Phylogenetic relationships of Semaphore geckos (Squamata: Sphaerodactylidae: Pristurus) with an assessment of the taxonomy of Pristurus rupestris

Abstract

A molecular phylogeny of the sphaerodactylid geckos of the genus Pristurus is inferred based on an alignment of 1845 base pairs (bp) of concatenated mitochondrial (12S) and nuclear (acm4, cmos, rag1 and rag2) genes for 80 individuals, representing 18 of the 23-26 species, and the three subspecies of P. rupestris. The results indicate that P. rupestris is polyphyletic and includes two highly divergent clades: the eastern clade, found in coastal Iran and throughout the Hajar Mountain range in northern Oman and eastern UAE; and the western clade, distributed from central coastal Oman, through Yemen, Saudi Arabia and north to southern Jordan. Inferred haplotype networks for the four nuclear genes show that the eastern and western clades of "P. rupestris" are highly differentiated and do not share any alleles. Moreover, although the two clades are differentiated by a morphological multivariate analysis, no one character or set of characters was found to be diagnostic. Based on the molecular analysis of specimens from the type locality of P. rupestris rupestris, the name P. rupestris is applied to the eastern clade. The name that should apply to the western clade cannot be clarified until morphological and genetic data for "P. rupestris" is available from the vicinity of Bosaso, Somalia, and therefore we refer to it as Pristurus sp. 1. The phylogenetic tree of Pristurus supports the hypothesis that P. celerrimus is sister to all the other species in the analyses and that the Socotra Archipelago was independently colonized a minimum of two times.

An inventory of herpetofauna from Wadi Sayq, Dhofar, Oman

“…The eastern clade occupies the Hajar Mountains in northern Oman and the western clade, to which our records belong, occupies the Dhofar, Yemen and Saudi Arabia mountain ranges. It is believed that more than one subspecies was recorded in Wadi Sayq, as several morphological variations were noticed, consistent with the findings of Badiane et al (2014). However, because subspecies have not yet been defined and named, records from this study were defined generically as P. rupestris.…”

“…However, because subspecies have not yet been defined and named, records from this study were defined generically as P. rupestris. Badiane et al (2014) explain this species occupies a variety of microhabitats and variation is common between neighbouring local populations. This adaptability may explain its abundance in all rocky realms within Wadi Sayq, both within the valley and on surrounding hillsides.…”

Microendemicity in the northern Hajar Mountains of Oman and the United Arab Emirates with the description of two new species of geckos of the genusAsaccus(Squamata: Phyllodactylidae)

“…The discovery of this radiation in the northern tip of the Hajar Mountains highlights the importance of this area, especially given that it has previously received little scientific attention in contrast to areas further south in the Central and Eastern Hajar Mountains such as the Jebel Akhdar (Harrison, 1976; Harrison, 1977). While genetic studies carried out on the geckos of the genera Hemidactylus (Carranza & Arnold, 2012), Pristurus (Badiane et al, 2014; Carranza & M Simó-Riudalbas, pers. obs., 2015) and Trachydactylus (De Pous et al, 2016) indicate that the areas with the maximum genetic diversity are situated around the Central and Eastern Hajar Mountains, our current study of Asaccus and the results of previous studies on the genus Ptyodactylus (Metallinou et al, 2015) stress the need for a much more thorough investigation of the diversity of the Hajar Mountains in the UAE and the Musandam Peninsula.…”

“…Consequently, Rastegar-Pouyani, Nilson & Faizi (2006) proposed the Zagros Mountains as the center of origin of Asaccus ; a hypothesis that was recently challenged by a partial molecular phylogeny of the genus, in which the Hajar endemic A. montanus was recovered as a sister taxon to all the other Asaccus species included in the analyses (Papenfuss et al, 2010). Moreover, preliminary morphological (Arnold & Gardner, 1994) and molecular (Papenfuss et al, 2010) data indicate that the diversity of Asaccus caudivolvulus Arnold & Gardner, 1994 and Asaccus gallagheri Arnold, 1972 in the Hajar Mountains is probably underestimated, something that has been already shown for several other reptile groups such as Hemidactylus (Carranza & Arnold, 2012), Pristurus (Badiane et al, 2014); Ptyodactylus (Metallinou et al, 2015) and Trachydactylus (De Pous et al, 2016). …”

Phylogeny and biogeography of Arabian populations of the Persian Horned Viper Pseudocerastes persicus (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854)

“…Despite the obvious interest from a systematic and biogeographic point of view, the lack of samples of Arabian P. persicus for genetic studies have prevented any phylogenetic studies that could clarify the origin and taxonomy of these isolated populations. Recent molecular studies indicate that the diversity of reptiles in Arabia and especially in the Hajar Mountains of Oman and UAE is much higher than it was previously thought, with some species showing very high levels of genetic variability even across very short distances (Papenfuss et al, 2009;Carranza & Arnold, 2012;Šmíd et al, 2013;Badiane et al, 2014;Metallinou et al, 2015;de Pous et al, 2016). Besides its relevance from a biodiversity point of view, to know the level of genetic differentiation and to have a good systematic knowledge that correctly reflects the phylogenetic relationships have important implications in venomous snakes.…”