Phyllodactylus bordai Taylor, 1942

Ramírez-Reyes, Tonatiuh, Durán-Arceo, Daniel R., Palacios-Aguilar, Ricardo & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2025, Taxonomic revision of the polyphyletic Phyllodactylus bordai (Squamata: Phyllodactylidae), with the description of a new species, Zootaxa 5722 (2), pp. 151-183 : 172

Phyllodactylus bordai Taylor, 1942

Holotype. Adult female UIMNH 25060 (27732), collected by Edward H. Taylor 6 mi N. Taxco, Guerrero, 1723 meters. August 26, 1941.

Diagnosis. This is a small gecko, with a body length of 44 mm (our data show mean SVL = 42.9 mm), similar to tail length (mean 40.2 mm), head width 9 mm, head length 12.5 mm, and axilla to groin 19.8 mm ( Fig. 14 ). Similar to the diagnostic characters of P. ngiwa , the combination of ventral scales counts can differentiate P. bordai from other Phyllodactylus species in Mexico (see P. ngiwa Diagnosis section). The values reported herein from newly collected material (mean scales across venter 28, mean scales from gular region 56.8) are highly consistent with those reported by Dixon (1964) (mean scales across venter 28.8, mean scales from gular region 59.5). According to the combination of these mean values, only two other Phyllodactylus species present similar values to P. bordai , being P. magnus (mean scales across venter 27.2, mean scales from gular region 58.9) and P. unctus (mean scales across venter 29.4, mean scales from gular region 58). Phyllodactylus magnus is a large species easily distinguished from P. bordai by the size of adult individuals (SVL 90 mm), which exceeds the size of adult P. bordai by nearly double. In addition to the size, P. magnus has 25–30 interorbital scales and 19–32 scales across the snout from the third labial, while P. bordai has 15–23 interorbital scales and 16–20 scales across the snout from the third labial. On the other hand, P. unctus is easily diagnosed since it lacks rows of dorsal tubercles, while P. bordai has 13–17 rows of dorsal tubercles.

Distribution. This species is restricted to localities in northern Guerrero (Taxco Guerrero, Taxco Viejo, Tecalpulco, Agua Bendita, Grutas de Cacahuamilpa), however, some populations have also been reported in the center of Guerrero state ( Fig. 12 ).

Figures

FIGURE 12. Distribution map showing the occurrence of individuals belonging to three species according to the findings of this study: P. ngiwa sp. nov. in red; Phyllodactylus sp., the Huautla-Morelos lineage in green; and P. bordai in blue. Protected areas are shown in yellow: the Tehuacan-Cuicatlan Biosphere Reserve (RBTC), located between Puebla and Oaxaca states, and the Sierra de Huautla Biosphere Reserve (REBIOSH), located in the south of the Morelos state.

FIGURE 14. Two P. bordai individuals captured in the locality of Tecalpulco, Guerrero, about 2 km West of type locality, Taxco el Viejo. Photographs by Daniel R. Duran Arceo.