A new species of Pseudogekko (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Romblon Island Group, Central Philippines

Abstract

We describe a new species of lizard in the genus Pseudogekko from Sibuyan and Tablas islands in the Romblon Island Group of the central Philippines. The new species is diagnosed from other Philippine Pseudogekko by body size and shape, color pattern, and multiple differences in scale characteristics. Pseudogekko isapa sp. nov. has been collected only twice from leaves of shrubs in forested habitat on Sibuyan and Tablas islands. The distinctive new species of false gecko is undoubtedly endemic to this single, isolated island group. The fact that populations of such a distinctive new species of Pseudogekko has escaped notice of herpetologists on the reasonably well-studied and largely protected Sibuyan Island further emphasizes the secretive and forest-dependent habits of Philippine false geckos. These characteristics of their behavior and natural history render them difficult to study and challenge biologists' efforts to accurately assess their conservation status.

Molecular phylogenetic estimates of evolutionary affinities and the first reports of phenotypic variation in two secretive, endemic reptiles from the Romblon Island Group, central Philippines) from Luzon Island, the Philippines

“…Morphological data for Pseudogekko isapa were chosen based on Siler et al (2014bSiler et al ( , 2016 and Davis et al (2015): snout -vent length (SVL); total length (TotL); tail length (TL); tail width (TW), tail depth (TD), head length (HL), head width (HW), midbody width (MBW), snout length (SNL), eye diameter (ED), eye nares diameter (END), internarial distance (IND), inter-orbital distance (IOD), axilla-groin distance, (AGD) femur length (FL), tibia length (TibL),supralabials (SL), infralabials (IL), circumorbitals, precloacal scale count, Finger-III scansors, Toe-IV scansors, midbody scale count, paravertebral scale counts (PVSC), and ventrals scale count.…”

“…In cases of scale count variation within species, numbers of individuals showing specific counts are given in parentheses. Siler et al (2016) described Pseudogekko isapa in reference to their surprise at the discovery of another highly distinctive new species of Pseudogekko from the RIG. This recent discovery resulted from the comprehensive revised systematic study of the two major Pseudogekko complexes, the P. compresicorpus Complex (Siler et al 2014a) and the P. brevipes Complex (Davis et al 2015).…”

“…Head size moderate, distinctively differentiated from neck, and consistently characterized by only slightly hypertrophied temporal and adductor musculature (Siler et al 2016…”

“…In the same year, Siler and colleagues described a new species of lizards in the genus Pseudogekko from the islands of Tablas and Sibuyan (Siler et al 2016). As in B. dalawangdaliri, Pseudogekko isapa is conspicuously rare in collections and completely unstudied in its natural habitat (Siler et al 2009, Siler and.…”

“…Phenotypically, the only known population was allied with the Pseudogekko compresicorpus Complex, making it the 7 th recognized species of False Gecko (aka Philippine Forest Geckos) in the Philippines-but also one of the archipelago's most poorly-known species in this genus. Siler et al (2016) defined P. isapa based on the only two specimens ever collected: one from Tablas, collected 50 years ago by L.C. Alcala, and the other collected near Mt.…”