The West African forest gecko needs an "s" at the end, because scientists have just determined it's not just one species but four. DNA detective work made the determination possible, according to a report in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
(West African forest gecko, Hemidactylus fasciatus; Credit: Charles Linkem)
These secretive, yet widely distributed, reptiles live in forest patches from Ghana to the Congo.
Researchers believe the four distinct species evolved over the past 100,000 years due to the fragmentation of a belt of tropical rain forest.
"We tended to find this gecko, Hemidactylus fasciatus, throughout our travels in West Africa," said coauthor Adam Leaché, a herpetologist with UC Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. "Despite the fact that it is recognized as one species, using new methods we have established a high probability that it is composed of at least four species.""These (West African) rain forests are classified as one of the biodiversity hotspots on the planet, yet they are one of the most endangered areas on the earth," Leaché added. "Human deforestation is accentuating the process of habitat destruction."
He and colleague Matthew K. Fujita had to hike for hours in the isolated forest areas. Access was even more difficult because they had to hire porters to carry liquid nitrogen with which to preserve tissue specimens of rare species, plus pickling containers used to bring home more common animals, including the forest gecko.
"Out intent was to go to remote sites where people haven't done much exploration to try to document biodiversity in Africa," Leaché said.
Tags: Amphibians and Reptiles, Animals, Wildlife Conservation
comments ( )