Gekko reevesii Gray 1831
Creators: name: Rösler, Herbert
name: Bauer, Aaron M.
name: Heinicke, Matthew P.
name: Greenbaum, Eli
name: Jackman, Todd
name: Nguyen, Truong Quang
name: Ziegler, Thomas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Gekkonidae
Gekko
Gekko reevesii

description: Gekko reevesii Gray, 1831
1831 Gecko reevesii Gray in Griffith & Pidgeon, Anim. Kingdom Cuvier., 9 Synops. Spec.: 48.
Diagnosis. A large species of Gekko, with SVL> 150 mm; head distinct from body; body somewhat flattened; tail round in section, not thickened at base; supralabials 10–14; sublabials 9–13; nares in contact with rostral; nasals 3– 6; internasal 0–1; interorbitals 17–29; dorsal tubercle rows 12–18; scales between mental and cloacal slit 133–141; midbody scales 82–103; subdigital lamellae below first toe 13–19; subdigital lamellae below fourth toe 18–24; no extensive webbing between fingers and toes; forearm and hind limbs with tubercles; precloacal pores 13–20; postcloacal tubercles 1–4; tail tubercles present; subcaudals not enlarged; grayish brown to grayish green ground coloration, with reddish brown dorsal blotches; dorsal pattern tends to consist of transverse bands and short stripes.
Holotype: BMNH 1946.8.2598—male, ad., China, collector unknown (Figures 8, 9).
SVL 130.0 mm; TL 110.0 mm; LT 28.5 mm; HL 36.4 mm; HW 26.2 mm; HH 14.0 mm; SE 11.5 mm; EE 12.4 mm. SVL/TL 1.18; SVL/LT 4.56; SVL/HL 3.57; HL/HW 1.39; HL/HH 2.60; SE/EE 0.93.
Rostral concave above, wider than high (RW 4.80 mm, RH 2.70 mm, RW/RH 1.78), wider than mental (RW/ MW 1.71); 13/13 supralabials; 22/18 snout scales adjacent to supralabials; nares not in contact with rostral (Figure 9 A); 5/4 nasals; nasorostrals ca. double the size of supranasals and five times larger than postnasals; internasal single, large (Figure 9 B); snout medially with flat, elongate depression; lateral snout scales round to oval, curved, next to each other; ca. 12–13 large scales between postnasals and orbital cavity; 61 scales between seventh supralabials; medial snout scales barely smaller than lateral snout scales; dorsal ciliary scales 1.5 times higher than medial snout scales; temporal scales larger than lateral snout scales; ear opening vertical, oval; 20 interorbitals, granular, in orbital region twice as large as medially; back of head and neck granular; granular scales slightly larger than medial interorbitals; neck tubercles round, concial; mental pentagonal, longer than wide (MW 2.8 mm, ML 3.0 mm, MW/ ML 0.93), not distinctly larger than first sublabials (Figure 9 C); 11/11 sublabials; 17/15 gular scales adjacent to sublabials; 2 small postmentals, hexagonal, 1.5 times longer than wide, anteriorly in contact with mental and first sublabials; 5 gular scales adjacent to postmentals; outer gular scales ca. 1.5 times larger than inner ones; gular scales as large as medial snout scales, round, slightly curved, smooth, next to each other, arranged in more or less regular transverse rows; dorsals as large as medial snout scales, round flat, next to each other, arranged in more or less regular transversal rows; dorsal tubercles 2–3 times as large as adjacent dorsals (DTL 2.1 mm, DTW 1.5 mm, DTL/DTW 1.40, DTLx100/SVL 1.62, DTWx100/SVL 1.15), oval, asymmetrically conical (Figure 9 D), arranged in 14 more or less regular longitudinal rows, encircled by 9 dorsals; lateral tubercles smaller than dorsal ones (LTL 1.8 mm, LTW 1.2 mm, LTL/LTW 1.50, LTLx100/SVL 1.39, LTWx100/SVL 0.92); lateral folds slightly developed; ventrals flat, smooth, subimbricate, and larger than dorsals; 102 scales around midbody; limbs without tubercles; arm and forearm scales flat, smooth, subimbricate; shank with curved tubercles; dorsal and ventral thigh scales anteriorly flat, imbricate, posteriorly smaller, curved; enlarged femoral scales lacking; 9/10 tubercles on thigh; fingers and toes 1–4 basally with narrow webbing; 19/19 subdigital lamellae below first finger and 21/23 below fourth finger; 18/18 subdigital lamellae below first toe and 23/24 below fourth toe; 19 precloacal pores in a continuous, angular-shaped row (Figure 9 E); ca. five rows of enlarged scales behind precloacal pores; 1/1 blunt, conical postcloacal tubercles; tail not thickened at base, with whorls; dorsal tail scales larger than scales of body dorsum, more or less squarish, slightly curved, subimbricate, arranged in relatively regular transverse rows; six dorsal, medial scale rows in the third tail whorl; anterior tail tubercles asymmetrically conical, posterior ones curved; six tubercles in the third and fifth tail whorl, in a transverse row in posterior whorl region; four scale rows between tubercle rows 2–3 and 3 scale rows between tubercle rows 3–4; subcaudals larger than dorsal tail scales, flat, smooth, subimbricate, arranged in two parallel rows, 2–3 rows per whorl (Figure 9 F).
Dorsum olive brown (4655U); head with indistinct brown (478U) stripes and blotches; back with dark brown bands (469U); back tubercles light gray (Cool Gray 1U) as well as encircling dorsals, resulting in a light flecked dorsal pattern; those light flecks displaced, in ca. 8 transverse rows; limbs marbled, with scattered light tubercles; six dark and six light tail bands, of which the dark ones are broader (Figure 8 A); venter gray (400U); throat light gray, with indistinct pattern; medially stronger pigmented belly, with few brown (4635U) blotches (Figure 8 B); anterior tail slightly banded, posterior parts with more distinct bands; tail tip dark.
Further specimens: We list the characters of 42 additional specimens from China and Vietnam that proved to be morphologically assignable to G. reevesii (see Appendix 1): 70.0–173.0 mm SVL; 58.0–138.0 mm TL; 15.4– 35.2 mm LT; 20.8–46.5 mm HL; 16.0– 37.5 mm HW; 9.6–22.5 mm HH; 9.6–16.4 mm SE; 8.9–17.7 mm EE.
Body proportions: SVL/TL 1.03–1.26; SVL/LT 4.25–5.34; SVL/HL 3.02–3.75; HL/HW 1.25–1.60; HL/HH 1.91–2.85; SE/EE 0.73–1.12.
Scalation: RW 3.8–6.3 mm; RH 1.90–3.70 mm (RW/RH 1.41–2.20); MW 2.10–4.60 mm; ML 1.80–4.00 mm (MW/ML 0.85–1.50); RW/MW 1.20–2.14; 10–14 SPL; 9–13 SBL; 3–6 N; 0–1 IN; 17–29 IO; 2 PM; 3–6 GP; 12– 18 DTR; 5–10 GSDT; 133–141 SMC; 86–102 SR; 28–32 V; 15–19 LF1; 18–24 LF4; 13–19 LT1; 18–24 LT4; 2–24 TT; 13–20 PP; 0–18 PS; 1–4 PAT; 6 T1W; 6 T5W; 3–5 scales between second and third and third and fourth caudal tubercle rows.
reevesii; for abbreviations see Material and methods.
continued next page Comparisons: Comparisons with subspecies of G. gecko: Characters of different geographic populations of G. gecko are in part overlapping. Mean values of supralabials, sublabials, dorsal tubercle rows, lamellae below fingers and toes change clinally from north to south (Rösler 2005a). Gekko reevesii significantly differs (p <0.001) from G. g. gecko sensu stricto from Java, by having a smaller SVL, a proportionally smaller head height, fewer supralabials, interorbitals, femoral tubercles, and postcloacal tubercles, as well as by having greater number of tubercles rows, precloacal pores, lamellae below first finger, lamellae below first toe, and lamellae below fourth toe (see Tables 3– 4). The ground coloration of G. reevesii is grayish brown to grayish green (Figure 10) versus ultramarine gray to bluish gray in G. g. gecko. The dorsal blotches of G. reevesii are reddish brown to dark brown versus cinnober red in the nominate form. Furthermore, the dorsal pattern of G. reevesii tends to comprise transverse bands and short stripes versus relatively irregularly arranged, distinct single blotches (see figures in Zhao & Adler 1993; Rösler 1995; Ziegler 2002; Grossmann 2004a; Nguyen et al. 2009). Gekko reevesii does not co-occur with G. g. azhari. Because the latter was described based on two females only (Mertens 1955), and because no further specimens have been collected since then, comparisons and relations with adjoining Indian populations of G. gecko (e.g., West Bengal, Dhaka) are barely known and require further investigation (Peterson 1980; Ahmed & Dasgupta 1992; Tikader & Sharma 1992). Based on current knowledge, G. reevesii can be morphologically distinguished from G. g. azhari by its larger SVL and domed versus flat dorsal tubercles (see Tables 3–4).
see Material and methods, except for T3W = tubercles in the third tail whorl; SB2/3 = scales between second and third tail
tubercle rows; SB3/4 = scales between third and fourth tail tubercle rows.
continued next page Our genetic samples did not include representatives of G. reevesii. However, Qin et al. (2007) found significant differences between geckos from as close as 85 km in Guangxi (red tokay from Nanning versus black tokays from Chongzuo and Qinzhou). Such differences (> 8%) among probably parapatric, if not sympatric, taxa are certainly taxonomically noteworthy. In addition, further taxonomic subdivisions may also be present in Gekko gecko. Our molecular phylogeny revealed two relatively deeply divergent evolutionary lineages: a western clade (Myanmar, Thailand) and an eastern clade (China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia), within which close relationships of Chinese and Indonesian G. gecko exist (Figure 1). As extensive human-mediated movement of G. gecko occurs in association with the traditional medicine trade throughout the range of the species (Bauer 2009), and G. gecko is common around human habitations, it is possible that the observed relationships may be confounded by translocations. Certainly, much deeper sampling of G. g e c k o across its entire range is needed. Comparisons of the western G. gecko with G. g. azhari are particularly crucial, as is, of course, the evaluation of G. reevesii. Possible further evidence of multiple species in G. gecko comes from chromosomal studies. All G. gecko karyotyped to date have a diploid number of 38 and a fundamental number of 48 (Cohen et al. 1967; Wu & Zhao 1984; Solleder & Schmid 1984; Sharma & Kasid 1992; Du et al. 2002), however, Solleder & Schmid (1984) found heteromorphic sex chromosomes in males, while these were not reported by other workers, and some researchers have reported acrocentric pairs (Cohen et al. 1967), whereas others explicitly state that none are present (Sharma & Kasid 1992).
Comparisons with remaining Gekko species: G. reevesii differs from all other Gekko species by its large SVL (> 170 mm), in combination with narial contact with rostral only, more than ten lamellae below fourth toe, subcaudals not enlarged, and a variable gray ground coloration (see identification key below).
Distribution. Gekko reevesii is currently known from southern China (provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan) and northern Vietnam (southwards to Quang Binh Province). According Lue et al. (1999) and Shang (2001), several early 20th century records of G. reevesii from Taiwan represent individuals artificially transported from the Chinese mainland. At least within Guangxi both red and black tokays occur in close proximity. Indeed, based on the sampling of Qin et al. (2007), red tokay (G. gecko gecko) populations from Nanning, Ningming County are virtually surrounded by black tokay (G. reevesii) sites. Both forms also occur in northern Vietnam. The exact boundaries of G. reevesii thus remain uncertain.
description: Published as part of 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), pp. 1-50 in Zootaxa 2989 on pages 22-30, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.278393