On the Clone Type of Gehyra variegata ogasawarasimae Okada, 1930 (Reptilia: Gekkonidae)

Abstract

Gehyra veriegata ogasawarasimae was described in 1930 from Chichijima Island of the Ogasawara Group, Japan, and then was reported to have 2n=63 chromosomes in 1949. Subsequently this taxon was synonymized with Lepidodactylus lugubris, a parthenogenetic species complex consisting of a number of diploid-triploid clones distributed in tropical Pacific and Indian Ocean islands. The above chromosome number, as well as dorsal color pattern of an individual illustrated in a figure of its original description, suggests that the type of G. v. ogasawarasimae (lost) belonged to a triploid clone of L. lugubris. However, all L. lugubris recently collected from Chichijima Island and another island of the Ogasawara Group had only 2n=44 chromosomes and belonged to a diploid clone, so-called clone A. A survey of museum specimens of L. lugubris collected from Chichijima Island during 1960–1970s yielded three specimens showing dorsal pattern characteristic of a triploid clone, so-called clone C. These suggest that the triploid clone C previously occurred on Chichijima Island and was erroneously described as Gehyra variegata ogasawarasimae. This clone may have been displaced by the diploid clone A through interclonal competition after recent colonization of the latter to Chichijima and other Ogasawara islands.