Larry Lee Grismer

La Sierra University · Biology

Sri Lanka is a local hotspot for Cnemaspis day geckos with 40 currently known species with 100% endemism. In this paper, we evaluate the phylogenetic relationships of Cnemaspis species belonging to the alwisi group of the podihuna clade and describe two additional new species of Cnemaspis from Sri Lanka; one from Galgiriya mountain, Kurunegala Dist...

We describe a new species of rupicolous Cnemaspis from the Male Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary in the Eastern Ghats. The current description is based on a type series of eight specimens that bear a unique combination of morphological and colour pattern characteristics that do not occur in other closely related species. Maximum likelihood and Bayes...

Protected Areas (PAs) are the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation. Here, we collated distributional data for >14,000 (~70% of) species of amphibians and reptiles (herpetofauna) to perform a global assessment of the conserva- tion effectiveness of PAs using species distribution models. Our analyses reveal that >91% of herpetofauna species are c...

Climate change is one of the most serious threats to the world's biodiversity. Reptiles with limited dispersal capacities, small geographic ranges, or specialised habitats are considered to be especially vulnerable. In this study, we applied the Maximum Entropy algorithm to predict the current and future suitable habitats of a range-restricted spec...

Given the high degrees of adaptation to specific microhabitats and restricted-range endemism, Goniurosaurus (Tiger geckos) serves as a unique model to study the complex evolution in lizards. Using phylogenetic analyses, we estimated the first divergence date of Goniurosaurus to the Eocene (~ 45.3 mya). The diversification within four monophyletic s...

Hemiphyllodactylus typus Bleeker, 1860 is a small, nocturnal, scansorial, unisexual gecko having a wide distribution throughout the archipelagos of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In Peninsular Malaysia, it was previously reported from seven localities. Since then, H. typus has been reported from several new localities based on observations from rec...

An integrative systematic analysis recovered a new species of the Cyrtodactylus brevipalmatus group from the uplands of Thong Pha Phum National Park, Kanchanaburi Province in western Thailand. Cyrtodactylus thongphaphumensis sp. nov. is deeply embedded within the brevipalmatus group, bearing an uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence of 7.6–22.3%...

Citation: Chan KO, Grismer LL, Santana F, Pinto P, Loke FW, Conaboy N (2023) Scratching the surface: a new species of Bent-toed gecko (Squamata, Gekkonidae, Cyrtodactylus) from Timor-Leste of the darmandvillei group marks the potential for future discoveries. ZooKeys 1139: 107-126. https://doi. Abstract A new species of limestone-dwelling Bent-toed...

Ecological pressure is the major driver of morphological adaptation. Different habitat preferences even among closely related species, often result in the evolution of different body shapes. In the present study, we employed geometric morphometric and principal component analyses (PCA) to compare body shape and head plate morphology among seven spe...

Species delimitation and species diagnosis must remain separate operations to avoid constructing taxonomies comprised of non-monophyletic species based on morphological similarity as opposed to phylogenetic propinquity. This is particularly true for highly specialized species such as the range-restricted upland taxa in the Cyrtodactylus brevipalmat...

Viviparity has evolved more times in squamates than in any other vertebrate group; therefore, squamates offer an excellent model system in which to study the patterns, drivers and implications of reproductive mode evolution. Based on current species distributions, we examined three selective forces hypothesized to drive the evolution of squamate vi...

We present the first multilocus molecular phylogeny focused on mangrove pit vipers of the Trimeresurus erythrurus‐purpureomaculatus complex based on novel topotypic material and expanded geographic sampling. Previously inferred paraphyly of T. purpureomaculatus was resolved and our results demonstrate distinct phylogeographic patterns that are lati...

Karst habitats are hotspots of diversity and endemism. Their naturally fragmented distributions across broad geographic landscapes have led to the complex array of smaller evolutionary ecosystems that present unique challenges from a conservation perspective. Comprehensive biodiversity assessments of karst habitats have revealed that these ecosyste...

An integrative taxonomic analysis confirmed the new species status of a recently discovered upland population of Ansonia from Thongsong, Thongsong District, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Thailand from the sky island archipelago south of the Isthmus of Kra. Ansonia infernalis sp. nov. is a member of the Thai-Burmese clade within the more inclusive T...

Cryptic ecologies, the Wallacean Shortfall of undocumented species' geographical ranges and the Linnaean Shortfall of undescribed diversity, are all major barriers to conservation assessment. When these factors overlap with drivers of extinction risk, such as insular distributions, the number of threatened species in a region or clade may be undere...

An integrative taxonomic analysis of species in the colubrid genus Lycodon Fitzinger, 1826 recovered two new syntopic species of the L. rufozonatus complex from the imperiled Song Giang River valley in Khan Hoa Province, of Southern Vietnam. Although L. truongi sp. nov. and L. anakradaya sp. nov. are syntopic, they are not particularly closely rela...

Cyrtodactylus monilatus sp. nov. is described from Si Sawat District, Kanchanaburi Province, in western Thailand. The new species superficially resembles C. zebraicus Taylor, 1962 from southern Thailand. However, differences between the new species from C. zebraicus and other congeners were supported by an integrative taxonomic analysis of molecula...

Convergent morphological specializations for an arboreal lifestyle in most species of the Cyrtodactylus brevipalmatus group have been a confounding factor for establishing a stable taxonomy among its species. Recent references to C. interdigitalis from throughout Thailand and Laos were made without comparisons to the type material from Tham Yai Nam...

The efficacy of an allometric growth model to correct for ontogenetic body size variation has been known for decades, yet this method remains relatively obscure and rarely applied. We optimize the implementation of this method through a newly developed and easy-to-use R package GroupStruct and further extend its application from intraspecific to in...

1. Pg 412, the correct coordinate for holotype of Boulenophrys yaoshanensis should be: 24.1602°N, 110.2304°E; ca 1200 m a.s.l. 2. Pg 416, Distribution and ecology. Line 3, “at elevations between 800–1350 m” should be “at elevations between 1200–1350 m”

This study re-analyzes morphometric and meristic data among island night lizards, Xantusia riversiana, from the California Channel Islands of San Clemente, Santa Barbara, and San Nicolas in order to ascertain whether the implementation of different statistical methods can recover different results that could potentially alter biological interpretat...

It is listed as Least Concern on the basis that, although its forest habitat is under pressure from varied human activities throughout its range, it occurs over a wide area and is not thought to be declining fast enough to warrant listing in a more threatened category.

The diversity of Asian horned toads is considered highly underestimated and to contain a large number of undescribed cryptic species. In this work, we describe three new species of Boulenophrys from south China, namely, Boulenophrys yaoshanensis sp. nov. from central Guangxi, Boulenophrys yingdeensis sp. nov. from northern Guangdong, and Boulenophr...

The first integrative taxonomic analysis of the Cyrtodactylus brevipalmatus group of Southeast Asia recovered two newly discovered populations from the Tenasserim Mountains in Suan Phueng District, Ratchaburi Province, Thailand as a new species described here as C. rukhadeva sp. nov. Based on 1397 base pairs of the mitochondrial gene NADH dehydroge...

Conservation status of Varanus rudicollis

Conservation status of Varanus dumerilii

This study provides a review of reptile research in Malaysia from the years 2000-2020 to reveal trends and biases that can be leveraged to improve future research and conservation initiatives. Overall, the number of papers published shows an upward trend with an average of 10.1 papers published per year. The clear majority of papers published throu...

available at https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/178214/113138439

To reveal the diversity of Indonesian bent-toed geckos, we pay attention to Kalimantan (Borneo)—an island which has received less attention than other Indonesian islands such as Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, and the Lesser Sunda archipelagos. About 30 years after Hikida (1990) described three new Cyrtodactylus from Borneo, four more specie...

Although body size correction and inferential statistics have been used in morphological studies for many decades, their applications are far from being ubiquitous. We performed a meta-analysis to quantify the extent of taxonomic papers that performed body size correction and implemented a statistical hypothesis testing framework during the analysi...

It is hypothesized that shape differences between the closely related sandstone night lizard ( Xantusia gracilis ) and the granite night lizard ( X. henshawi ) may be correlated with structual differences in their respective microhabitats. Multivariate and univariate analyses of 22 morphometric characters taken from the head, body, and limbs of bot...

A sheep in wolf's clothing: Elaphe xiphodonta sp. nov. (Squamata, Colubridae) and its possible mimicry to Protobothrops jerdonii. Abstract Based on combined morphological and osteological characters and molecular phylogenetics, we describe a new species of the genus Elaphe that was discovered from the south slope of the Qinling Mountains, Shaanxi,...

By studying ecomorophology in the context of phylogeny, researchers can parse out similarity due to common ancestry versus that due to convergence. This is especially true among relatively closely related species where both phylogenetic and environmental constraints may be operating simultaneously. We explored these issues among three karst-associa...

A new species of the gekkonid genus Hemiphyllodactylus is described from forested karst hills near Zhutangxiang town, Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, Yunnan, China. Hemiphyllodactylus zhutangxiangensis sp. nov. is distinguished from all other congeners in morphology and an uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence of greater than 14% based on 1039 b...

The taxonomy and phylogeny of the Cyrtodactylus pulchellus complex along the Thai-Malay Peninsular region has been the focus of many recent studies and has resulted in the recognition of 17 species. However, the majority of these studies were focused on Peninsular and insular Malaysia where there were specimens and genetic vouchers. The taxonomic s...

Maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) analyses using two mitochondrial (16S and cyt b ) and two nuclear (CMOS and RAG1) genes and 103 specimens recovered the first phylogenies of all 23 extant species of Goniurosaurus . The analyses strongly supported the recognition of four monophyletic species groups with identical inter-specific re...

Batu Hampar Recreational Forest (BHRF) is a lowland dipterocarp forest located in the northwestern region of Peninsular Malaysia and has not been surveyed for its herpetofauna until now. A preliminary survey of the herpetofaunal diversity of BHRF was conducted from September 2018 to February 2019 resulting in 103 individuals (37 species) of amphibi...

Using an allometric growth model to correct for body size variation has been known for many decades to be superior to several other widely used methods such as ratios, analysis of covariance, principal components analysis, and residual analysis. However, this technique remains relatively obscure and rarely applied. We optimize the implementation of...

A new species of the genus Cyrtodactylus is described from Dien Bien Province, northwestern Vietnam based on morphological and molecular data. Cyrtodactylus ngati sp. nov. can be distinguished from remaining congeners by the following combination of characters: maximum SVL 69.3 mm; dorsal pattern consisting of six dark irregular transverse bands be...

Malaysia is recognized as a megadiverse country and biodiversity hotspot which necessitates sufficient levels of habitat protection and effective conservation management. However, conservation planning in Malaysia has hitherto relied largely on species distribution data without taking into account the rich evolutionary history of taxa. This represe...

Karstic landscapes are immense reservoirs of biodiversity and range-restricted endemism. Nowhere is this more evident than in the world’s third-largest vertebrate genus Cyrtodactylus (Gekkonidae) which contains well over 300 species. A stochastic character mapping analysis of 10 different habitat preferences across a phylogeny containing 345 descri...

Our knowledge of the conservation status of reptiles, the most diverse class of terrestrial vertebrates, has improved dramatically over the past decade, but still lags behind that of the other tetrapod groups. Here, we conduct the first comprehensive evaluation (~92% of the world's ~1714 described species) of the conservation 1 Joint senior authors...

Malaysia is recognized as a megadiverse country and biodiversity hotspot, which necessitates sufficient levels of habitat protection and effective conservation management. However, conservation planning in Malaysia has hitherto relied largely on species distribution data without taking into account the rich evolutionary history of taxa. This repres...

The integrated results of maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) analyses, principal component analyses (PCA), and a multiple factor analysis (MFA) recover a new, widely allopatric species of the Cyrtodactylus intermedius species group. Cyrtodactylus kulenensis sp. nov is endemic to the Phnom Kulen sandstone massif of the Phnom Kulen N...

The taxonomic status of Asthenodipsas vertebralis in Borneo has been plagued with uncertainty over the last eighty years. An examination of museum collections resulted in the discovery of a voucher specimen of A. vertebralis from Sarawak, East Malaysia that confirms the presence of the species in Borneo and a previously unrecognised species, Asthen...

An integrative analysis of genetic, morphological, and ecological data recovered a new granite cave-adapted species, Cyrtodactylus raglai sp. nov., from the Song Giang River Valley, Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam. Cyrtodactylus raglai sp. nov. is nested within one of two major clades within the irregularis species group where it forms a monophyletic g...

The gekkonid genus Cyrtodactylus is the third most speciose vertebrate genus in the world, containing well over 300 species that collectively range from South Asia to Melanesia across some of the most diverse landscapes and imperiled habitats on the planet. A genus-wide phylogeny of the group has never been presented because researchers working on...

The gekkonid genus Cyrtodactylus is the third most speciose vertebrate genus in the world, containing well over 300 species that collectively range from South Asia to Melanesia across some of the most diverse landscapes and imperiled habitats on the planet. A genus-wide phylogeny of the group has never been presented because researchers working on...

The taxonomic status of the ranid frog Abavorana luctuosa (Peters, 1871) was investigated using a combination of molecular and morphological data. The analyses revealed that A. luctuosa sensu lato is composed of two species in Borneo. One of these species agrees with the description of Rana decorata Mocquard, 1890 which is resurrected in the combin...

Phylogenetic analyses of the 49 nominal species of the gekkonid genus Hemiphyllodactylus based on the mitochondrial gene NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 and its flanking tRNAs resulted in a strongly supported tree composed of a number of regionally localised mono-phyletic lineages consistent with previous genus-wide analyses. One such lineage from Wes...

Lizards and snakes (squamates) are known for their varied sex determining systems, and gecko lizards are especially diverse, having evolved sex chromosomes independently multiple times. While sex chromosomes frequently turnover among gecko genera, intrageneric turnovers are known only from Gekko and Hemidactylus. Here, we used RADseq to identify se...

A genomic study by Chan and colleagues demonstrated that Pulchrana picturata from Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra (and southern Thailand by implication) are distinct from the name-bearing lineage from Borneo. In this study, we present additional morphological and bioacoustic data to support the recognition of the new species, which we describe here...

Genome-scale data have greatly facilitated the resolution of recalcitrant nodes that Sanger-based datasets have been unable to resolve. However, phylogenomic studies continue to use traditional methods such as boot-strapping to estimate branch support; and high bootstrap values are still interpreted as providing strong support for the correct topol...

Niche breadth and position can influence diversification among closely related species or populations, yet limited empirical data exist concerning the predictability of the outcomes. We explored the effects of these factors on the evolution of the Emoia atrocostata species group, an insular radiation of lizards in the western Pacific Ocean and Indo...

Niche breadth and position can influence diversification among closely related species or populations, yet limited empirical data exist concerning the predictability of the outcomes. We explored the effects of these factors on the evolution of the Emoia atrocostata species group, an insular radiation of lizards in the western Pacific Ocean and Indo...

An integrative taxonomic analysis recovered the new species Cnemaspis selenolagus sp. nov. of the C. siamensis group as the sister species to C. punctatonuchalis. The new species was discovered in mountain evergreen tropical forests of in Suan Phueng District of Ratchaburi Province, western Thailand. Additionally, the analysis recovered a deep gene...

A new gekkonid lizard, Cyrtodactylus maelanoi sp. nov., from Mae Hong Son Province of the Thai Highlands is described using an integrative taxonomic analysis based on morphology, color pattern, and the mitochondrial gene NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) and its flanking tRNAs. Phylogenetic analyses place the new species within clade 1 of the C. s...