The Namaqua day gecko revisited: Allozyme evidence for the affinities ofPhelsuma ocellata

Abstract

GOOD, D. A., and A. M. BAUER. 1995. The Namaqua day gecko revisited: Allozyme evidence for the affinities of Phelsuma ocellata. J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr. 44: 1–9. The phylogenetic position of the Namaqua day gecko was investigated using allozyme data. A minimum of three (and possibly as many as eight) of the 23 loci scored, when optimized on a cladogram of higher order relationships among African gekkonine geckos, were congruent with published morphological and behavioural evidence for the inclusion of the species within the genus Pelsuma. However, the position of P. ocellata within the genus remains unresolved. The available evidence does not support earlier intepretations of affinities between this species and the genus Rhoptropus. Genetic distance data are congruent with the phylogenetic results and the application of a molecular clock to these data suggest a Miocene divergence between the Namaqua day gecko and representative Malagasy congeners.