DOI: 10.5061/dryad.f4qrfj73j
title: Ecologically-related variation of digit morphology in Cyrtodactylus (Gekkota, Squamata) reveals repeated origins of incipient adhesive toepads

description: The exploitation of different locomotor substrates in different ecological
 niches has driven the evolution of specialized morphological structures,
 and similar ecological demands, such as the structure of the microhabitat,
 often lead to convergent or parallel evolution. The evolution of adhesive
 toepads in geckos remains understudied because of the paucity of
 phylogenetically informed investigations of candidate clades exhibiting
 purported incipient expression of these (i.e., species having evolved
 some, but not all, parts of the complex adhesive system of pad-bearing
 geckos). Using Cyrtodactylus, a speciose genus with
 well-established ecotypes, we tested the hypothesis that microhabitats
 that require more climbing will lead to the acquisition of incipient
 adhesive morphology. We measured subdigital scale area, a proxy
 for adhesive toepad evolution, and quantified subdigital scale shape for
 77 of the 354 described species, including at least one representative of
 each ecotype. Subdigital scale area increased from terrestrial
 through generalist and saxicoline (rock-dwelling) to arboreal ecotypes,
 with subdigital scale shape evolving from ancestral conditions for padless
 lizards to lateromedially expanded lamella-like scales only in the
 arboreal ecotypes. This significant link between phenotype and
 environment supports the contention that scansorial, and particularly
 arboreal, Cyrtodactylus ecotypes have evolved incipiently
 expressed adhesive toepads. This highlights the suitability of this genus
 as a model system for studying the ecology and evolution of adhesive
 toepads as well as being a promising candidate for research on adaptive
 radiations.
description: We measured the subdigital scale area and quantified the
 subdigital scale shape of 77 <em>Cyrtodactylus</em> species
 from museum voucher specimens, measuring 3 to 10 specimens per
 species. For details of data collection see the methods section of the
 paper: Ecologically-related variation of digit morphology
 in <em>Cyrtodactylus</em> (Gekkota, Squamata) reveals repeated
 origins of incipient adhesive toepads, Riedel et al. 2024, Functional
 Ecology.
description: # Data from: Ecologically-related variation of digit morphology in
 *Cyrtodactylus* (Gekkota, Squamata) reveals repeated origins of incipient
 adhesive toepads
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.f4qrfj73j](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.f4qrfj73j) This is the dataset for our publication "Ecologically-related variation of digit morphology in *Cyrtodactylus* (Gekkota, Squamata) reveals repeated origins of incipient adhesive toepads" published in Functional Ecology by Jendrian Riedel, Katrin Eisele, Mariam Gabelaia, Timothy E. Higham, Joseph Wu, Quyen Hanh Do, Truong Quang Nguyen, Camila G. Meneses, Rafe M. Brown, Thomas Ziegler, L. Lee Grismer, Anthony P. Russell & Dennis Rödder. ## Description of the data and file structure Dataset for Riedel et al., 2024 containing a detailed list of 1) the voucher numbers and sources of all measured specimens and area measurements per specimen (SVL measurements from Riedel et al. (2024)), 2) 2D geometric morphometric coordinates per specimen (semi-landmarks overlapping with landmarks removed), 3) 2D geometric morphometric curves. 1\)      Table_1_voucher_numbers_and_scale_area_data.csv 2\)      Table_2_2D_Geometric_Morphometric_Coordiantes.csv 3\)      Table3_2D_Geomeotrc_Morphometric_Curves.csv Explanations and Abbreviations for the Tables: * ID = specimen ID (for abbreviations of collection location see table below) * Specimen source = specimen collection location * sex: m = male, f = female * na = data not measured * ecotype = ecotype assignment (following Grismer et al. 2020, 2021a) * broadhabitat = broader habitat assignment (see Riedel et al. 2024) * clade = taxonomic placement within *Cyrtodactylus* (following Grismer et al. 2021b) * SVL = snout-to-vent length in mm * manus area and pes area = area of the subdigital scales between the inflection point and the toe base of the manus and pes respectively in mm * V1 - V8 = Landmarks denoting the points where the first three scales under the inflection point and proximal thereto meet with the 310 adjacent subdigital scales and the scales lateral or medial thereto * V9 – V176 = semi-landmarks connecting the landmarks V1 - V8 (compare fig. 4 in Riedel et al. 2024 for details) * number = number of curves for geometric morphometric analysis * curves slide from (semi)landmark point "before" over "slide" to "after" (compare Table 3 in Riedel et al. 2024: Specifically, the way this is coded in Table 3 is that e.g., the curve 1 (first entry in the table) runs from V1 (before) over V9 (slide) to V10 (after). Then curve 2 (second entry) runs from V9 (before) over V10 (slide) to V11 (after), and so on) Abbreviations for collection locations: | BMNH | Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom | | :-------- | :----------------------------------------------------------------- | | DN | Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam | | HB | Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam | | IEBR | Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam | | VNMN | Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam | | KU | Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA | | LSUHC | Sa Sierra University Herpetological Collection, La Sierra, CA, USA | | RMNA RENA | Leiden Biodiversity Center | | ZMA RENA | Leiden Biodiversity Center | | ZFMK | LIB - Museum Koenig Bonn, Bonn, Germany | | ZMB | Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Berlin Germany | Literature cited: * Grismer, L.L., Wood, P.L., Minh, J., Le, D., Quah, E.S.H. & Grismer, J.L. (2020). Evolution of habitat preference in 243 species of Bent-toed geckos (Genus *Cyrtodactylus* Gray, 1827) with a discussion of karst habitat conservation. *Ecology and Evolution* **00**, 1–14. * Grismer, L.L., Wood, P.L., Poyarkov, N.A., Le, M.D., Karunarathna, S., Chomdej, S., Suwannapoom, C., Qi, S., Liu, S., Che, J., Quah, E.S.H., Kraus, F., Oliver, P.M., Riyanto, A., Pauwels, O.S.G. & Grismer, J.L. (2021a). Karstic landscapes are foci of species diversity in the world’s third-largest vertebrate genus *Cyrtodactylus* Gray, 1827 (Reptilia: Squamata, Gekkonidae). *Diversity* **13**, 1–15. * Grismer, L.L., Wood, P.L., Poyarkov, N.A., Le, M.D., Kraus, F., Agarwal, I., Oliver, P.M., Nguyen, S.N., Nguyen, T.Q., Welton, L.J., Stuart, B.L., Luu, V.Q., Bauer, A.M., Kyle, A., Quah, E.S.H., Chan, K.O., Ziegler, T., Ngo, H., Roman, A., Aowphol, A., Chomdej, S., Suwannapoom, C., Siler, C.D., Anuar, S., Tri, N.V. & Grismer, J.L. (2021b). Phylogenetic partitioning of the third-largest vertebrate genus in the world, *Cyrtodactylus* Gray, 1827 (Reptilia; Squamata; Gekkonidae) and its relevance to taxonomy and conservation. *Vertebrate Zoology* **71**, 101–154. * Riedel, J., Eisele, K., Gabelaia, M., Higham, T.E., Wu, J., Do, Q.H., Nguyen, T.Q., Meneses, C.G., Brown, R.M., Ziegler, T., Grismer, L.L., Russell, A.P. & Rödder, D. (2024). Ecologically-related variation of digit morphology in *Cyrtodactylus* (Gekkota, Squamata) reveals repeated origins of incipient adhesive toepads. Functional Ecology.