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Out of the blue: a novel, trans‐Atlantic clade of geckos (Gekkota, Squamata)
Author(s) -
Gamble Tony,
Bauer Aaron M,
Greenbaum Eli,
Jackman Todd R
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
zoologica scripta
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.204
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1463-6409
pISSN - 0300-3256
DOI - 10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00330.x
Subject(s) - clade , biology , monophyly , squamata , gekkonidae , phylogenetic tree , maximum parsimony , systematics , zoology , taxon , evolutionary biology , taxonomy (biology) , ecology , gene , genetics
Phylogenetic relationships among gekkotan lizards were estimated from five nuclear protein‐coding genes in separate and combined analyses using maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses. All analyses recovered a monophyletic trans‐Atlantic gecko clade (Phyllodactylidae) consisting of the genera Asaccus, Haemodracon, Homonota, Phyllodactylus, Phyllopezus, Ptyodactylus, Tarentola and Thecadactylus . No other phylogenetic or taxonomic hypotheses have proposed linking these genera, which have been consistently grouped with other taxa outside of the clade. In this paper, we determine the relationships of this new clade to other major gekkotan groups, evaluate previous phylogenetic hypotheses regarding constituent members of this novel clade, and critically examine the use of historically important morphological characters in gekkotan systematics as they relate to this novel clade, specifically — phalangeal formulae, hyoid morphology and external structure of the toe‐pads.