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Accepted by S. Carranza: 18 May 2012; published: 1 Aug. 2012
ZOOTAXA
ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition)
ISSN
1175-5334 (online edition)
Copyright © 2012 · Magnolia Press
Zootaxa 3406: 39–58 (2012)
www.mapress.com
/zootaxa/
Article
39
Phylogeography, geographic variation, and taxonomy of the Bent-toed Gecko
Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus Taylor, 1962 from Peninsular Malaysia with the
description of a new swamp dwelling species
CHELSÉA B. JOHNSON
1
, EVAN QUAH, S. H.
2
, SHAHRUL ANUAR
2
, M. A. MUIN
3
, PERRY L. WOOD, JR.
4
,
JESSE L. GRISMER
5
, LEE F. GREER
1
, CHAN KIN ONN
5,6
, NORHAYATI AHMAD
6
,
AARON M. BAUER
7
& L. LEE GRISMER
1,6
1
Department of Biology, La Sierra University, 4500 Riverwalk Parkway, Riverside, California, 92515-8247 USA.
E-mail: cjoh721@lasierra.edu; lgrismer@lasierra.edu; lgreer@lasierra.edu
2
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Pulau Pinang, Penang, Malaysia.
E-mail: evanquah@yahoo.com; shahrulanuar@gmail.com
3
Centre for Drug Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Pulau Pinang, Penang, Malaysia. E-mail: mamuin@gmail.com
4
Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, 150 East Bulldog Boulevard, Provo, Utah 84602 USA. E-mail: pwood@byu.edu
5
Department of Biology, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7561 USA.
E-mail: grismer@ku.edu; kin_onn@yahoo.com
6
Institue for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan,
Malaysia. E-mail: yati_68@yahoo.co.uk; kin_onn@yahoo.com
7
Department of Biology, Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania 19085-1603, USA. E-mail: aaron.bauer@villanova.edu
Abstract
A review of the taxonomic status of the Bent-toed Gecko Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus Taylor, 1962 based on a molecular
phylogeny, scalation, and color pattern analyses indicate that it is composed of a single, recently expanding, widespread
population with weakly supported phylogeographic substructuring with no discrete morphological differentiation between
populations. However, based on sampling, significant mean differences in selected scale counts occur between some pop-
ulations. The molecular phylogeny and morphological analysis strongly indicate lineage independence between a subset
of individuals from the Bukit Panchor, Penang population and their closest relative C. pantiensis Grismer, Chan, Grismer,
Wood & Belabut, 2008 from southern Peninsular Malaysia. Furthermore, the analyses indicate that the individuals of this
subset are conspecific and not part of C. quadrivirgatus as previously suggested. Additionally, this subset is morphologi-
cally distinct from all other Sundaland species of Cyrtodactylus, and as such is described herein as Cyrtodactylus payacola
sp. nov.
Key words: Malaysia, Bukit Panchor, Penang, Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus, pantiensis, payacola, taxonomy, new spe-
cies
Introduction
The genus Cyrtodactylus is the most speciose genus of gekkonid lizards (at least 152 species) and the rate of new
species being described each year shows no sign of tapering off (see http://www.reptile–database.org; Shea et al.
2012). There are at least 27 species of Cyrtodactylus currently recognized from the Sunda Region of Southeast
Asia, and 16 of these species occur in Peninsular Malaysia and its associated islands (Grismer 2011). One of these
species, Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus Taylor, 1962 ranges from southern Thailand south of the Isthmus of Kra,
throughout Peninsular Malaysia and its associated islands (Fig. 1) to Singapore and northern Sumatra (Grismer
2011). C. quadrivirgatus is a forest dwelling, scansorial, habitat generalist ranging from sea level to 1400 m in ele-
vation. Although, it is diagnosed by numerous, non-overlapping morphological characters, Grismer (2011) noted
that there was a significant geographic variation in color pattern that was associated with distinctive geographic
regions and/or habitats in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. In this study, we compare the patterns of variation in
JOHNSON ET AL.
40 · Zootaxa 3406 © 2012 Magnolia Press
FIGURE 1. Closed red circles are known localities of Cyrtodactylus payacola sp. nov. Closed white circles are localities from
which specimens were sampled for the molecular and morphological analysis of Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus. Closed black
circle (Shah Alam, Selangor) was not sampled for the molecular analysis and closed black squares are the remaining known
localities for C. quadrivirgatus (fide Grismer 2011) from which no specimens were examined. Numbers correspond to the fol-
lowing localities: 1. Pulau Langkawi, Kedah. 2. Pulau Tuba, Kedah. 3. Ulu Muda, Kedah. 4. Gunung Jerai, Kedah. 5. Sungai
Sedim, Kedah. 6. Pulau Pinang, Penang. 7. Bukit Larut, Perak. 8. Pulau Pangkor, Perak. 9. Temengor Forest Reserve, Perak. 10.
Sungai Pelus, Perak. 11. Pulau Perhentian Besar, Terengganu. 12. Gunung Lawit, Terengganu. 13. Sungai Tembak, Terengganu.
14. Kuala Aring, Terengganu. 15. Kuala Tahan, Pahang. 16. Sungai Lembing, Pahang. 17. Gunung Benom, Pahang. 18.
Fraser’s Hill, Pahang. 19. Genting Highlands, Pahang. 20. Ulu Kali, Pahang. 21. Ulu Gombak, Selangor. 22. Lakum Forest
Reserve, Pahang. 23. Bukit Rengit, Pahang. 24. Bukit Bau, Pahang. 25. Pasoh, Negri Sembilan. 26. Gunung Ledang, Johor. 27.
Pulau Tulai, Johor. 28. Pulau Tioman, Pahang. 29. Endau–Rompin, Johor. 30. Gunung Panti, Johor. 31. Singapore. 32. Shah
Alam, Selangor. 33. Ulu Temiang Forest Reserve, Kelantan. 34. Serasa Forest Reserve, Kelantan. 35. Empangan Tembat,
Terengganu. 36. Templer’s Park, Selangor. 37. Bukit Panchor, Penang. 38. Sungai Chikus Forest Reserve, Perak.
Zootaxa 3406 © 2012 Magnolia Press · 41
CYRTODACTYLUS QUADRIVIRGATUS REVIEW WITH NEW SPECIES
squamation and color pattern with that of a mitochondrial DNA based phylogeny in order to assess the taxonomic
status of various populations throughout its range in Peninsular Malaysia. We were unable to obtain tissues or
specimens from Sumatra or Thailand, and the Singapore population will be discussed separately (Grismer et al. in
prep.). Our efforts focused on delimiting potential lineage boundaries between populations of C. quadrivirgatus
and to determine if any of these lineages were deserving of separate species status using a general lineage species
concept (de Queiroz 1999).
Materials and methods
Morphological analysis. Color notes were taken from digital images of living specimens prior to preservation.
The following measurements from the type series were taken with Mitutoyo dial calipers to the nearest 0.1 mm
under a Nikon SMZ645 dissecting microscope on the body where appropriate: snout-vent length (SVL), taken from
the tip of snout to the vent; tail length (TL), taken from the vent to the tip of the tail, original or regenerated; tail
width (TW), taken at the base of the tail immediately posterior to the postcloacal swelling; forearm length (FL),
taken of the dorsal surface from the posterior margin of the elbow while flexed 90˚ to the base of the heel; axilla to
groin length (AG), taken from the posterior margin of the forelimb at its insertion point on the body to the anterior
margin of the hind limb at its insertion point on the body; head length (HL), the distance from the posterior margin
of the retroarticular process of the lower jaw to the tip of the snout; head width (HW), measured at the angle of the
jaws; head depth (HD), the maximum height of head from the occiput to the throat; eye diameter (ED), the greatest
horizontal diameter of the eyeball; eye to ear distance (EE), measured from the anterior edge of the ear opening to
the posterior edge of the eyeball; eye to snout distance (ES), measured from anteriormost margin of the eye ballot
to the tip of snout; eye to nostril distance (EN), measured between the anterior margin of the eyeball to the posterior
margin of the external nares; interorbital distance (IO), measured between the anterior edges of the orbit; ear length
(EL), the greatest horizontal distance of the ear opening; and internarial distance (IN), measured between the nares
across the rostrum. Additional character states evaluated on the type series and comparative material (Appendix)
were numbers of supralabial and infralabial scales counted from the largest scale immediately posterior to the dor-
sal inflection of the posterior portion of the upper jaw to the rostral and mental scales, respectively; the presence or
absence of tubercles on the anterior margin of the forearm; the number of paravertebral tubercles between limb
insertions counted in a straight line immediately left of the vertebral column starting at the midpoint between the
forelimb insertions and ending at the midpoint between the hind limb insertions; the number of longitudinal rows
of body tubercles counted transversely across the center of the dorsum from one ventrolateral fold to the other; the
number of subdigital lamellae beneath the fourth toe counted from the base of the first phalanx to the claw; the total
number of precloacal pores; the presence or absence of a precloacal depression or groove; the degree and arrange-
ment of body and tail tuberculation; the relative size and morphology of the subcaudal scales; the presence or
absence of a white network of lines forming a reticulum on the top of the head; color pattern on body and nape (i.e.,
striped, banded, or blotched); degree of striping on the flanks and their degree of contact with a postorbital stripe;
and the presence or absence of wide, dark bands on an original tail.
The meristic data were statistically analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and a t-test to test for sig-
nificant differences between population means in populations that had a sample size of at least four. Populations
were determined a priori based on geography and sampling. No sexual dimorphism was observed in any scale
counts, but only males were scored for precloacal pores due to their absence in females. Additional specimens
examined are listed in the appendix. Institutional abbreviations are as follows: we retain ZRC (Zoologial Reference
Collection) for USDZ (University of Singapore Department of Zoology), following conventional usage; LSUHC
refers to the La Sierra University Herpetological Collection, La Sierra University, Riverside, California, USA; and
FMNH refers to the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Phylogenetic analysis. We obtained sequence data from the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2
(ND2) gene including the flanking tRNA genes (tRNA-trp, tRNA-ala, tRNA-asn, tRNA-cys, tRNA-tyr) from 80
in-group samples and 13 out-group taxa based on Wood et al. in prep (Table 1). Total genomic DNA was isolated
from liver or skeletal muscle specimens stored in 95% ethanol using the Qiagen DNeasy
TM
tissue kit (Valencia, CA,
USA) following the standard protocol for animal tissue. ND2 was amplified using a double-stranded Polymerase
Chain Reaction (PCR) under the following conditions: 2.5 µl genomic DNA (concentration 10–30 µg of DNA); 2.5
JOHNSON ET AL.
42 · Zootaxa 3406 © 2012 Magnolia Press
µl light strand primer (concentration 4ppm) L4437b 5’–AAGCAGTTGGGCCCATACC–3’ (Macey and Schulte.
1999); 2.5 µl heavy strand primer (concentration 4ppm) L5002 5’–AACCAAACCCAACTACGAAAAAT–3’
(Macey and Schulte 1999); 7.5 µl of Qiagen Taq PCR Core Kit (Valencia, CA, USA), which contains 5 units/µl Taq
DNA Polymerase, PCR Buffer 15 mM MgCl
2
,
CoraLoad PCR Buffer 15 mM MgCl
2
, Q-Solution 5x solution, dNTP
Mix 10 mM of each dNTP, MgCl
2
, and 10.0 µl H
2
O. PCR reactions were executed on an Eppendorf Mastercycler
gradient theromocycler under the following conditions: initial denaturation at 95°C for 2 min, followed by a second
denaturation at 95°C for 35 s, annealing at 50–55°C for 35 s, followed by a cycle extension at 72°C for 35 s, for 31
cycles (Greenbaum et al. 2007). PCR products were purified using AMPure magnetic bead solution (Agentcourt
Bioscience, Beverly, MA, USA). Purified PCR products were then sequenced through the Davis Sequencing, Inc.
facility (Davis, CA). The two previous primers were used for sequencing along with two internal primers,
CyrtintF1 –TAGCCYTCTCYTCYATYGCCC–3’ (Siler et al. 2010) and CyrtintR1 5’–ATTGTKAGDGTRGCY-
AGGSTKGG–3’ (Siler et al. 2010). Sequences were uploaded, assembled, and edited in Geneious
TM
v5.4 (Drum-
mond et al. 2011). The protein-coding region of the ND2 sequence was initially aligned by eye. The flanking
tRNAs were reconstructed using ARWEN v1.2 (Laslett and Canbäck 2008) and then aligned by eye. They were
later adjusted in MacClade v4.08 (Maddison and Maddison 2005). MacClade was also used to calculate the correct
amino acid reading frame and to confirm the lack of premature stop codons.
TABLE 1. A collective list of taxa used in the molecular analyses, including voucher numbers, locality information, and
GenBank accession numbers for the mitochondrial gene ND2. For museum collection abbreviations, see materials and
methods.
Voucher Species Locality ND2
LSUHC 8900 Cyrtodactylus semenanjun-
gensis
West Malaysia, Johor, Gunung Panti FR, Bunker Trail JQ889177
LSUHC 8933 C. batucolus West Malaysia, Melaka, Pulau Besar JQ889178
LSUHC 8934 C. batucolus West Malaysia, Melaka, Pulau Besar JQ889179
LSUHC 6471 C. elok West Malaysia, Pahang, Fraser's Hill, the Gap JQ889180
FMNH 255454 C. interdigitalis Lao PDR, Khammouan Province, Nakai District JQ889181
FMNH 265812 C. intermedius Thailand, Sa Kaeo, Muang Sa Kaeo JQ889182
LSUHC 9513 C. intermedius Thailand, Chantaburi Province JQ889183
LSUHC 9514 C. intermedius Thailand, Chantaburi Province JQ889184
LSUHC 8906 C. pantiensis West Malaysia, Johor, Gunung Panti FR, Bunker Trail JQ889185
LSUHC 8905 C. pantiensis West Malaysia, Johor, Gunung Panti FR, Bunker Trail JQ889186
LSUHC 6349 C. seribuatebrisis West Malaysia, Johor, Pulau Nangka Kecil JQ889187
FMNH 265806 C. sp. Thailand, Loei, Phu Rua JQ889188
LSUHC 7685 C. sworderi West Malaysia, Johor, Endau-Rompin, Peta, Sungai Kawal JQ889189
LSUHC 10070 C. payacola sp. nov. West Malaysia, Penang, Bukit Panchor JQ889190
LSUHC 10071 C. payacola sp. nov. West Malaysia, Penang, Bukit Panchor JQ889191
LSUHC 9982 C. payacola sp. nov. West Malaysia, Penang, Bukit Panchor JQ889192
LSUHC 10072 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Penang, Bukit Panchor JQ889193
LSUHC 10073 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Penang, Bukit Panchor JQ889194
LSUHC 4018 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Selangor, Kepong, FRIM JQ889195
LSUHC 4823 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Selangor, Kepong, FRIM JQ889196
LSUHC 4980 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Sungai Lembing Logging Camp JQ889197
LSUHC 5017 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Sungai Lembing Logging Camp JQ889198
LSUHC 5022 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Pulau Tioman, Sungai Mentawak JQ889199
LSUHC 5173 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Pulau Tioman, Gunang Kajang JQ889200
LSUHC 5562 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Pulau Tioman, Tekek–Juara Trail JQ889201
continued next page
Zootaxa 3406 © 2012 Magnolia Press · 43
CYRTODACTYLUS QUADRIVIRGATUS REVIEW WITH NEW SPECIES
TABLE 1. (continued)
Voucher Species Locality ND2
LSUHC 5582 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Pulau Tioman, Tekek–Juara Trail JQ889202
LSUHC 6146 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Pulau Tioman, Gua Tengkok Air JQ889203
LSUHC 5633 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Temengor, PITC Logging Camp JQ889204
LSUHC 5634 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Temengor, PITC Logging Camp JQ889205
LSUHC 5640 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Temengor, PITC Logging Camp JQ889206
LSUHC 6461 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Fraser's Hill JQ889207
LSUHC 6478 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Fraser's Hill JQ889208
LSUHC 6479 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Fraser's Hill JQ889209
LSUHC 6484 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Fraser's Hill JQ889210
LSUHC 9082 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Fraser's Hill JQ889211
LSUHC 9083 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Fraser's Hill JQ889212
LSUHC 9084 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Fraser's Hill JQ889213
LSUHC 9085 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Fraser's Hill JQ889214
LSUHC 9086 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Fraser's Hill JQ889215
LSUHC 9088 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Fraser's Hill JQ889216
LSUHC 6503 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Selangor, Templer's Park JQ889217
LSUHC 6607 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Genting Highlands JQ889218
LSUHC 6608 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Genting Highlands JQ889219
LSUHC 6617 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Genting Highlands JQ889220
LSUHC 6618 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Pahang, Genting Highlands JQ889221
LSUHC 6737 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Penang, Pulau Pinang, Empangan Air Hitam JQ889222
LSUHC 6738 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Penang, Pulau Pinang, Empangan Air Hitam JQ889223
LSUHC 6756 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Penang, Pulau Pinang, Empangan Air Hitam JQ889224
LSUHC 6778 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Penang, Pulau Pinang, Telok Bahang RF JQ889225
LSUHC 9702 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Penang, Pulau Pinang, Botanical Gardens JQ889226
LSUHC 6863 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Kedah, Pulau Langkawi, Gunung Raya JQ889227
LSUHC 6864 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Kedah, Pulau Langkawi, Gunung Raya JQ889228
LSUHC 6865 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Kedah, Pulau Langkawi, Gunung Raya JQ889229
LSUHC 6870 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Kedah, Pulau Langkawi, Gunung Raya JQ889230
LSUHC 7102 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Kedah, Pulau Langkawi, Gunung Raya JQ889231
LSUHC 9438 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Kedah, Pulau Langkawi, Gunung Raya JQ889232
LSUHC 9445 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Kedah, Pulau Langkawi, Gunung
Machinchang
JQ889233
LSUHC 9446 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Kedah, Pulau Langkawi, Gunung
Machinchang
JQ889234
LSUHC 7723 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Johor, Endau-Rompin, Peta, Sungai Semawak JQ889235
LSUHC 8127 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Johor, Selai, Lubuk Tapah Trail JQ889236
LSUHC 8185 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Johor, Selai, Lubuk Tapah Trail JQ889237
LSUHC 8186 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Johor, Selai, Lubuk Tapah Trail JQ889238
LSUHC 8970 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Johor, Gunung Ledan NP JQ889239
LSUHC 8969 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Johor, Gunung Ledan NP JQ889240
LSUHC 8859 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Bukit Larut JQ889241
LSUHC 8860 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Bukit Larut JQ889242
continued next page
JOHNSON ET AL.
44 · Zootaxa 3406 © 2012 Magnolia Press
TABLE 2. Best-fit models of evolution selected by Model test v3.7 (Posada and Crandall 1998) and models applied for Bayes-
ian analyses.
For the phylogenetic analyses we applied a pluralistic approach using one non-parametric statistical method of
Maximum Parsimony (MP). This is optimized by the shortest number of evolutionary steps and two parametric sta-
tistical model-based methods, Maximum Likelihood (ML) and Bayesian Inference (BI), which optimize the tree
based on the best likelihood score. The Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) as implemented in ModelTest v3.7
(Posada and Crandall 1998), was used to calculate the best-fit model of evolution for each codon position (Table 2).
Maximum Parsimony (MP) analyses including bootstrap estimates for nodal support were run in PAUP* v4.0
(Swofford 2002). 1000 bootstrap replicates for each heuristic search was run with 10 random additional sequence
TABLE 1. (continued)
Voucher Species Locality ND2
LSUHC 9909 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Bukit Larut JQ889243
LSUHC 9011 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Bukit Larut JQ889244
LSUHC 9012 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Bukit Larut JQ889245
LSUHC 9013 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Bukit Larut JQ889246
LSUHC 9864 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Bukit Larut JQ889247
LSUHC 9865 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Bukit Larut JQ889248
LSUHC 9866 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Bukit Larut JQ889249
LSUHC 9867 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Bukit Larut JQ889250
LSUHC 9868 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Bukit Larut JQ889251
LSUHC 9869 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Bukit Larut JQ889252
LSUHC 9870 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Bukit Larut JQ889253
LSUHC 9871 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Bukit Larut JQ889254
LSUHC 9872 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Bukit Larut JQ889255
LSUHC 9924 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Bukit Larut JQ889256
LSUHC 8971 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Johor, Gunung Ledan NP JQ889257
LSUHC 8972 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Johor, Gunung Ledan NP JQ889258
LSUHC 9057 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Terengganu, Pulau Perhentian Besar JQ889259
LSUHC 9058 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Terengganu, Pulau Perhentian Besar JQ889260
LSUHC 9191 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Perak, Pulau Pangkor JQ889261
LSUHC 9620 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Kedah, Sungai Sedim JQ889262
LSUHC 9621 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Kedah, Sungai Sedim JQ889263
LSUHC 9622 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Kedah, Sungai Sedim JQ889264
LSUHC 9624 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Kedah, Sungai Sedim JQ889265
LSUHC 9625 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Kedah, Sungai Sedim JQ889266
LSUHC 9724 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Kedah, Sungai Sedim JQ889267
LSUHC 9836 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Kedah, Sungai Sedim JQ889268
LSUHC 9837 C. quadrivirgatus West Malaysia, Kedah, Sungai Sedim JQ889269
Gene Model selected Models applied for ML Models applied for BI
ND2
1
st
pos
GTR+Γ GTR+I+Γ GTR+Γ
2
nd
pos
GTR+I+Γ GTR+I+Γ GTR+I+Γ
3
rd
pos
GTR+Γ GTR+I+Γ GTR+Γ
tRNAs HKY+Γ GTR+I+Γ HKY+Γ
Zootaxa 3406 © 2012 Magnolia Press · 45
CYRTODACTYLUS QUADRIVIRGATUS REVIEW WITH NEW SPECIES
replicates using tree bisection and reconnection (TBR) branch swapping. The gaps were treated as missing data.
The 1000 bootstrap replicates were summarized as a 50% majority rule consensus tree. Maximum Likelihood anal-
ysis was performed using RAxML HPC v7.2.3 (Stamatakis et al. 2008); 1000 bootstrap pseudoreplicates via the
rapid hill-climbing algorithm (Stamatakis et al. 2008) and was partitioned by codon position for the coding region.
The tRNAs were treated as one partition. The most complicated model of evolution selected for the partitioned
dataset was applied to all codon position due to the computer programing limitations in the software which limits
the models applied (see Table 2 for models applied). A partitioned Bayesian analysis was carried out in MrBayes
v3.1 (Huelsenbeck and Ronquist, 2001; Ronquist and Huelsenbeck 2003) using default priors (See Table 2 for
models applied). Two simultaneous runs were performed with eight chains per run, seven hot and one cold follow-
ing default priors. The analysis was run for 10,000,000 generations and sampled every 1000 generations from the
Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). The analysis was halted after the average standard deviation split frequency
was below 0.01. The program Are We There Yet? (AWTY) (Nylander et al. 2008) was employed to plot the log
likelihood scores against the number of generations to assess convergence and to determine the appropriate number
of burnin trees. We conservatively discarded the first 25% of the trees as burnin. A consensus tree was then com-
puted from the two parallel runs using TreeAnnotator v1.6.1 (Drummond 2007). Nodes that had posterior probabil-
ities above 0.95 were considered significantly supported. Sequences divergences (p-distances) were calculated for
within groups and between groups using MEGA v5.05 (Tamura et al. 2011) under the following conditions: substi-
tutions included; transitions and transversions; and uniform rates among sites and gaps were treated as missing data
(Table 3).
Mismatch distribution and tests of selective neutrality. Mismatch distributions based on the infinite-sites
model (Kimura 1969, 1971) were used for the genetic data in order to compare observed base pair differences to
those of a simulated distribution under the sudden population expansion model. Results with a ragged distribution
or multimodal distribution suggest that a population is stable with respect to population size whereas a unimodal or
smooth distribution implies a population is undergoing a range expansion (Slatkin and Hudson 1991; Rogers and
Harpending 1992). Harpending’s Raggedness index and the sum of squares deviations were calculated in ARLE-
QUIN v3.1 (Excoffer et al. 2005) under the parameters of demographic expansion for 1000 bootstrap replicates. To
complement the mismatch distributions, two independent neutrality tests of Tajima (1989) and Fu (1997) were used
to test for possible selection and population expansion. Each test was performed in ARLEQUIN v3.1 (Excoffer et
al. 2005) under the infinite-sites model for 1000 simulated samples. Tajima’s D statistic operates under the infinite-
sites model, which assumes average heterozygosity for a pair of randomly chosen alleles and is compared with the
expected number of sites segregating in each sample (Tajima 1989). Fu’s Fs statistic was used to test the selective
neutrality of random genetic samples under the assumptions of population growth, genetic hitchhiking, and back-
ground selection (Fu 1997).
Results
No discrete (i.e. non-overlapping) differences in scalation were observed between populations of Cyrtodactylus
quadrivirgatus (Table 4). Although, the ANOVA and t-test found significant differences in the mean number of
paravertebral tubercles, ventral scales, and precloacal pores between varying combinations of populations from
Pulau Tioman, Pahang; Genting Highlands, Pahang; Fraser’s Hill, Pahang; Templer’s Park, Selangor; Sungai
Sedim, Kedah; Gunung Ledang, Johor; Pulau Langkawi, Kedah; Bukit Larut, Perak (Table 5); and Bukit Panchor,
Penang.
The protein coding portion of the ND2 region contained 1044 bp (including the stop codon) and the five flank-
ing tRNAs contained 461 bp (including the gaps). The total alignment (with gaps) contained 1505 bp with 473 par-
simony informative sites and 97 variable, parsimony uninformative sites. Color pattern varied geographically and
was generally consistent with clades/populations delimited in the phylogeographic analysis (Fig. 2–5). For exam-
ple, the well-supported Pulau Langkawi and Pulau Pinang populations in the north and the Endau-Rompin/Selai
population (herein after referred to as Endau-Rompin) in the south, although not closely related (Fig. 2), have a
general color pattern composed of four dark dorsal stripes (Fig. 3). The well-supported upland clades (Fig. 2) from
the Banjaran Titiwangsa (Fraser’s Hill and Genting Highlands) consistently have two dorsolateral stripes and
medial blotches (Fig. 4). Lizards from several other populations lack dorsal stripes and have only blotches (Figs.
5). For example, the blotched lizards from the lower slopes
JOHNSON ET AL.
46 · Zootaxa 3406 © 2012 Magnolia Press
FIGURE 2. Bayesian Inference tree (-ln L 13794.01) based on ND2 and its flanking tRNAs showing the relationships between
populations of Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus and the placement of C. payacola sp. nov. Bayesian topology with Bayesian pos-
terior probabilities (BPP), Maximum Likelihood (ML), and Maximum Parsimony (MP) bootstrap support values, respectively
(BPP/ML/MP), at the nodes. Nodes with low support are indicated with a – (i.e. BPP < 0.90, ML < 70, and MP < 70).
Zootaxa 3406 © 2012 Magnolia Press · 47
CYRTODACTYLUS QUADRIVIRGATUS REVIEW WITH NEW SPECIES
FIGURE 3. Upper: Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus from Endau-Rompin, Johor. Lower: C. quadrivirgatus from Pulau Langkawi,
Kedah.
of Gunung Ledang lie only 80 km to the west across from the striped Endau-Rompin population, which was once
continuous habitat of southern Peninsular Malaysia (Grismer and Pan 2008). Although the Gunung Ledang popula-
tion is morphologically the most significantly distinct, it shows no significant morphological differences from the
Endau-Rompin population (Table 5).
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CYRTODACTYLUS QUADRIVIRGATUS REVIEW WITH NEW SPECIES
TABLE 4. Meristic data of Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus diagnostic characters. Upper number denotes the range,
middle number the mean, and the lower number the standard deviation. M=male and F=female.
TABLE 4. Continued
Bukit
Larut
Bukit
Panchor
Endau-
Rompin
Fraser’s
Hill
Genting
Highlands
Gunung
Ledang Kepong
Pulau
Langkawi
Sex 9M, 9F 3M, 1F 2M, 3F 9M, 6F 3M, 2F 2M, 2F 2M, 0F 5M, 2F
Supralabials 8–11
9.39
±0.70
10–11
10.25
±0.50
8–10
9.20
±0.84
8–10
9.00
±0.53
9–10
9.40
±0.55
10
10.00
±0.00
11–10
10.50
±0.00
9
9.00
±0.00
Infralabials 8–11
9.50
±0.79
8–10
9.25
±0.98
9
9.00
±0.00
8–10
8.93
±0.59
9–10
9.60
±0.55
10–11
10.25
±0.50
9
9.00
±0.00
8–10
9.14
±0.69
Paravertebral
Tubercles
34–38
35.94
±1.43
37–39
37.75
±0.96
32–37
35.80
±2.17
33–38
35.8
±1.47
33–37
34.30
±1.67
36–37
36.75
±0.50
35–37
34.00
±2.83
33–36
34.71
±1.38
Ventral Scales 28–37
33.17
±1.43
36–40
38.25
±1.71
35–37
36.00
±0.71
30–36
33.27
±1.62
34–36
34.80
±1.10
35–37
35.75
±0.96
35–37
32.00
±1.41
31–35
33.43
±1.40
Subdigital
Lamellae on
4th Toe
18–23
20.33
±1.03
19–20
19.25
±0.50
19–22
20.80
±1.30
18–21
20.00
±1.00
20–21
20.60
±0.55
19–21
20.25
±0.96
20
20.00
±0.89
19–21
20.00
±1.00
Continuous
Precloacal and
Femoral Pores
0–4
2.13
±1.55
0–12
8.75
±0.58
0–5
3.33
±1.53
0–4
0.89
±1.45
0–4
3.67
±0.58
0–4
2.75
±1.89
4
4.00
±0.00
0–4
2.83
±1.47
Enlarged
Precloacal and
Femoral Scales
31–42
36.28
±3.08
40–44
41.25
±1.89
37–39
37.60
±0.89
34–39
37.47
±1.60
34–45
39.00
±3.94
38–40
38.75
±0.96
37–40
36.00
±1.41
37–39
38.00
±1.00
Pulau
Pangkor
Pulau
Perhentian
Pulau
Pinang
Pulau
Tioman
Shah
Alam
Sungai
Lembing
Sungai
Sedim Temengor
Sex 0M, 1F 0M, 2F 5M, 1F 5M, 4F 1M, 0F 1M, 1F 5M, 2F 0M, 3F
Supralabials 10
10.00
±0.00
10
10.00
±0.00
9–10
9.50
±0.55
8–10
9.00
±0.71
10
10.00
±0.00
9–10
9.50
±0.71
9–11
9.71
±0.76
9–10
9.67
±0.58
Infralabials 10
10.00
±0.00
10
10.00
±0.00
9–11
9.83
±0.75
9–11
9.56
±0.73
9
9.00
±0.00
9–10
9.50
±0.71
9–10
9.71
±0.49
9–10
9.33
±0.58
Paravertebral
Tubercles
36
36.00
±0.00
32–33
32.50
±0.71
34–36
34.83
±0.98
33–36
35.11
±1.17
38
38.00
±0.00
35–37
36.00
±1.41
33–35
33.86
±0.90
33–34
33.67
±0.58
Ventral Scales 35
35.00
±0.00
31–33
35.00
±1.41
33–36
34.67
±1.21
34–36
35.11
±0.78
37
37.00
±0.00
32–36
36.00
±1.41
35–38
36.43
±1.27
29–32
30.33
±1.53
Subdigital
Lamellae on
4th Toe
21
21.00
±0.00
21–20
20.50
±0.71
19–21
20.00
±0.89
19–21
20.00
±0.87
18
18.00
±0.00
20
20.00
±0.00
19–22
20.57
±0.98
19–20
19.33
±0.58
Continuous
Precloacal and
Femoral Pores
0 = no males
0 = no males
0 = no males
0 = no males
0 = no males
0 = no males
0–4
3.40
±0.55
0–3
2.20
±1.10
12
12.00
±0.00
0–1
1.00
±0.00
0–4
3.20
±0.84
0 = no males
0 = no males
0 = no males
Enlarged
Precloacal and
Femoral Scales
38
38.00
±0.00
35–36
35.50
±0.71
36–40
37.67
±1.37
36–40
37.89
±1.53
40
40.00
±0.00
37–40
38.5
±2.12
37–40
38.14
±1.07
33–38
35.67
±2.52
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50 · Zootaxa 3406 © 2012 Magnolia Press
TABLE 5. Pairwise table of significant (p 0.05) scale count differences between Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus
populations with at least a sample size of four. T = Paravertebral Tubercles, V = Ventral Scales, P = Continuous Precloacal
and Femoral Pores, * = Marginal.
A subset of individuals from the Bukit Panchor population is morphologically the most distinctive (Table 6). It
varies from all other populations of C. quadrivirgatus in having a shallow precloacal groove as opposed to lacking
a groove; having 11 or 12 continuous pore-bearing precloacal scales as opposed to having 0–5 such scales; and has
a reddish iris as opposed to a dark brown to gold iris.
TABLE 6. Meristic data and diagnostic characters of Cyrtodactylus payacola sp. nov. Measurements are in mm.
Pulau
Tioman
Fraser’s
Hill
Genting
Highlands
Sungai
Sedim
Gunung
Ledang
Pulau
Pinang
Pulau
Langkawi
Bukit
Larut
Pulau Tioman T T
Fraser’s Hill V V
Genting Highlands T
Sungai Sedim T V V V
Gunung Ledang T V T T T,V
Pulau Pinang T T*
Pulau Langkawi V T,V P
Bukit Larut V T* P
LSUHC
9982
paratype
LSUHC 10070
paratype
LSUHC 10071
paratype
LSUHC 10074
holotype
LSUHC
10076
ZRC
2.1127
Supralabials 10 10 10 10 10 10
Infralabials 9 8 10 9 9 7
No. of Paravertebral Tubercles 39 38 37 39 38 39
No. of Ventral Scales 46 37 50 46 44 58
No. of Subdigital Lamellae on 4th Toe 19 19 19 19 18 21
No. of Precloacal Pores Present 12 0 12 11 12 15
Sex male female female male male male
SVL 66.2 66.8 66.5 67.7 52.9
TL 82.6 84.4 80.9 90.7 70.2
TW 5.3 5.2 5.5 5.3 4.1
FL 8.5 9.1 8.9 8.7 7.4
TBL 9.5 11 10.4 9.5 7.3
AG 30.6 32.2 32.1 29.6 25.4
HL 17.1 16.6 18.9 17.9 13.9
HW 9.4 9.3 10.4 9.3 7.9
HD 6.7 6.8 6.2 6.8 5.2
ED 4.1 4.1 4.1 4.1 3.2
EE 4.6 4.9 5.1 5.1 3.8
ES 7.1 7.2 7.5 7.1 5.5
EN 5 5.1 5.1 5.6 4.3
IO 4 3.8 4 4.3 3.7
EL 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.1 1.3
IN 1.9 1.6 1.8 1.6 1.8
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CYRTODACTYLUS QUADRIVIRGATUS REVIEW WITH NEW SPECIES
FIGURE 4. Upper: Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus from Fraser’s Hill, Pahang. Lower: C. quadrivirgatus from Genting High-
lands, Pahang.
JOHNSON ET AL.
52 · Zootaxa 3406 © 2012 Magnolia Press
FIGURE 5. Upper: uncataloged specimen of Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus from Perlis State Park, Perlis. Lower: uncataloged
specimen of C. quadrivirgatus from Bukit Larut, Perak.
The three phylogenetic analyses showed strong support for the monophyly of C. quadrivirgatus (with the
exclusion of a subset of the Bukit Panchor population) and the monophyly of a more inclusive group including its
sister species C. sworderi (Smith 1925). It reveals 13 well-supported groups within C. quadrivirgatus that corre-
Zootaxa 3406 © 2012 Magnolia Press · 53
CYRTODACTYLUS QUADRIVIRGATUS REVIEW WITH NEW SPECIES
spond to specific geographic areas, namely Pulau Tioman; Sungai Lembing; Fraser’s Hill/Genting Highalnds/
Kepong/Templer’s Park; Fraser’s Hill; Pulau Langkawi; Pulau Pinang/Sedim; Bukit Panchor; Sedim; Pulau Per-
hentian Besar; Temengor; Selai/Endau-Rompin; Gunung Ledang; and Bukit Larut/Pulau Pangkor, even though
there was no strong support for relationships between these groups (Fig. 2). The Fraser’s Hill/Genting Highalnds/
Kepong/Templer’s Park clade (clade 4) showed some phylogeographic substructuring (Fig. 2) which was inconsis-
tent with the distribution of these populations (Fig. 1). For example, lizards collected on the same trail from the
uplands of Genting Highlands grouped with lizards from both the uplands of Fraser’s Hill (34 km to the north), the
lowlands of Kepong (30 km to the southwest), and the lowlands of Templer’s Park (35 km to the southwest; Figs. 1
and 2). Similarly, lizards from Sedim (clades 8 and 9) grouped both with some lizards from Bukit Panchor (38 km
to the southwest) and with lizards from Pulau Pinang (36 km to the west; Figs. 1 and 2). Lastly, the single specimen
from Pulau Pangkor, Perak was embedded within the clade comprising the upland population from Bukit Larut (80
km to the northeast; Figs 1 and 2).
Calculated mismatch distributions indicate that the observed distribution is multimodal, but is not significantly
different from the simulated distribution (Harpending’s Raggedness index = 0.00083; p-value = 0.90400) indicat-
ing that C. quadrivirgatus is undergoing a demographic range expansion. This is further corroborated by Tajima’s
D statistic (D = -0.53192, p-value = 0.34300) and Fu’s Fs statistic (Fs = -24.54095, p-value = 0.00000) (Tajima
1989 and Fu 1997). Although the p-value for the Tajima’s test for selective neutrality is not significantly negative,
it still has a negative value, which is indicative of a population expansion or purifying selection (Tajima 1989). Fu’s
Fs statistic was significant in indicating a population expansion or genetic hitchhiking (Fu 1997).
The phylogenetic and morphological analyses also showed strong support for (1) the monophyly of a subset of
the Bukit Panchor population (four of six samples); (2) the conspecificity of the individuals of this subset in that
there was only 0.14–3.3% pairwise sequence divergence (p-distances) between them and no morphological differ-
entiation (3), the sister species relationship of this subset to C. pantiensis Grismer, Chan, Grismer, Wood & Belabut
2008 of southern Peninsular Malaysia; and (4) that this subset is only distantly related to C. quadrivirgatus with
which it was provisionally considered conspecific (Grismer 2011). Given this and its morphological distinction
from C. quadrivirgatus, C. pantiensis, and all other species of Sundaland Cyrtodactylus, this subset is described
herein as a new species.
Systematics
Cyrtodactylus payacola sp. nov.
Figs. 6, 7
Cyrtodactylus cf. quadrivirgatus Grismer 2011:429.
Holotype. Adult male (LSUHC 10074) collected by E. Quah S. H. on 4 September 2011 from Bukit Panchor State
Park, Penang, West Malaysia 05º09.465' N, 100º32.885' E at an elevation of 47 m a.s.l.
Paratypes. All paratopotypes were collected in various combinations by M. A. Muin, E. Quah S.H., S. Anuar,
C. K. Onn, and L. L. Grismer from the same locality as the holotype. LSUHC 9982 was collected on 6 March 2010;
LSUHC 10070 and 10071 were collected on 29 June 2011.
Additional specimens examined. LSUHC 10076 was collected from Shah Alam, Selangor (3°05.262’N,
101°31.466”E; 15 m a.s.l.) by Daicus Belabut. ZRC 2.1127 was collected from the Sungai Chikus Forest Reserve,
Perak (4°09.426N, 101°00.562’E; 7 m a.s.l.) during April 1925.
Diagnosis. Cyrtodactylus payacola sp. nov. is distinguished from all other Sundaland species by having a
maximum SVL of 67.7 mm; moderately sized, conical, keeled body tubercles; tubercles occurring on the occiput,
forelimbs, hind limbs, and beyond base of tail; 44–51 ventral scales; no transversely enlarged, median subcaudal
scales; 18–21 subdigital lamellae on fourth toe; abrupt transition between postfemoral and ventral femoral scales;
no femoral pores; 11 or 12 contiguous, pore-bearing precloacal scales; shallow, longitudinal, precloacal groove; a
pair of posteromedially elongate, triangular to semilunar-shaped, paravertebral blotches on nape prominently out-
lined in light yellow; no wide, dark, ventrolateral stripes on flanks; no white reticulum on top of head; paired, semi-
transversely arranged, dark blotches on body.
JOHNSON ET AL.
54 · Zootaxa 3406 © 2012 Magnolia Press
FIGURE 6. Type series of Cyrtodactylus payacola sp. nov. Holotype LSUHC 10074.
Description of holotype. Adult male SVL 67.7 mm; head moderate in length (HL/SVL 0.26), wide (HW/HL
0.59), flat (HD/HL 0.38), distinct from neck, triangular in dorsal profile, lores weakly inflated, prefrontal region
deeply concave, canthus rostralis smoothly rounded; snout elongate (ES/HL 0.40), rounded in dorsal profile; eye
large (ED/HL 0.23); ear opening elliptical, obliquely oriented, moderate in size (EL/HL 0.06), eye to eye distance
greater than diameter of eye; rostral square, punctuated with pores, partially divided dorsally by three postrostral
granular scales (=internasals), bordered posteriorly by large left and right supranasals, laterally by first supralabi-
als; external nares bordered anteriorly by rostral, dorsally by a large anterior supranasal and small posterior supra-
nasal, posteriorly by two large postnasals, and ventrally by first supralabial; 10 (R, L) rectangular supralabials
extending to just beyond dorsal inflection of labial margins, tapering abruptly below midpoint of eye; nine (R, L)
infralabials tapering smoothly posteriorly to below orbit; scales of rostrum and lores raised, slightly larger size than
granular scales on top of head and occiput; scales of occiput intermixed with slightly enlarged tubercles; supraor-
bitals smooth; dorsal superciliaries elongate, smooth; mental triangular, bordered laterally by first infralabials, pos-
teriorly by left and right rectangular postmentals contacting medially for 40% of their length; one row of slightly
enlarged, elongate sublabials extending posteriorly to fifth infralabial; gular scales small, granular, grading posteri-
orly into slightly larger, flatter, throat scales which grade into larger, flat, smooth, imbricate, pectoral and ventral
scales.
Body relatively short (AG/SVL 0.44) with well-defined ventrolateral folds; dorsal scales small, granular, inter-
spersed with moderately sized, conical, semi-regularly arranged, keeled tubercles being most dense on flanks;
tubercles extend from occiput to anterior one-sixth of tail; tubercles on occiput and nape relatively small, those on
body largest; approximately 21 longitudinal rows of tubercles at midbody, 37 paravertebral tubercles on body; 51
flat, imbricate, ventral scales, ventral scales larger than dorsal scales; precloacal scales not large; 11 contiguous,
pore-bearing precloacal scales forming a “V” bordering a longitudinal, shallow precloacal groove.
Forelimbs moderate in stature, relatively short (FL/SVL 0.13); granular scales of forearm slightly larger than
those on body, interspersed with large, keeled tubercles; palmar scales rounded, flat; digits well-developed,
inflected at basal, interphalangeal joints; subdigital lamellae transversely expanded proximal to joint inflection,
more granular distal to inflection; digits slightly more narrow distal to inflections; claws well-developed, sheathed
by a dorsal and ventral scale; hind limbs more robust than forelimbs, moderate in length (TBL/SVL 0.14), covered
dorsally by granular scales interspersed with large, conical tubercles, covered anteriorly by flat, slightly larger
scales; ventral scales of thigh flat, imbricate, larger than dorsals; ventral tibial scales flat; femoral scales imbricate;
small postfemoral scales form an abrupt union with large ventral scales on posteroventral margin of thigh; plantar
scales low, flat; digits well-developed, inflected at basal, interphalangeal joints; subdigital lamellae transversely
expanded proximal to inflections, more granular distal to inflections, digits more narrow distal to inflections; 19R,
18L subdigital lamellae on fourth toe; claws well-developed, sheathed by a dorsal and ventral scale.
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CYRTODACTYLUS QUADRIVIRGATUS REVIEW WITH NEW SPECIES
FIGURE 7. Cyrtodactylus payacola sp. nov. showing dark (upper; LSUHC 10074) and light (lower; LSUHC 10074) color
phases.
Tail moderate, 90.7 mm in length, tapering to a point, 5.3 mm in width at base; dorsal scales of base of tail
granular becoming flatter posteriorly; no median row of transversely enlarged, subcaudal scales; subcaudal scales
larger than dorsal caudal scales; one pair of paravertebral and dorsolateral tubercle rows on either side of midline;
paravertebral rows not widely separated; caudal tubercles decrease in size posteriorly, extending approximately
one-sixth length of tail; one enlarged, postcloacal tubercle on left and right base of tail on hemipenial swelling; all
postcloacal scales flat.
Coloration in life. Dorsal: ground color of head, neck, body, limbs, and tail light straw-yellow; light brown
mottling on top of head and rostrum; diffused, light brown, postorbital patch; paired, symmetrical, triangular to
semilunar-shaped, dark blotches on entire portion of nape prominently outline in ground color; seven dark brown
rectangular-shaped bands extending from below nape to base of tail; bands counter shaded with lighter color; wide,
dark, elongate markings above shoulders; irregularly shaped, dark blotches on flanks; body darkly speckled over-
all; brown blotching on limbs, obscure banding on hind limbs; dark body bands extend onto tail to form brown
bands alternating with cream-colored bands neither of which encircle tail; anterior caudal bands transform into
black and white, respectively, on posterior two-third of tail. Ventral: surfaces of head, body and limbs lightly stip-
pled in gray; subcaudal region darkened by fine mottling; iris reddish. Lizards lighten considerably at night (Fig.
7).
JOHNSON ET AL.
56 · Zootaxa 3406 © 2012 Magnolia Press
Variation. The paratypotypes (Fig. 6) and the additional specimens examined approximate the holotype in all
aspects of coloration. The caudal bands in LSUHC 9982 encircle only the posterior one-half of the tail. The addi-
tional specimens examined (LSUHC 10076 from Shah Alam, Selangor and ZRC 2.1127 from the Chikus Forest
Reserve, Perak) share the species-level diagnostic characters of the holotype and paratopotypes and approximate
the holotype in general aspects of coloration although the dark, dorsal markings form semi-transversely arranged
bands as opposed to forming more paired markings. Furthermore, LSUHC 10076 has paired, non-symmetrical,
semilunar-shaped, dark blotches only on the upper portion of nape as opposed to extending along the entire nape of
the neck and the caudal bands encircle the tail along its entire length. Meristic differences are shown in Table 6.
Distribution. Cyrtodactylus payacola sp. nov. is known from the Bukit Panchor State Park, Penang; the Sun-
gai Chikus Forest Reserve, Perak; and Shah Alam, Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia (Fig. 1) and most likely ranges
throughout all lowland coastal areas west of the Banjaran Bintang and Titiwangsa to as far south perhaps as
Melaka, Melaka where its sister species C. pantienesis has also been reported to occur (Grismer et al. 2008). To the
north, it may not range beyond the Thai–Malaysian border owing to the potential dispersal barrier of the Banjaran
Nakawan.
Natural history. The three localities from which Cyrtodactylus payacola sp. nov. is known are all wet,
swampy, lowland forests no higher than 15 m in elevation (Fig. 8). The lizards from Bukit Panchor and Shah Alam
were collected at night from the surface of leaves up to 2 m above the forest floor. During this period this species’
coloration lightens considerably (Fig. 7) making them easily confused with C. quadrivirgatus with which it is nar-
rowly sympatric at Bukit Panchor and Shah Alam. At Bukit Panchor, C. quadrivirgatus appears to occur only up to
the edge of the swampy areas, remaining in the more elevated drier regions (LSUHC 10072–73). LSUHC 10070, a
gravid female carrying two eggs, was collected on 29 June indicating that breeding takes place at least during this
month.
Etymology. The specific epithet payacola is derived from the word paya meaning “swamp” in the Malay lan-
guage and the Latin suffix colo, which means to inhabit or dwell in and is in reference to microhabitat in which this
species is found.
FIGURE 8. Swampy microhabitat of Cyrtodactylus payacola sp. nov. at Bukit Panchor, Penang.
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CYRTODACTYLUS QUADRIVIRGATUS REVIEW WITH NEW SPECIES
Comparisons. Cyrtodactylus payacola sp. nov. is readily differentiated from all other Sundaland species of
Cyrtodactylus on the basis of color pattern and morphology (see Chan & Norhayati 2010: Table 1). It is separated
from C. quadrivirgatus, a species to which it was provisionally ascribed (Grismer 2011), based on having 11 or 12
contiguous, pore-bearing precloacal scales along a shallow, longitudinal precloacal groove as opposed to having
0–5 pore-bearing scales and no groove and a pair of posteromedially elongate, triangular to semilunar-shaped, par-
avertebral blotches on the nape that are prominently outlined in light yellow as opposed to lacking such markings.
It differs from its sister species, C. pantiensis, in having more precloacal pores (11 or 12 versus eight or nine); hav-
ing fewer subdigital lamellae on the fourth toes (18–21 versus 22 or 23); and having a generally immaculate ground
color as opposed to the dense, dark brown speckling seen in C. pantiensis.
The Shah Alam specimen (LSUHC 10076) is more similar to C. payacola sp. nov in all aspects of coloration
and morphology than it is to any other species of Cyrtodactylus except for having paired dark, dorsal markings and
paired, non-symmetrical, semilunar-shaped, dark blotches on only the upper portion of nape. Although it is a
female, there are 12 large, non-pore-bearing scales homologous to those pore-bearing scales in males. Therefore,
we tentatively consider this specimen C. payacola sp. nov. and await the acquisition of additional material.
Discussion
The data indicate that Cyrtodactylus quadriviragtus is a wide-ranging forest generalist that has recently undergone
and may still be undergoing a range expansion as indicated by the mismatch distributions and neutrality tests, the
weak branch support at the basal nodes of the phylogeny, and the geographically incongruous composition of
clades composed of individuals from different localities (Fig. 2). This is supported by field observations wherein
we found this species to occur in microhabitats of all forested areas, disturbed or undisturbed, from sea level to
1400 m in elevation. Sampling bias is hypothesized to account for the significant differences in mean scale counts
between some of the populations (Table 4) being that they do not correlate well with the results of the phylogenetic
analysis. Cyrtodactylus payacola sp. nov. did not conform to these morphological, genetic, and ecological patterns
and showed a significant genetic and morphological departure from all other individuals of C. quadrivirgatus as
well as its sister species C. pantiensis of southern Peninsular Malaysia. This study indicates that a careful examina-
tion of “C. quadrivirgatus” from other types of distinctive microhabitats might reveal additional species masquer-
ading under that nomen and, more generally, that a closer examination of other wide-ranging common species may
reveal similar patterns.
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank the Penang State Forestry Department for their permission to conduct research in Bukit Panchor.
A research pass (40/200/19 SJ.1105) was issued to LLG by the Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister’s Depart-
ment. We wish to thank Daicus Belabut for his contribution to the sample collection. For field assistance, we are
most grateful to Eugene H. Johnson II and Micah R. Johnson. This research was supported in part by grants to LLG
and LFG from the College of Arts and Sciences, La Sierra University, Riverside, California and by a Universiti
Sains Malaysia grant to Professor Shahrul Anuar. AMB was supported by Grant DEB 0844523 from the National
Science Foundation (U.S.A.). CBJ is especially indebted to Dr. Harold E. Johnson and Vivian M. Johnson for their
encouragement and financial support, without which this work would not have been completed.
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Appendix
Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus. Johor: Endau-Rompin LSUHC 7706, 7733, 8127, 8185–86; Gunung Ledang: LSUHC 8969–72;
Kedah: Pulau Langkawi LSUHC 6863–65, 6870, 9438, 9445–56; Sungai Sedim LSUHC 9620–22, 9624–25, 9837, 9864;
Pahang: Fraser’s Hill LSUHC 6460–61, 6478–79, 6484, 8081, 9082–89, 9924; Pulau Pinang LSUHC 9057–58; Pulau Tio-
man LSUHC 4813, 5022, 5101, 5173, 5517, 5562, 5582, 6136, 6146; Sungai Lembing LSUHC 4980, 5017; Perak: Bukit
Larut LSUHC 8859–60, 9011–16, 9864–72, 9909; Pulau Pangkor LSUHC 9191; Temengor LSUHC 5633–34, 5640;
Selangor: Genting Highlands LSUHC 6503, 6607–08, 6617–18; Kepong LSUHC 4018, 4823; Terengganu: Pulau Perhen-
tian LSUHC 9057–58.
