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.