New Flap-Legged Forest Gecko (Genus Luperosaurus) from the Northern Philippines

—We describe a new species of Luperosaurus from the Luzon faunal region, northern Philippines. The new species is most similar to, and has long been confused with, Luperosaurus cumingii from Luzon Island but differs from this and all other Luperosaurus by numerous characters of scalation, color pattern, and a suite of variables related to its small body size. The new species has been recorded at four localities along the eastern seaboard of Luzon and on Camiguin Norte, a small island just northeast of Luzon; it may also occur on Polillo and Lubang Islands. Data from our recent survey work suggest that some Luperosaurus species may be adapted to low elevation, coastal forest and that these species may now be encountered rarely now because this habitat type is so severely imperiled by centuries of deforestation and near complete development of virtually all Philippine coastlines. Philippine lizards of the family Gekkonidae comprise 47 species (Taylor, 1915, 1922; Brown and Alcala, 1978) in 10 genera: Gehyra (1), Gekko (12), Hemidactylus (5), Hemiphyllodactylus (2), Lepidodactylus (6), Luperosaurus (7), Ptychozoon (1), Pseudogekko (4), and Cyrtodactylus (9), (Brown et al., 2007, 2010a; Welton et al., 2009, 2010a, 2010b; Zug, 2011). Approximately 85% of Philippine gekkonid species diversity is endemic to the archipelago; as species diversity continues to increase, new descriptions include both highly distinctive species discoveries (Roesler et al., 2006; Brown et al., 2009, 2010b; Linkem et al., 2010a) and morphologically conservative or even ‘‘cryptic’’ forms, characterized by slight but consistent diagnostic characters of morphology and high levels of genetic divergence (Siler et al., 2010; Welton et al., 2010a,b). The genus Luperosaurus contains 12 species (Brown et al., 2000, 2007, 2010b), and most are known only from one or two specimens (Ota et al., 1996; Brown and Diesmos, 2000). Philippine members include seven endemic species: Luperosaurus corfieldi, Luperosaurus cumingii, Luperosaurus gulat, Luperosaurus joloensis, Luperosaurus kubli, Luperosaurus macgregori, and Luperosaurus palawanensis (Brown et al., 2007, 2010b; Gaulke et al., 2007). The Philippine taxa and their Bornean relatives Luperosaurus yasumai and Luperosaurus sorok (Ota et al., 1996; Das et al., 2008) are robust-bodied and morphologically distinct from the slender, elongate-bodied non-Philippine species Luperosaurus browni (Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo), Luperosaurus brooksii (Sumatra), and Luperosaurus iskandari (Sulawesi; Brown et al., 2000). In a phylogenetic analysis of morphological characters Brown et al. (2000) found that the robust-bodied members of the genus (the Philippine species plus Bornean L. yasumai, and, by implication, L. sorok) formed a clade that was distinct from, and reciprocally monophyletic with, the slender-bodied forms. One species, L. cumingii, has formerly been considered relatively widespread (Brown and Diesmos, 2000; Gaulke et al., 2007). It has been recorded at multiple localities on both the Luzon and Visayan Pleistocene Aggregate Island Complexes (PAICs; Brown and Diesmos, 2002, 2009) and possibly the small associated islands of Polillo, Camiguin Sur, and Lubang Islands (Brown and Alcala, 1978; Brown and Diesmos, 2000; Gaulke et al., 2007). This apparently widespread species has been collected with moderate frequency over the last 30 years and, thus, appeared to be the more commonly encountered member of the genus (Brown and Diesmos, 2000; Brown et al., 2007; Gaulke et al., 2007). Recently Gaulke et al. (2007) demonstrated the specific status of the Visayan populations (Negros and Panay Islands; see also Dolino et al., 2009) and described the Panay + Negros Island lineage as a distinct species, L. corfieldi. Luperosaurus corfieldi was distinguished from L. cumingii on the basis of large body size in adults, color pattern, and reduction or absence of ornamental tubercles on the body, tail, and edges of dermal fringes bordering limbs. During the course of that and subsequent (Brown et al., 2007, 2010b) investigations it has become clear that the remaining specimens (from Luzon, Polillo, Lubang, and Camiguin) fall into two size and phenotypic categories. The L. cumingii syntypes (BMNH 1946.8.22.41 and 1946.8.22.42; the largest of which is a female, 85.0 mm SVL) lack specific locality data but were convincingly matched by Gaulke et al. (2007) to the large-bodied, ornately scaled phenotype with a bright yellow venter from the Bicol Peninsula of Luzon (exemplified best by a recent specimen from Mt. Malinao, Albay Province: TNHC 61910, 74.1 mm). All remaining specimens from Luzon and satellite islands (Fig. 1) are markedly smaller (mature adults are approximately 55–65 mm SVL), nontuberculate, with reduced interdigital webbing, less dermal fringes bordering the limbs, and lack the conspicuous coloration of true L. cumingii from the presumed site of original collection (the Bicol Peninsula). Previous workers have considered these smaller size class individuals to be immature representatives of L. cumingii but close examination reveals many of the relevant specimens to be adults with mature testes in males and fully formed oviducts with mature eggs in females. In this paper, we describe the smaller, widespread form as a new species. One consequence of this action is to limit the known range of L. cumingii to a very small part of southern Luzon Island. This has important implications for conservation and adds yet another endemic lineage (true L. cumingii) to the biogeographically unique and severely imperiled forests surrounding the volcanoes of the Bicol Peninsula. MATERIALS AND METHODS RMB scored data from fluid-preserved specimens deposited in collections in Europe, the United States, Japan, and the Philippines (Leviton et al., 1985; Appendix 1). Sex was determined by gonadal inspection or by scoring of prominent secondary sexual characteristics (Brown et al., 1997, 2000; Brown, 1999) when dissection was not possible. Measurements (to the nearest 0.1 mm) were taken with digital calipers following character definitions by Brown et al. (1997), Brown (1999), and Brown et al. (2007, 2009, 2010a). Characters include: snout–length, tail length, head length, head width, head depth, snout length, eye diameter, eye–narial distance, internarial distance, interorbital distance, axilla–groin distance, femur 3 Corresponding Author. E-mail: [email protected] 4 E-mail: [email protected] 5 E-mail: [email protected] Journal of Herpetology, Vol. 45, No. 2, pp. 202–210, 2011 Copyright 2011 Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles