Abstract
Dwarf geckos, Lygodactylus, are small, secondarily diurnal lizards that occur in Africa, South America and Madagascar. Identification of many species is based on scale features only, and is therefore extremely difficult in the field due to their small size. Based on DNA sequences of a fragment of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene we studied the relationships among the Malagasy taxa and their differentiation relative to some African Lygodactylus. The results do not contradict a division of Malagasy Lygodactylus into three main lineages, which had been defined as Oriental, Occidental and Meridional clades. However, while the Oriental lineage (subgenus Domerguella) was very strongly corroborated by our analysis, no significant support was found for the other groupings. No evidence for a monophyletic group of the Malagasy taxa, or for a monophyletic Lygodactylus to the exclusion of Microscalabotes was found. The genetic divergences among Malagasy Lygodactylus were surprisingly large, indicating a relatively old age of most species and especially of the major lineages.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Glaw, F., and Vences, M., 1994, A Fieldguide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar, 2nd ed., Vences and Glaw Verlag, Köln.
Palumbi, S., Martin, A., Romano, S., McMillan, W.-O., Stice, L., and Grabowski, G., 1991, The Simple Fool’s Guide to PCR. Version 2.0, Priv. published document compiled by S.R. Palumbi, Dept. Zool., Honolulu Univ., Hawaii.
Pasteur, G., 1962, Notes préliminaires sur les lygodactyles (Gekkonidés). III. Diagnose de Millotisaurus gen. nov., de Madagascar, C. R. Soc. Sci. nat. phys. Maroc 28:65–66.
Pasteur, G., 1964, Notes préliminares sur les lygodactyles (Gekkonidés). IV Diagnoses quelques formes africaines et malgaches, Bull. Mus. nat. Hist. nat. 36:311–314.
Pasteur, G., 1965, Recherches sur l’evolution des lygodactyles, lezards afro-malgaches actuels, Trav. Inst. sci. Chérifien, Ser. Zool., Rabat 29:1–132.
Pasteur, G., 1995, Biodiversité et reptiles: diagnoses de sept nouvelles espèces fóssiles et actuelles du genre de lézards Lygodactylus (Sauria, Gekkonidae), Dumerilia 2:1–21.
Pasteur, G., and Blanc, C. P., 1967, Les lézards du sous-genre malgache de lygodactyles Domerguella (Gekkonidés), Bull. Soc. Zool. France 92:583–597.
Pasteur, G., and Blanc, C. P., 1973, Nouvelles études sur les lygodactyles (Sauriens Gekkonidés). I. Donneés récentes sur Domerguella et sur ses rapports avec la phytogéographie malgache, Bull. Soc. Zool. France 98:165–174.
Pasteur, G., and Blanc, P. C., 1991, Un lézard parthénogénétique à Madagascar? Description de Lygodactylus pauliani sp. nov. (Reptilia, Gekkonidae), Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. nat., Paris, 4° sér., 13:209–215.
Posada, D., and Crandall, K. A., 1998, Modeltest: testing the model of DNA substitution, Bioinformatics 14:817–818.
Raxworthy, C. J., Forstner, M. R. J., and Nussbaum, R. A., 2002, Chameleon radiation by oceanic dispersal, Nature 415:784–786.
Swofford, D.L., 2002, PAUP*. Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony (* and other methods). Version 4b10, Sinauer assoc., Sunderland, Massachusetts.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer
About this paper
Cite this paper
Puente, M., Thomas, M., Vences, M. (2005). Phylogeny and Biogeography of Malagasy Dwarf Geckos, Lygodactylus Gray, 1864: Preliminary Data from Mitochondrial DNA Sequences (Squamata: Gekkonidae). In: African Biodiversity. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-24320-8_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-24320-8_21
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-24315-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-24320-7
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)