Another new species of Dixonius (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Gia Lai Province in the Central Highlands, Vietnam

By

Luu, Vinh Quang
Grismer, Jesse L.
Hoang, Tuoi Thi
Murdoch, Matthew L.
Grismer, L Lee

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2023-8-23

Original Publication

Evolutionary systematics

Volume

7

Series / Issue

Issue: 2

Pages

267--284

Subjects

Indochina , integrative taxonomy , leaf-toed gecko , molecular phylogeny , Morphology , new species , Southeast Asia

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Hamburg Centrum für Naturkunde (CeNak) 2017-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.7.105850

 

Abstract

Another new species of Dixonius, D. fulbrightisp. nov., is described from Gia Lai Province, in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, using an integrated approach based on morphological, categorical (color pattern), and mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 gene (ND2) and its flanking tRNAs data. Phylogenetic analyses recovered Dixonius fulbrightisp. nov. as closely related to D. gialaiensis from Gia Lai Province and part of a clade that includes D. minhlei, D. siamensis, and D. somchanhae. Multivariate (PCA, DAPC, and MFA) and univariate (ANOVA) analyses of 15 meristic (scale counts), six morphometric (mensural), and five categorical (color pattern and morphology) characters from 44 specimens of all eight species of Dixonius from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia clearly demonstrated that Dixonius fulbrightisp. nov. is statistically different and diagnostically distinct from all closely related species of Dixonius. This new species discovery highlights the underestimated gecko diversity and the importance of continued fieldwork in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.