Gekko petricolus

Rösler, Herbert, Bauer, Aaron M., Heinicke, Matthew P., Greenbaum, Eli, Jackman, Todd, Nguyen, Truong Quang & Ziegler, Thomas, 2011, Phylogeny, taxonomy, and zoogeography of the genus Gekko Laurenti, 1768 with the revalidation of G. reevesii Gray, 1831 (Sauria: Gekkonidae), Zootaxa 2989, pp. 1-50 : 18

Gekko petricolus group

( Figure 6A –C)

Species. G. badenii Nekrasova & Szczerbak, 1993 ( Figure 6 B); G. canaensis Ngo & Gamble, 2011 ; G. grossmanni Günther, 1994 ( Figure 6 C); G. lauhachindaei Panitvong, Sumontha, Konlek & Kunya, 2010 ; G. petricolus Taylor, 1962 ( Figure 6A ); G. russelltraini Ngo, Bauer, Wood & Grismer, 2009 ; G. takouensis Ngo & Gamble, 2010 .

Characters. 82.9–108.5 mm SVL; nares in contact with rostral; nasals 3; postmentals relatively large; dorsal tubercle rows 8–18; precloacal pores 8–15; postcloacal tubercles 1–3; no webbing between fingers and toes; fore and hind limbs without tubercles (but present on hind limbs of G. petricolus ); lateral folds without tubercles; subcaudals enlarged, in a longitudinal row; head without pattern or with blotches or short stripes, but not forming a distinctive UU- or W-shaped pattern; back banded ( G. badenii ) or more or less symmetrically blotched ( G. canaensis , G. grossmanni , G. lauhachindaei , G. petricolus , G. russelltraini , G. takouensis ).

Distribution. Laos, Tailand and Vietnam ( Figure 3 A).

Remarks. Based on morphological characters, G. russelltraini and G. takouensis are probable sister species, and both are closely related to G. canaensis and G. lauhachindaei . Futhermore G. grossmanni and G. petricolus are likely sister species. G. grossmanni has a similar pattern compared with G. p e t r i c o l u s, but the latter species is the sole member of the Gekko petricolus group that has tubercles on the hind limbs. G. badenii differs from the aforementiond taxa from southern Vietnam and Thailand in having a banded dorsal pattern without flecks between bands.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Map of East and Southeast Asia and the Indo-Australian Archipelago showing the approximate distribution of (A) the Gekko japonicus, G. petricolus, and G. monarchus groups and G. a t h y m u s and (B) the G. g e c k o, G. p o ro s u s, and G. vittatus groups and G. vietnamensis.

FIGURE 6. A. Male Gekko petricolus (G. petricolus group), photo by H. Rösler; B. Male G. badenii (G. petricolus group), photo by J. Boone; C. G. grossmanni (G. petricolus group), photo by J. Boone; D. G. ro m b l o n (G. p o ro s u s group), Sibuyan Island, Philippines, photo by M. Gaulke.