Phelsuma standingi

Rocha, Sara, Rösler, Herbert, Gehring, Philip-Sebastian, Glaw, Frank, Posada, David, Harris, James & Vences, Miguel, 2010, Phylogenetic systematics of day geckos, genus Phelsuma, based on molecular and morphological data (Squamata: Gekkonidae), Zootaxa 2429, pp. 1-28 : 24

Phelsuma standingi group

(contains P. standingi )

Phelsuma standingi , a species for which Glaw & Vences (1994) hypothesized relationships to P. madagascariensis occupies instead a basal position arising from the basal polytomy of the tree as presented in Rocha et al. (2009). This is a large species occurring in the very arid spiny forest of south-western Madagascar, and seems to have no close living relatives.

This species stands out by a high number of preanofemoral pores and of midbody scales. By being a nongluer without nostril-rostral contact it resembles the other Malagasy large sized day geckos in the P. madagascariensis group but differs in the absence of size-reduced vertebral scales and not broadened subcaudalia ( Tables 1–2 ). Again, the isolated position of this species is best reflected by assigning it to its own species group.