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A new nding of Uroplatus alluaudi in north-eastern
Madagascar widens considerably its distribution range
(Reptilia, Gekkonidae)
F A, G A
1Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali, Via G. Giolitti, 36, I-10123 Torino, Italy. E-mail: f.andreone@
libero.it
2Università di Napoli Federico II, Dipartimento di Biologia Strutturale e Funzionale, Via Cintia, I-
80126 Napoli, Italy
Abstract. e presence of Uroplatus alluaudi in NE Madagascar (Besariaka Forest) is
here reported. is record enlarges considerably the species’ distribution range, up to
now restricted to Montagne d’Ambre. e new specimen ts totally in morphology,
colouration and body scalation with specimens from the type locality. Considerations
are also provided on its conservation at the light of the updated distribution.
Keywords. Reptilia, Gekkonidae, Uroplatus, distribution, Madagascar.
e Madagascan endemic genus Uroplatus currently includes 12 species of nocturnal
and arboreal geckoes widespread in most of the rainy and dry forests of Madagascar, typi-
cal for their secretive habits and cryptic morphology and colouration (Glaw and Vences,
1994).
Indeed, one of the least known species is U. alluaudi. is gecko is peculiar in being
featured by a less “extreme” morphology, with a body that is not so attened as in other
species, and with dermal fringes limited to the tail. So far, U. alluaudi was only known
from its type locality, Montagne d’Ambre (Glaw and Vences, 1994; Raxworthy and Nuss-
baum, 1994), while a likely related species, U. malahelo was described from the South of
Madagascar (Nussbaum and Raxworthy, 1994).
On the occasion of eld surveys in north-eastern regions (Andreone, 2004), we col-
lected a further individual of U. alluaudi. is represents a remarkable novelty in terms
of distribution, since it indicates that the species is not limited to the isolated northern
rainforest of Montagne d’Ambre (Fig. 1). e single individual is a male, and was collect-
ed by J.E. Randrianirina on 28 April 1996 at Besariaka forest, Campsite 1 (Ambinanin-
imiakamidina), Andapa Fivondronana, Antsiranana (Diégo Suarez) Province, 14°49.30’S,
49°3.25’E, about 940 m a.s.l. Besariaka is a classied forest at about 60 km south of Anda-
pa, delimited at the north by the Reserve Spéciale d’Anjanaharibe-Sud, and southwards by
the Tsararano Chain. e forest is rather degraded, especially in parcels far from streams.
Acta Herpetologica 1(2): 121-125, 2006
122 Andreone and Aprea
is is due to several reasons, among which the use of forest areas for cattle, cutting of
trees by villagers, use of path systems, and for hunting (Andreone et al., 2000).
e individual was found overnight at about 2 m of elevation from the ground (h
19:30). Aer capture it was anaesthetised with a clorobutanol injection, and xed in 4%
formalin. en it was conserved in 70% ethanol and housed in the herpetological col-
lection of the Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali (Torino), under the number MRSN
R1630. Aer about 10 years of conservation this specimen is still in very good conditions,
with the tail in good shape and attached to the body (Fig. 2).
To ascertain and conrm its specic determination we compared it to two U. allu-
audi from Montagne d’Ambre, housed in Zoologische Staatssammlung München: ZSM
275/2004 (eld number FGZC [F. Glaw Zoological Collection] 528, collected by F. Glaw,
M. Puente, R. Randrianiaina and A. Razamanantsoa, 24 February 2004; and ZSM
251/2004 (FGZC 490, same collectors, collected 20 February 2004). All the specimens
Fig. 1. Location of Besariaka Forest (where the new individual of Uroplatus alluaudi MRSN R1630 was
found) and of other forest sites around Andapa, NE Madagascar. e arrows indicates the campsite, while
the two points on the smaller map of Madagascar refer to Montagne d’Ambre (1) and Besariaka (2).
123New nding of Uroplatus alluaudi in NE Madagascar
were measured by the senior author with a hand calliper (precision: 0.1 mm) for standard
lengths: snout-vent length (from the tip of the snout to the cloaca); tail length (from the
cloaca to the tip of the tail); maximum tail width; head length from the tip of the snout to
the jaw articulation; maximum head width; eye diameter, from the snout the nostril, and
nostril-eye (Table 1).
e specic attribution to U. alluaudi for the Besariaka specimen is thus justied for
the following reasons: (1) the body size, morphology and colouration are very similar in
all the three specimens compared, (2) the hemipenial morphology too is almost identi-
cal; (3) the Besariaka specimen diers from U. malahelo, which has an uniform scalation,
in having scattered conical turbercles among the smaller, at, juxtaposed scales (Fig. 3),
which is a character diagnostic of U. alluaudi (Nussbaum and Raxworthy, 1994). Fur-
thermore, all the three specimens share an undivided rostral scale, this being a diagnos-
tic character between the species pair U. alluaudi / U. malahelo (undivided scale) and U.
Fig. 2. Dorsal view of two preserved specimens of Uroplatus alluaudi. (A) the new individual from Besa-
riaka (MRSN R1630), (B) ZSM 275/2004 from Montagne d’Ambre.
124 Andreone and Aprea
guentheri (divided rostral scale), a species that is known from NW Madagascar (Nuss-
baum and Raxworthy, 1994).
e updated distribution of U. alluaudi at the light of the present nding is therefore
much wider than formerly believed, and indicates that the species, although likely restrict-
ed to northern Madagascar, is not a Montagne d’Ambre endemic. Besariaka is about 180
km south of Montagne d’Ambre (Fig. 3). Evidently, U. alluaudi is not a common species,
although it is likely that its secretive habits plays an important role in the fact that only a
few individuals have been collected until now.
Within the National Park of Montagne d’Ambre U. alluaudi benets from a certain
protection, although in the past a certain number of specimens were possibly captured
and exported for the pet-trade. At Besariaka the habitat conditions are uncertain, since
Fig. 3. Details of the dorsal skin texture of Uroplatus alluaudi. (A) MRSN R1630 (from Besariaka), and (B)
ZSM 275/2004 from Montagne d’Ambre, both showing the presence of heterogeneous scalation.
Table 1. Morphometric measurements (to 0.1 mm) of the analysed Uroplatus alluaudi specimens from
Besariaka and Montagne d’Ambre. For abbreviations see the text.
MRSN R1630 ZSM 275/2004 ZSM 251/2004
Sex Male Male Male
Provenance Besariaka M. d’Ambre M. d’Ambre
Snout-vent length 76.4 77.4 82.2
Tail length 37.9 29.0 30.3
Tail width 11.4 12.5 10.6
Head length 16.1 16.2 16.8
Head width 16.7 16.4 15.7
Eye diameter 6.6 6.1 7.5
Snout-nostril 2.9 3.3 3.3
Nostril-eye 7.4 7.9 6.6
125New nding of Uroplatus alluaudi in NE Madagascar
this area, at least at the time during which the specimen was collected, was already highly
degraded. Regardless, based on the current distribution, we suspect that the species might
be also present in the regions between Montagne d’Ambre and Besariaka, such as Anjana-
haribe-Sud, Ambolokopatrika, and Marojejy. In this case the persistence of major forest
blocks and homonymous protected areas would likely warrant its protection.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
is research was made possible through an agreement with Malagasy institutions. e
eldwork was supported in part by grants to F. Andreone from the Gondwana Conservation and
Research and WWF Madagascar, and to G. Aprea from the Italian Ministero dell’Università e della
Ricerca Scientica. anks for J.E. Randrianirina for the information on the collection locality, and
to F. Glaw for the loan of the two comparative specimens. A. Bauer, C.P. Blanc, and F. Glaw critically
reviewed an earlier version of the paper.
REFERENCES
Andreone, F. 2004: Crossroads of herpetological diversity: survey work for an integrated
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