Phyllodactylus reissii

Koch, Claudia, Flecks, Morris, Venegas, Pablo J., Bialke, Patrick, Valverde, Sebastian & Rödder, Dennis, 2016, Applying n-dimensional hypervolumes for species delimitation: unexpected molecular, morphological, and ecological diversity in the Leaf-Toed Gecko Phyllodactylus reissii Peters, 1862 (Squamata: Phyllodactylidae) from northern Peru, Zootaxa 4161 (1), pp. 41-80 : 56-57

Phyllodactylus reissii

Phyllodactylus reissii Peters, Monatsberichte der Königlichen Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin: 626.―1862

Phyllodactylus reissii— Boulenger, Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.): 80. — 1885

Phyllodactylus baessleri Werner, Abhandl. Ber. Zool. Anthrop. Mus. Dresden , 9 (2): 2. — 1901

Phyllodactylus guayaquilensis Werner, Mitt. Naturh. Mus. Hamburg 27 (2): 4. — 1910

Phyllodactylus abrupteseriatus Werner, Mitt. Naturh. Mus. Hamburg 30, 2. Beiheft: 4. — 1913

Phyllodactylus abrupteseriatus— Burt & Burt, Bulletin American Museum of Natural History, 61: 249. — 1931

Phyllodactylus magister (partim) Burt & Burt, Bulletin American Museum of Natural History, 61: 250. — 1931

Phyllodactylus reissii (partim) — Dixon & Huey, Los Angeles County Museum Contributions in Science 192: 50. — 1970

Phyllodactylus reissii (partim) — Peters & Donoso-Barros, United States Nat. Mus. Bull. 297: 242. — 1970

Phyllodactylus reissii (partim) — Peters & Donoso-Barros, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. & London: 242. — 1986

Phyllodactylus reissii (partim) ― Torres- Carvajal, Barnes, Pozo- Andrade, Tapia & Nicholls, Journal of Biogeography 41: 1887. — 2014

Phyllodactylus reissii (partim) — Aurich, Koch & Böhme, Phyllomedusa 14(1): 55. — 2015

Lectotype. ZMB 4567 (designated by Dixon & Huey 1970), adult female with a SVL of 64 mm, collected from Guayaquil , Ecuador by C. Reiss .

Paralectotypes (5). All paralectotypes (ZMB 3734 (4), ZMB 4567 (1)) were collected by C. Reiss together with the Lectotype; date of collection unkown.

New collected material (18). See Appendix 2.

Additional material examined (21). See Appendix 2.

Diagnosis and comparison. Phyllodactylus reissii is a comparatively large species, probably reaching a SVL of 75 mm (according to data of Dixon & Huey 1970). Thus, by its larger size this species can be distinguished from all species of Phyllodactylus found in mainland South America except P. delsolari , P. dixoni , P. pachamama and P. ventralis . It can further be distinguished from P. thompsoni by the lack of an enlarged postanal plate and from P. angustidigitus , P. heterurus , and P. gerrhopygus by the absence of a preanal plate. By having ≥10 well-defined rows of enlarged, trihedral keeled tubercles on the dorsum, P. reissii differs from P. angustidigitus , P. gerrhopygus , P. heterurus (dorsal tubercles absent in all three species), P. delsolari , P. inaequalis (fewer than 10 poorly defined rows of small, smooth, round tubercles in both species), and P. microphyllus (dorsal tubercular rows indistinct, composed of small flat, oval tubercles. Phyllodactylus sentosus (26–31) generally has a lower number of paravertebral tubercles between rear of head and cloaca. By the presence of tubercles on the tibia, P. reissii can further be differentiated from P. angustidigitus , P. clinatus , P. delsolari , P. gerrhopygus , P. inaequalis , P. interandinus , P. lepidopygus , and P. microphyllus , and by the absence of tubercles on the forearm it can be differentiated from P. dixoni , P. kofordi , P. sentosus , and P. ventralis . The absence of tubercles on the tail further differentiates it from P. he t er ur u s, P. k of o rd i, P. p u m i l u s, and P. sentosus . In contrast to P. angustidigitus , P. microphyllus and P. sentosus , P. reissii possesses large terminal lamellae. It further differs from P. m a gi s t e r by the absence of small tubercles on the thigh (present in about half of the in P. magister ). On average the number of scales around midbody (69—102, mean 84.1) is lower when compared to P. magister (78—114, mean 90.3) and P. pachamama (92—116, mean 103.0). Compared to P. magister the anterior edge of the ear opening is strongly denticulated with pointed scales (smooth or only slightly denticulated in most specimens of P. magister ).

Redescription. A detailed redescription of the species is given in Dixon & Huey (1970) on the basis of their designated lectotype.

Variation. Dixon & Huey (1970) provide detailed information on the variation of this species, but unfortunately their variation section is also based on specimens belonging to P. magister and some specimens from populations that may represent so far undescribed species.

Table 3 shows the morphological variation of some characters we examined in 39 specimens of Phyllodactylus reissii (see Appendix 2 for locality information).

Distribution and natural history. Phyllodactylus reissii is widely distributed in coastal and western Andean regions in northern Peru and southern Ecuador from sea level to at least 1305 m a.s.l.. The species was recently introduced on the Galápagos islands ( Hoogmoed 1989) and seems to have already formed established populations ( Torres-Carvajal & Tapia 2011). One population was found in the western part of the Marañón valley in northern Peru.

Gravid females of Phyllodactylus reissii were detected end of March (CORBIDI 5693) and in July (ZFMK 88744, 88745), each containing two eggs. Three juveniles with a SVL of 28 mm (CORBIDI 5689), 31 mm (ZFMK 90877), and 34 mm (CORBIDI 5690) were found in March 2009. Two subadults (CORBIDI 5687, 5688) with a SVL of 41 mm and 36 mm, respectively, were collected in March 2009. In Pucará we found P. reissii in sympatry with the congener P. johnwrighti .