A new coastal rock-dwelling gecko of the subgenus Japonigekko (Squamata, Gekkonidae, Gekko) from western Kyushu, Japan
Authors/Creators
- 1. Graduate School of Sciences and Life Technology, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
- 2. School of Life Science, Southwest University, Chongqing, China|Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
- 3. Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
- 4. Museum of Natural and Environmental History, Shizuoka, Japan
- 5. State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining, China
- 6. School of Life Science, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
Description
A remarkable new species of the subgenus Japonigekko from the islands of Gotō Nada and offshore islands of Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan, inhabiting rocky coastal habitats, is described based on morphological characters and molecular evidence. Morphologically, Gekko (Japonigekko) asahi sp. nov. can be distinguished from its congeners by its moderate body size; interorbital scales between anterior corners of eyes 34–44; dorsal tubercles large, strongly elevated, and arranged in 12–16 rows at midbody; 127–158 midbody scale rows; 32–45 ventral scale rows; 158–189 ventral scales between the mental and the cloacal slit; subdigital lamellae 8–11 on finger I, 9–14 on finger IV, 9–12 on toe I, and 10–18 on toe IV; webbing absent; 6–9 precloacal pores in males, and absent in females; one postcloacal tubercle on each side, with the midpoint of the tubercle distinctly concave in some male individuals; and its distinctive dorsal coloration. Phylogenetically, the new species represents a distinct clade within the subgenus Japonigekko, forming a sister group with G. kaiyai from Henan Province of China, and together they cluster with G. hokouensis. It differs from its congeners by uncorrected p-distances of at least 15.1% in ND2 and 7.6% in 16S. Currently, the new species is known only from low-elevation coastal rocky shores and building walls on island of Gotō Nada and Nishisonogi Peninsula, Nagasaki Prefecture and offshore islands of Kagoshima and Satsuma Peninsula, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The discovery of this new species increases the total number of species in the subgenus Japonigekko to 40, of which seven species are distributed in Japan.
Files
ZSE_article_186960.pdf
Files
(18.5 MB)
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:65db0a514ec53cc767f645ae10b3f979
|
18.1 MB | Preview Download |
|
md5:6767fbf6a40445dc42f60b7dd7c53c23
|
308.1 kB | Preview Download |
Linked records
Additional details
References
- Akaike H (1973) Information theory and an extension of the maximum likelihood principle. In: Petrov BN, Csáki F (Eds) Second International Symposium on Information Theory, Tsahkadsor, Armenia, USSR. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 267–281.
- Akaike H (1974) A new look at the statistical model identification. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control 19(6): 716–723.
- Burland TG (2000) DNASTAR's Lasergene sequence analysis software. Methods Molecular Biology 132: 71–91. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-192-2:71
- Cao J, Sucharitakul P, Tie M, Suwannapoom C, Yan F, Chomdej S (2025) A new species of the genus Gekko Laurenti, 1768 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Hubei, China. Asian Herpetological Research 16(1): 110–121. https://doi.org/10.3724/ahr.2095-0357.2024.0046
- Cao J, Poyarkov NA, Wei P, Tie M, Matsukoji T, Suwannapoom C, Ai R, Lu W, Sucharitakul P, Wang H, Chomdej S, Yuan Z, Yan F (2026) Diversity, phylogeny, and biogeography of the subgenus Japonigekko (Gekkonidae: Gekko). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 217: 108530 (1–11). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2025.108530
- Chiba M, Chiba S (2024) Hidden invasiveness of non-native Schlegel's Japanese gecko (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) and three-way competition among natives and non-natives in Japan. Molecular Ecology 33: 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17420
- Edgar RC (2004) MUSCLE: Multiple sequence alignment with high accuracy and high throughput. Nucleic Acids Research 32(5): 1792–1797. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkh340
- Hillis DM, Moritz C, Mable BK (1996) Molecular systematics. Sinauer, Sunderland, Massachusetts, 655 pp. https://doi.org/10.2307/1447682
- Hoang DT, Chernomor O, Haeseler AV, Minh BQ, Vinh LS (2018) UFBoot2: Improving the ultrafast bootstrap approximation. Molecular Biology and Evolution 35(2): 518–522. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msx281
- Hou YM, Shi SC, Wang G, Shu GC, Zheng PY, Qi Y, Liu GH, Jiang JP, Xie F (2021) A New species of the Gekko japonicus group (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from southwest China. Asian Herpetological Research 12: 36–48. https://doi.org/10.16373/j.cnki.ahr.200064
- Huang Z, Wang HT, Qi S, Song HM, Huang Y, Wang YY, Mo YM (2025) A new species of karst-adapted gecko (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Gekko) from Guangxi, southern China. ZooKeys 1245: 289–310. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1245.153769
- Jonniaux P, Kumazawa Y (2008) Molecular phylogenetic and dating analyses using mitochondrial DNA sequences of eyelid geckos (Squamata: Eublepharidae). Gene 407(1–2): 105–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gene.2007.09.023
- Jono T (2016) Absence of temporal pattern in courtship signals suggests loss of species recognition in gecko lizards. Evolutionary Ecology 30(4): 583–600.
- Kalyaanamoorthy S, Minh BQ, Wong TKF, Haeseler AV, Jermiin LS (2017) ModelFinder: fast model selection for accurate phylogenetic estimates. Nature Methods 14(6): 587–589. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.4285
- Kumar S, Stecher G, Li M, Knyaz C, Tamura K (2018) MEGA X: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis across computing platforms. Molecular Biology and Evolution 35: 1547–1549. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msy096
- Lin JT, Yao CJ (2016) A new species of the genus Gekko (Squamata: Sauria: Gekkonidae) from Guishan Isle, Yilan County, Taiwan. Journal of the National Taiwan Museum 69: 1–14. https://doi.org/10.6532/JNTM.2016.69(2).01 [in Chinese]
- Luu VQ, Calame T, Nguyen TQ, Le MD, Bonkowski M, Ziegler T (2014) A new species of the Gekko japonicus group (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from central Laos. Zootaxa 3895(1): 73–88. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3895.1.4
- Luu VQ, Calame T, Nguyen TQ, Le MD, Ziegler T (2015) Morphological and molecular review of the Gekko diversity of Laos with descriptions of three new species. Zootaxa 3986(3): 279–306. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3986.3.2
- Luu VQ, Nguyen TQ, Le MD, Bonkowski M, Ziegler T (2017) A new karst dwelling species of the Gekko japonicus group (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from central Laos. Zootaxa 4263(1): 179–193. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4263.1.10
- Lyu ZT, Lin CY, Ren JL, Jiang K, Zhang YP, Qi S, Wang J (2021) Review of the Gekko (Japonigekko) subpalmatus complex (Squamata, Sauria, Gekkonidae), with description of a new species from China. Zootaxa 4951(2): 236–258. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4951.2.2
- Matsui M, Mori A, Editors-in-Chief (2021) Amphibians and Reptiles of Japan. Herpetological Society of Japan, 122 pp.
- Matsuo T, Ejima M, Matsunaga K (1988) A species of gecko belonging to genus Gekko in Nakadori-jima Island, Gotō Islands. Nihon no Seibutsu (The Natural History of Japan) 2(2): 61.
- Matsuo T, Ejima M (1988) New locality for a species of genus Gekko in Nagasaki Prefecture. Nihon no Seibutsu (The Natural History of Japan) 2(12): 56–58.
- Matsuo T, Ejima M (1989a) Ecology of the Nishi-yamori on the Danjyo Islands. Nihon no Seibutsu (The Natural History of Japan) 3(12): 44–46.
- Matsuo T, Ejima M (1989b) Nishi-yamori of mainland Nagasaki Prefecture. Nihon no Seibutsu (The Natural History of Japan) 4(1): 77.
- Matsuo T (2005) Amphibians and Reptiles of Nagasaki Prefecture. Nagasakishinbunsya, 155 pp.
- Matsuo T (2019) Four Species of Gekko in Nagasaki Prefecture. Trans. Nagasaki Biology Society 84: 33–37. https://nagasaki-u.repo.nii.ac.jp [in Japanese]
- Ma S, Shi SC, Shen C, Chang LM, Jiang JP (2024) Discovery of a new species of the subgenus Japonigekko (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Gekko) from the Hengduan Mountains, southwestern China: the best Japonigekko mountaineer. ZooKeys 1215: 289–309. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1215.125043
- Ministry of the Environment of Japan (2025) Ecologically or Biologically Significant marine Areas identified by Japan. https://www.env.go.jp/nature/biodic/kaiyo-hozen/kaiiki/engan/15501.html [accessed 27 November 2025]
- Morita T (1987) Visiting the Animals of the Uji Islands. Kagoshimaken Koutougakkou Kyouikukenkyukai Rikabukaishi (28): 27–38.
- Morita T (1988) Terrestrial Vertebrate Fauna of Kuro Island. Kagoshimaken Koutougakkou Kyouikukenkyukai Rikabukaishi 29: 12–20.
- Ngo VT, Pham TH, Phimvohan A, David P, Teynié A (2015) Gekko aaronbaueri, a new gecko (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from central Laos. Zootaxa 3914(2): 144–156. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3914.2.4
- Nguyen LT, Schmidt HA, Haeseler AV, Minh BQ (2015) IQ-TREE: A fast and effective stochastic algorithm for estimating maximum likelihood phylogenies. Molecular Biology and Evolution 32(1): 268–274. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msu300
- Nguyen TQ, Wang YY, Yang JH, Lehmann T, Le MD, Ziegler T, Bonkowski M (2013) A new species of the Gekko japonicus group (Squamata: Sauria: Gekkonidae) from the border region between China and Vietnam. Zootaxa 3652: 501–518. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3652.5.1
- Nishikawa K, Matsui M, Tanabe S, Sato SI (2007) Morphological and allozymic variation in Hynobius boulengeri and H. stejnegeri (Amphibia: Urodela: Hynobiidae). Zoological Science 24: 752–766. https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.24.752
- Ota H, Lau MW, Weidenhöfer T, Yasukawa Y, Bogadek A (1995) Taxonomic review of the geckos allied to Gekko chinensis Gray 1842 (Gekkonidae Reptilia) from China and Vietnam. Tropical Zoology 8(1): 181–196. https://doi.org/10.1080/03946975.1995.10539278
- Okamoto K, Toda M (2022) Distribution of the Gekko spp. in Kagoshima Prefecture and hybridizations in their contact zorns. Kyushu Herpetological Society 13: 53–59.
- Okamoto K, Jono T, Tanioka H, Sueyoshi T, Matsuo T, Toda M (2025) Natural hybridization among species of the genus Gekko (Squamata: Gekkonidae) in Japan: the roles of pre- and postmating isolation. Zoologischer Anzeiger 319: 196–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcz.2025.09.008
- Pauwels OSG, Meesook W, Donbundit N, Jindamad T, Topai N, Sumontha M (2025) Gekko (Gekko) shiva, a new limestone-dwelling gecko from Sa Kaeo Province, eastern Thailand (Squamata, Gekkonidae). Zootaxa 5588(2): 305–322. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5588.2.6
- Phung TM, Ziegler T (2011) Another new Gekko species (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from southern Vietnam. Zootaxa 3129: 51–61. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3129.1.4
- Rambaut A (2018) FigTree v1.4.4. http://tree.bio.ed.ac.uk/software/figtree/ [accessed 10 April 2025]
- Rösler H, Bauer AM, Heinicke MP, Greenbaum E, Jackman T, Nguyen TQ, Ziegler T (2011) Phylogeny, taxonomy, and zoogeography of the genus Gekko Laurenti, 1768 with the revalidation of G. reevesii Gray, 1831 (Sauria: Gekkonidae). Zootaxa 2989: 1–50. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.2989.1.1
- Rösler H, Ziegler T, Vu NT, Herrmann HW, Böhme W (2005 [2004]) A new lizard of the genus Gekko Laurenti, 1768 (Squamata: Sauria: Gekkonidae) from the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Quang Binh Province, Vietnam. Bonner zoologische Beiträge 53: 135–148.
- Sengoku S (1989) Notes on a Gekko population in the Danjo Group, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. In: Matsui M, Hikida T, Goris RC (Eds) Current Herpetology in East Asia. Herpetological Society of Japan, Kyoto: 180–184.
- Shibata Y (1990) Gekko sp. from the Koshiki Islands, Kyushu, Japan (Reptilia: Gekkonidae). Osaka Museum of Natural History 2: 77–82. https://www.omnh.jp [in Japanese]
- Simon C, Frati F, Beckenbach A, Crespi B, Liu H, Flook P (1994) Evolution, weighting, and phylogenetic utility of mitochondrial gene sequences and a compilation of conserved polymerase chain reaction primers. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 87(6): 651–701. https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/87.6.651
- Sitthivong S, Lo OV, Nguyen TQ, Ngo HT, Khotpathoom T, Le MD, Ziegler T, Luu VQ (2021) A new species of the Gekko japonicus group (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Khammouane Province, central Laos. Zootaxa 5082(6): 553–571. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5082.6.3
- Song HM, Wang HT, Lin ZH, Zheng SS, Zhou ZE, Gong YN, Liu ZF, Li YY, Qi S, Wang YY (2024) Eight new records of amphibians and reptiles in Guangdong Province, China. Chinese Journal of Zoology, 59(5): 658–686. https://doi.org/10.13859/j.cjz.202424014 [in Chinese]
- Song MT (1985) A new species of Gekko from Shaanxi. Acta Herpetologica Sinica 4: 329–330. [in Chinese]
- Stejneger L (1907) Herpetology of Japan and adjacent territory. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 58: 165–169. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.03629236.58.i
- StatSoft INC (2001) STATISTICA (data analysis software system), version 6. Tulsa, OK, 91–94.
- Stephane G, Jean-franc OD, Vincent L, Maria A, Wim H, And OG (2010) New algorithms and methods to estimate maximum-likelihood phylogenies: assessing the performance of PhyML 3.0. Systematic Biology 59(3): 307–321. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syq010
- Toda M, Sengoku S, Hikida T, Ota H (2008) Description of two new species of the genus Gekko (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Tokara and Amami Island Groups in the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan. Copeia 2008: 452–466. https://doi.org/10.1643/CH-06-281
- Tokunaga S (1988) A gecko of the genus Gekko from Taka-shima Island, Hirado, Nagasaki, Japan (Reptilia: Lacertilia). Japanese Journal of Herpetology 12: 127–130.
- Uetz P, Freed P, Aguilar R, Reyes F, Hošek J (2025) The Reptile Database. http://www.reptile-database.org [accessed 27 November 2025]
- Wang HT, Qi S, Zhou DY, Wang YY (2024) Description of a new karst-adapted species of the subgenus Japonigekko (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Gekko) from Guangxi, southern China. Vertebrate Zoology 74: 121–132. https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.74.e113899
- Wood Jr PL, Guo X, Travers SL, Su Y, Olson KV, Bauer AM, Grismer LL, Siler CD, Moyle RG, Andersen MJ, Brown RM (2020) Parachute gecko free fall into synonymy: Gekko phylogeny, and a new subgeneric classification, inferred from thousands of ultraconserved elements. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 146: 106731. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2020.106731
- Xu Y, Ma S, Cai B, Qi S, Matsukoji T, Poyarkov NA, Sun F, Weng S, Gu T, Tian K, Zhang D, Jiang J, Peng L (2025) A new rock-dwelling gecko of the subgenus Japonigekko (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Gekko) from northwestern Sichuan Province, China. Zoosystematics and Evolution 101(4): 2221–2242. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.101.175246
- Yang JH (2015) A new species of the genus Gekko Laurenti (Squamata: Sauria: Gekkonidae) from Guangxi, China. Zootaxa 3936(2): 287–295. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3936.2.9
- Zhang CW, Wu AF, Cai B, Wang LR, Pang DP, Ma HH, Yu L, Li XY, Huang H, Zeng L, Li L, Yan J, Li P, Zhang BW (2023) A New Species of the Genus Gekko (Squamata: Sauria: Gekkonidae) from the Dabie Mountains, China. Animals 13(24): 3796. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13243796
- Zhang D, Gao FL, Jakovlić I, Zou H, Zhang J, Li WX, Wang GT (2020) PhyloSuite: an integrated and scalable desktop platform for streamlined molecular sequence data management and evolutionary phylogenetics studies. Molecular Ecology Resources 20(1): 348–355. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13096
- Zhao E, Zhao K, Zhou K (1999) Fauna Sinica Reptilia, Vol. 2: Squamata, Lacertilia. Science Press, Beijing, [xi +] 394 pp. [in Chinese]
- Zhou K, Wang Q (2008) New species of Gekko (Squamata: Sauria: Gekkonidae) from China: morphological and molecular evidence. Zootaxa 1778(1): 59–68. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1778.1.5
- Zhou KY, Liu YZ, Li DJ (1982) Three new species of Gekko and remarks on Gekko hokouensis (Lacertiformes, Gekkonidae). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 7: 438–446. [in Chinese]
- Zhou KY, Li HD, Han DM, Bauer AM, Feng JY (2006) The complete mitochondrial genome of Gekko gecko (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) and support for the monophyly of Sauria including Amphisbaenia. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40(3): 887–892. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2006.04.003
- Zhou RB, Chen KZ, Liu QM, Li XJ, Qi XM, Li JL, Peng XP (2025a) Description of a new species of the subgenus Japonigekko (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Gekko) from Hainan, China. Zootaxa 5633(3): 528–540. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5633.3.6
- Zhou RB, Zhou HX, Wang HS, Li J, Zhang DR, Li XY, Shen ZQ, Liu S, Rao DQ (2025b) Taxonomic review of Gekko (Japonigekko) species in Hainan Province and description of a new species. Asian Herpetological Research 16(2): 247–259. https://doi.org/10.3724/ahr.2095-0357.2024.0055