A phylogenetic taxonomy of the Cyrtodactylus peguensis group (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) with descriptions of two new species from Myanmar

L Lee Grismer; Perry L Wood Jr; Evan S H Quah; Matthew L Murdoch; Marta S Grismer; Mark W Herr; Robert E Espinoza; Rafe M Brown; Aung Lin

doi:10.7717/peerj.5575

A phylogenetic taxonomy of the Cyrtodactylus peguensis group (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) with descriptions of two new species from Myanmar

PeerJ. 2018 Sep 19:6:e5575. doi: 10.7717/peerj.5575. eCollection 2018.

Authors

L Lee Grismer¹, Perry L Wood Jr², Evan S H Quah³, Matthew L Murdoch⁴, Marta S Grismer¹, Mark W Herr², Robert E Espinoza⁵, Rafe M Brown², Aung Lin⁶

Affiliations

¹ Herpetology Laboratory, Department of Biology, La Sierra University, Riverside, CA, USA.
² Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA.
³ School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Penang, Malaysia.
⁴ Department of Biology, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, USA.
⁵ Department of Biology, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, CA, USA.
⁶ Department of Biology, Fauna and Flora International, Yangon, Myanmar.

Abstract

A phylogenetic taxonomy of species in the Cyrtodactylus peguensis group from the Ayeyarwady Basin of Myanmar is constructed based on color pattern, morphology, and molecular systematic analyses using the mitochondrial gene NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2. Newly collected samples from the type locality of C. peguensis and other localities indicate that this clade is endemic to central Myanmar and contains at least seven species, four of which are undescribed. Three species, including C. peguensis occur in the low hills of the Bago Yoma Range within the central portion of the Ayeyarwady Basin. Two of these, C. myintkyawthurai sp. nov. from the northern and central Bago Yoma and C. meersi sp. nov. which is syntopic with C. peguensis in the southern Bago Yoma are described herein. As more lowland hilly areas bordering, and within the Ayeyarwady Basin are surveyed, more new species of this group are likely to be discovered. These discoveries continue the recent surge of descriptions of new species of Cyrtodactylus that are being discovered in Myanmar.

Keywords: Herpetology; Molecular phylogenetics; Taxonomy; Zoology.

Associated data

Dryad/10.5061/dryad.tri2k786

Grants and funding

L. Lee Grismer was supported by the College of Arts and Sciences of La Sierra University and Fauna & Flora International. Fieldwork for Perry L. Wood Jr was supported the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum at Brigham Young University and generation of molecular data was supported by the NSF grant EF-1241885 issued to Jack W. Sites. Participation of Mark W. Herr was supported in part by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Robert E. Espinoza was supported by the College of Science and Mathematics at California State University, Northridge. There was no additional external funding received for this study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.