In the northern tip of Madagascar, scientists have described eight new gecko species. They are all about the length of your thumb.

For decades, scientists have Ligodactylus madagascariensis race of dwarves The gecko believed it consisted of only five valid species. However, a more careful examination of the gecko’s body and analysis of its DNA confirmed that there are as many as 18 of his species in this group of species. Eight of these new species have been officially described in journals. Zootakusa itself as a seed.

“This was an amazing discovery,” said Miguel Vences, a professor at the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany and the first author of the study, in a statement. “Four different closely related species, almost indistinguishable to us, appear to have occurred together in the same place and not interbred. This is exceptional, even in Madagascar.”

In the Montagne d’Ambre National Park in northern Madagascar, scientists thought they were collecting one species, but discovered they were actually four different species.

“These results underscore how important it is to continue to collect samples across Madagascar, even for species we think we understand,” said Bavarian State Zoology. Co-author Frank Groh, curator of herpetology at the collection, said in a statement. “There is still much to discover.”

Scientists have discovered and named at least 150 new species in Madagascar over the past 30 years. Glaw, who leads nearly annual expeditions to Madagascar from his laboratory in Munich, said in his 2021 interview with Mongabay that they still discover new species almost every year.

Many of the new reptile species discovered in Madagascar over the past year have been very small. Burquecia Nana, possibly the smallest reptile on the planet. The new gecko is no exception, measuring about 5 to 7 centimeters (about 2 inches) from nose to tail.

Mark D. Scherz, curator of herpetology at the Danish Museum of Natural History and co-author, said in a 2021 interview with Mongabay: They are generally unable to move from one region to another and are more likely to be isolated by barriers such as rivers that occur between populations. We can now explain why we see this kind of pattern in geckos as well.

Larger than France, Madagascar separated from Africa 150 million years ago. This isolated island has become an evolutionary laboratory, and more than 90% of his species are found nowhere else on Earth.

Home to a newly described gecko species, the Montagne d’Amble National Park is one of the island’s most biodiverse sites. There are also over 60 species of reptiles, 75 species of birds, and 8 species of lemurs, ring-tailed mongoose (Galidia Elegance) and the Madagascar civet (Fossa Fossana).

Madagascar has lost half its forests since the 1950s. Remaining ecosystems and biodiversity face threats from deforestation, slash-and-burn agriculture, erosion, soil degradation, over-harvesting from the wild and the introduction of invasive species.

Given the ongoing threats to the environment, they may not be finding and naming species fast enough to know what is being lost. There is,’ he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see many of these species extinct by the end of the century.”

Quote:

Vences, M., Multzsch, M., Gippner, S., Miralles, A., Crottini, A., Gehring, P.-S., … Scherz, MD (2022) Ligodactylus madagascariensis A group reveals an unexpected diversity of small brown geckos in the Madagascar rainforest. Zootakusa, 5179(1), 1-61. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5179.1.1

banner image of Lygodactylus hapei by HP Berghof.

Liz Kimbrough Mongabay staff writer. Find her on Twitter: @lizkimbrough_

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