A New Species of Feather-tailed Leaf-toed Gecko, Heinicke, Daza, Greenbaum, Jackman, Bauer, 2014 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from the Poorly Explored Savannah of Western Angola

Overview

Journal Zookeys

Date 2023 Feb 10

PMID 36760357

Authors

Javier Lobon-Rovira

Werner Conradie

Ninda L Baptista

Pedro Vaz Pinto

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

We here describe a new species of feather-tailed leaf-toed gecko, , from southern Benguela Province, Angola, based on morphological and osteological evidence, supported by phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial data. The new species adds to the rapidly growing and newly-recognised endemic biodiversity of Angola, doubling the number of species, breaking the pattern observed within other closely-related African members of a clade of circum-Indian Ocean leaf-toed geckos - , and - all of which are presently monotypic. The new species is easily distinguished from , based on spine-like (as opposed to feather-like) scales on the margins of the original tail. Phylogenetic analyses also recovered the new taxon as monophyletic, with a well-supported sister relationship to , from which it differs by a substantial 24.1% NADH-dehydrogenase subunit 2 mitochondrial gene uncorrected p-distance.

References

Kumar S, Stecher G, Li M, Knyaz C, Tamura K . MEGA X: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis across Computing Platforms. Mol Biol Evol. 2018; 35(6):1547-1549. PMC: 5967553. DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msy096. View

Tejero-Cicuendez H, Simo-Riudalbas M, Menendez I, Carranza S . Ecological specialization, rather than the island effect, explains morphological diversification in an ancient radiation of geckos. Proc Biol Sci. 2021; 288(1965):20211821. PMC: 8692960. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1821. View

Branch W, Baptista N, Keates C, Edwards S . Rediscovery, taxonomic status, and phylogenetic relationships of two rare and endemic snakes (Serpentes: Psammophiinae) from the southwestern Angolan plateau. Zootaxa. 2019; 4590(3):zootaxa.4590.3.2. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4590.3.2. View

Nielsen S, Conradie W, Ceriaco L, Bauer A, Heinicke M, Stanley E . A new species of Rain Frog (Brevicipitidae, ) endemic to Angola. Zookeys. 2020; 979:133-160. PMC: 7609483. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.979.56863. View

Ernst R, Nienguesso A, Lautenschlager T, Barej M, Schmitz A, Scmitz A . Relicts of a forested past: Southernmost distribution of the hairy frog genus Trichobatrachus Boulenger, 1900 (Anura: Arthroleptidae) in the Serra do Pingano region of Angola with comments on its taxonomic status. Zootaxa. 2014; 3779:297-300. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3779.2.10. View

Lobn-Rovira J, Rocha S, Gower D, Perera A, Harris D . The unexpected gecko: A new cryptic species within Urocotyledon inexpectata (Stejneger, 1893) from the northern granitic Seychelles. Zootaxa. 2022; 5150(4):556-578. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5150.4.5. View

Marques M, Ceriaco L, Bandeira S, Pauwels O, Bauer A . Description of a new long-tailed skink (Scincidae: Trachylepis) from Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zootaxa. 2019; 4568(1):zootaxa.4568.1.3. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4568.1.3. View

Ceriaco L, Agarwal I, Marques M, Bauer A . A review of the genus Hemidactylus Goldfuss, 1820 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Angola, with the description of two new species. Zootaxa. 2020; 4746(1):zootaxa.4746.1.1. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4746.1.1. View

Daza J, Abdala V, Thomas R, Bauer A . Skull anatomy of the miniaturized gecko Sphaerodactylus roosevelti (Squamata: Gekkota). J Morphol. 2008; 269(11):1340-64. DOI: 10.1002/jmor.10664. View

10.

Marques M, Ceriaco L, Buehler M, Bandeira S, Janota J, Bauer A . A revision of the Dwarf Geckos, genus Lygodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae), from Angola, with the description of three new species. Zootaxa. 2020; 4853(3):zootaxa.4853.3.1. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4853.3.1. View

11.

Lobon-Rovira J, Conradie W, Pinto P, Keates C, Edwards S, du Plessis A . Systematic revision of Afrogecko ansorgii (Boulenger, 1907) (Sauria: Gekkonidae) from western Angola. Zootaxa. 2022; 5124(4):401-430. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5124.4.1. View

12.

Conroy C, Papenfuss T, Parker J, Hahn N . Use of tricaine methanesulfonate (MS222) for euthanasia of reptiles. J Am Assoc Lab Anim Sci. 2009; 48(1):28-32. PMC: 2694699. View

13.

Parrinha D, Marques M, Heinicke M, Khalid F, Parker K, Tolley K . A revision of Angolan species in the genus Pedioplanis Fitzinger (Squamata: Lacertidae), with the description of a new species. Zootaxa. 2021; 5032(1):1-46. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5032.1.1. View

14.

Pyron R, Burbrink F, Wiens J . A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata, including 4161 species of lizards and snakes. BMC Evol Biol. 2013; 13:93. PMC: 3682911. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-13-93. View

15.

Ceriaco L, Heinicke M, Parker K, Marques M, Bauer A . A review of the African snake-eyed skinks (Scincidae: Panaspis) from Angola, with the description of a new species. Zootaxa. 2020; 4747(1):zootaxa.4747.1.3. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4747.1.3. View

16.

Ceriaco L, Agarwal I, Marques M, Bauer A . A correction to a recent review of the genus Hemidactylus Goldfuss, 1820 <br />(Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Angola, with the description of two additional species. Zootaxa. 2020; 4861(1):zootaxa.4861.1.6. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4861.1.6. View

17.

Marques M, Parrinha D, Santos B, Bandeira S, Butler B, Sousa A . All in all its just another branch in the tree: A new species of Acanthocercus Fitzinger, 1843 (Squamata: Agamidae), from Angola. Zootaxa. 2022; 5099(2):221-243. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5099.2.4. View

18.

Conradie W, Branch W, Tolley K . Fifty Shades of Grey: giving colour to the poorly known Angolan Ashy reed frog (Hyperoliidae: Hyperolius cinereus), with the description of a new species. Zootaxa. 2015; 3635:201-23. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3635.3.1. View

19.

Macey J, Larson A, Ananjeva N, Fang Z, Papenfuss T . Two novel gene orders and the role of light-strand replication in rearrangement of the vertebrate mitochondrial genome. Mol Biol Evol. 1997; 14(1):91-104. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a025706. View

20.

Gamble T, Greenbaum E, Jackman T, Russell A, Bauer A . Repeated origin and loss of adhesive toepads in geckos. PLoS One. 2012; 7(6):e39429. PMC: 3384654. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0039429. View

﻿A New Species of Feather-tailed Leaf-toed Gecko, Heinicke, Daza, Greenbaum, Jackman, Bauer, 2014 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from the Poorly Explored Savannah of Western Angola

A New Species of Feather-tailed Leaf-toed Gecko, Heinicke, Daza, Greenbaum, Jackman, Bauer, 2014 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from the Poorly Explored Savannah of Western Angola