toed gecko (Gekkonidae: Dixonius) from the city of Ranong, southwestern Thailand. Zootaxa, 4852 (2), 166–176. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4852.2.2
  35. Tamura, K., Stecher, G. & Kumar, S. (2021) MEGA11: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis version 11. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 38 (7), 3022–3027. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab120
  36. Taylor, E.H. (1962) New oriental reptiles. University of Kansas Science Bulletin, 43, 209–263. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.13346
  37. Taylor, E.H. (1963) The lizards of Thailand. The University of Kansas Science Bulletin, 44 (14), 687–1077.
  38. Thummawongsa, T., Deeprasai, W. & Prajaksood, A. (2014) Herbs in Hin Chang Si, Nam Phong National Park, Khon Kaen Province. Thai Journal of Botany, 6 (2), 115–123.
  39. Trifinopoulos, J., Nguyen, L.-T., von Haeseler, A. & Minh, B.Q. (2016) W-IQ-TREE: a fast online phylogenetic tool for maximum likelihood analysis. Nucleic Acids Research, 44 (1), 232–235. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkw256
  40. Villa, A., Daza, J.D., Bauer, A.M. & Delfino, M. (2018) Comparative cranial osteology of European gekkotans (Reptilia, Squamata). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 184 (3), 857–895. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx104
  41. Ziegler, T., Botov, A., Nguyen, T.T., Bauer, A.M., Brennan, I.G., Ngo, H.T. & Nguyen, Q.T. (2016) First molecular verification of Dixonius vietnamensis Das, 2004 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) with the description of a new species from Vinh Cuu Nature Reserve, Dong Nai Province, Vietnam. Zootaxa, 4136 (3), 553–566. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4136.3.7