Phylogenetic relationships among gekkotan lizards inferred from C-mos nuclear DNA sequences and a new classification of the Gekkota

Abstract

A phylogeny of gekkotan lizards was derived from C-mos nuclear DNA sequence data. Forty-one currently recognized genera, representing all major gekkotan lineages, were included in the study. A total of 378 bp of partial C-mos gene sequences was obtained and aligned. Maximum parsimony (MP) and maximum likelihood (ML) trees were generated based on unweighted analysis using PAUP*; similar tree topologies were recovered by both methods. The Eublepharidae were monophyletic and its relationship to other major clades was poorly resolved. The Pygopodidae of Kluge (1987) was monophyletic, but relationships within this group differed from those retrieved by previous analyses. The Diplodactylini + padded carphodactylines were the sister group of pygopods + padless carphodactylines. The Gekkonidae were monophyletic, but we found no evidence in support of the Teratoscincinae, as Teratoscincus was embedded well within the gekkonids. Both MP and ML analyses supported the basal position of Sphaerodactylus within the gekkonids, in contrast to morphologically based hypotheses. We propose a new higher order classification of the Gekkota that reflect these results. Five gekkotan families: Eublepharidae, Gekkonidae, Pygopodidae, Diplodactylidae, and Carphodactylidae are recognized. The higher order status of the sphaerodactyls will require more intensive sampling of this group. Our results support the hypothesis that the early cladogenesis of the Gekkota was associated with the split of Eastern Gondwanaland from Western Gondwanaland. Divergences among living genera in the Eublepharidae and the Eastern Gondwanan lineages (Diplodactylidae, Pygopodidae and Carphodactylidae) may be older than those in the Gekkonidae. © 2004 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2004, 83, 353–368.