Title: Geckos of the Genus Lepidodactylus (Squamata: Reptilia) in Micronesia: Description of a New Species and Reevaluation of the Status of Gecko moestus Peters, 1867
Abstract: Bisexual populations of the gekkonid genus Lepidodactylus from Belau and other Micronesian islands are reviewed taxonomically on the basis of museum and newly collected materials. Specimens from the Ngerukewid Island Group of Belau, having an entire terminal scansor and a few divided or deeply notched subterminal scansors on digits II to V, are distinct from other Micronesian congeneric populations and are assigned to the species group which has previously been known from New Guinea and other Melanesian islands. The Ngerukewid specimens, however, differ from any other members of this species group in several characteristics such as a relatively few body scale rows; and, hence, it is described herein as a new species, Lepidodactylus paurolepis. Remaining specimens from Micronesia, all having a divided terminal scansor on digits II to V, include the parthenogenetic L. lugubris, one bisexual species, and possible hybrids between them. The bisexual form closely resembles L. lugubris and L. aureolineatus from the Philippines but differs from them in having smaller body, characteristic dorsal pattern, and only barely developed lateral serrations on tail. Because the one extant syntype of Gecko moestus Peters, a species first described in 1867 from Belau but subsequently synonymized with L. lugubris, is apparently conspecific with that bisexual form, we designate this specimen as lectotype and resurrect the validity of the species as Lepidodactylus moestus (Peters).
Publication Year: 1995
Publication Date: 1995-02-15
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 24
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