The phylogeny of Hemiphyllodactylus Bleeker, 1860 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) with a description of a new species from the Mangin Range, Sagaing Region, northern Myanmar

Abstract

ABSTRACT Phylogenetic analyses of the 49 nominal species of the gekkonid genus Hemiphyllodactylus based on the mitochondrial gene NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 and its flanking tRNAs resulted in a strongly supported tree composed of a number of regionally localised monophyletic lineages consistent with previous genus-wide analyses. One such lineage from Western Indochina is composed of three previously recognised clades plus an additional species from southern Thailand. An integrative taxonomic analysis of one of these clades (clade 3 from Western Yunnan, China) recovered a new species from the Mangin Mountain Range that represents the third independent origin of Hemiphyllodactylus in Myanmar (not counting the widespread parthenogenetic H. typus). Hemiphyllodactylus zalonicus sp. nov. from Mt. Zalon, Sagaing Region, is the first species of Hemiphyllodactyus known from the northern part of Ayeyarwady Basin and bears a 15.0–18.9% uncorrected sequence divergence from other clade members as well as having discretely non-overlapping meristic and mensural differences. This discovery brings the total number of Hemiphyllodactylus in Myanmar to at least 11 species.