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Issue: Vol. 3880 No. 1: 31 Oct. 2014
Type: Monograph
Published: 2014-10-31
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3880.1.1
Page range: 1–147
Abstract views: 31
PDF downloaded: 2

Systematics and natural history of Southeast Asian Rock Geckos (genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887) with descriptions of eight new species from Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia

Department of Biology, La Sierra University, Riverside, California, USA
Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, 150 East Bulldog Boulevard, Provo, Utah 84602 USA
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Pulau Pinang, Penang, Malaysia
Museum Zoologicum Borgoriense, Research Center for Biology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Cibinong, Bogor, Indonesia
Institute for Environment and Development, (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Pulau Pinang, Penang, Malaysia
Ranong Fisheries Marine Station, 157 M.1, Saphan-Pla Road, Paknam, Muang, Ranong 85000, Thailand
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7651, USA
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7651, USA
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Pulau Pinang, Penang, Malaysia,
Départmemt des Vertébrés Récens, Institut Royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, 29 Rue Vautier, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Cnemaspis Gekkonidae Southeast Asia new species Sunda Shelf biogeography phylogeography

Abstract

A well-supported and well-resolved phylogeny based on a concatenated data set from one mitochondrial and two nuclear genes, six morphological characters, and nine color pattern characters for 44 of the 50 species of the Southeast Asian Rock Geckos (genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887) is consistent with the previous taxonomy of Cnemaspis based solely on morphology and color pattern. Cnemaspis is partitioned into four major clades that collectively contain six species groups. The monophyly of all clades and species groups is strongly supported and they are parapatrically distributed across well-established, biogeographical regions ranging from southern Vietnam westward through southern Indochina, southward through the Thai-Malay Peninsula, then eastward to Borneo. Eight new species (Cnemaspis omari sp. nov. from the Thai-Malaysian border; C. temiah sp. nov. from Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia; C. stongensis sp. nov. from Gunung Stong, Kelantan, Malaysia; C. hangus sp. nov. from Bukit Hangus, Pahang, Malaysia; C. sundagekko sp. nov. from Pulau Siantan, Indonesia; C. peninsularis sp. nov. from southern Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and C. mumpuniae sp. nov. and C. sundainsula sp. nov. from Pulau Natuna Besar, Indonesia) are described based on morphology and color pattern and all but C. sundagekko sp. nov. are included in the phylogenetic analyses. Cnemaspis kendallii is polyphyletic and a composite of six species. An updated taxonomy consistent with the phylogeny is proposed for all 50 species and is based on 25 morphological and 53 color pattern characters scored across 594 specimens. Cladogenetic events and biogeographical relationships within Cnemaspis were likely influenced by this group’s low vagility and the cyclical patterns of geographical and environmental changes in Sundaland over the last 25 million years and especially within the last 2.5 million years. The phylogeny indicates that nocturnality, diurnality, substrate preferences, and the presence of ocelli in the shoulder regions have evolved independently multiple times.