Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico
Author
Castiglia, Riccardo
Author
Annesi, Flavia
Author
Bezerra, Alexandra M. R.
Author
García, Andrés
Author
Flores-Villela, Oscar
text
Zootaxa
2010
2508
1
29
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.196005
4a013300-d475-4db9-a5cf-bff30510ac4a
1175-5326
196005
Phyllodactylus lanei
Smith
(Lane's Leaf-toed Gecko)
Specimens analyzed:
one male (CEAC3), one female (CEAC4).
Distribution:
a Mexican endemic, with records from Nayarit, Guerrero, Jalisco, and Michoacán, and possibly Colima.
Subspecies:
P. l.
lanei
: Guerrero;
P. l. rupinus
: Nayarit, coastal Jalisco, southern Michoacán; and two insular Subspecies:
P. l. lupitae
and
P. l. isabelae
(
Castro-Franco & Uribe-Pena 1992
).
Karyotype:
karyological data in
P. l a n e i
were restricted to a report that described karyotypes of specimens from the state of Guerrero, that probably belong to
P. l.
lanei
, 2n = 33–34 and FN = 40–41 (
King 1981
). The karyotype of specimens from Chamela region belonging to
P. l. rupinus
has been recently described (
Castiglia
et al.
2009
). It shows 2n = 38 and FN = 38, composed of 19 pairs of acrocentric chromosomes. Thus the karyptypes belonging to the two subspecies differ by the presence of two pairs of large metacentric chromosomes in
P. l. l a n e i
that are absent in
P. l. rupinus
. The slight difference in the fundamental number found in the two samples is probably due to a different interpretation of the very small short arms (see
Castiglia
et al.
2009
for details). Moreover, in the karyotype from Guerrero, a pair of heteromorphic chromosomes was also observed. In females, one of the homologues of this pair was described as bi-armed (with tiny short arms) and this was considered, by the author, a possible ZW sex chromosome system. However, in the studied individuals from Chamela, no chromosome pairs showed a visible heteromorphic condition (
Castiglia
et al.
2009
).
DNA taxonomy:
a single sequence (rDNA 16S) of
P. l a n e i
from Guerrero is available in GeneBank (
Blair
et al.
2009
). This sequence possibly belongs to
P. l.
lanei
. The genetic divergence between the haplotypes from Chamela and those from Guerrero is relatively high, (8.4–8.7%; 449 bp). This divergence is similar to that found among three insular subspecies belong to
P. wirshingi
, which are considered full species by
Weiss and Hedges (2007)
. Because of the high chromosomal and genetic differences found between the specimens from Guerrero and Jalisco, is plausible the elevation of
P. l. rupinus
to a specific rank. However, molecular analysis from the
type
locality of
P. l. rupinus
(Lombardia, Michoacan,
Mexico
) are needed before any definitive taxonomic change can be made.