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Current Herpetology 25(2): ??–??, December 2006
2006 by The Herpetological Society of Japan
First Record of the Chinese
Leopard Gecko, Goniurosaurus
luii (Reptilia: Eublepharidae)
from Vietnam
VU NGOC THANH1,
NGUYEN QUANG TRUONG2,
L. LEE GRISMER3*,
4
AND THOMAS ZIEGLER
1
Zoological Museum and Department of
Vertebrate Zoology, Faculty of Biology,
University of Science, Vietnam National
University, 334 Nguyen Trai Str., Thanh
Xuan, Hanoi, VIETNAM
2 Institute of Ecology and Biological
Resources (IEBR), Vietnamese Academy of
Science and Technology (VAST), 18 Hoang
Quoc Viet St., Hanoi, VIETNAM
3 Department of Biology, La Sierra
University, Riverside, California 92515–8247,
USA
4 Thomas Ziegler, AG Zoologischer Garten
Köln, Riehler Straße 173, D–50735 Köln,
GERMANY
ever, the record of Nguyen et al. (2005) of G.
lichtenfelderi from Cao Bang Province was
erroneous and Grismer (2000) demonstrated
that G. murphyi was a junior synonym of G.
lichtenfelderi. Grismer et al. (1999) did, however, record a new species, G. araneus, from
Cao Bang Province.
During recent field research of the senior
author in northern Vietnam, a remarkable
Goniurosaurus that was not assignable to any
of the Vietnamese species known so far was
collected in Cao Bang Province (Fig. 1). The
adult female specimen (Fig. 2) was found on
5 November 2005 at 2330 h in Ngoc Khe
Commune (Trung Khanh District) at about
770 m asl. The gecko was found on the ground
of the secondary forest near karst outcrops.
Closer examination of the specimen, that was
subsequently deposited in the collection of the
Zoological Museum of the Vietnam National
University, Hanoi (VNUH 010205), revealed it
to be a representative of the Chinese leopard
gecko, G. luii.
This new specimen from Vietnam has an
enlarged row of supraorbital tubercles in
combination with a bright-orange colored iris,
characters distinguishing it as Goniurosaurus
luii and separating it from all other species of
Abstract: The first record of Goniurosaurus luii
from Vietnam is reported herein. The specimen
is a female and the largest member of the species
known to date. This brings the total number of
Goniurosaurus in Vietnam to three.
Key words: Goniurosaurus luii; Goniurosaurus araeneus; Goniurosaurus lichtenfelderi; Vietnam
In their recent checklist of amphibians and
reptiles of Vietnam, Nguyen et al. (2005) listed
two species of the East Asian eublepharid
gecko genus Goniurosaurus, G. lichtenfelderi
from Cao Bang Province and Hai Phong City
in Vietnam, and G. murphyi from Hai Duong
Province (Orlov and Darevsky, 1999). How* Corresponding author. Tel: +1–951–785–2345;
Fax: +1–951–785–2111;
E-mail address: lgrismer@lasierra.edu
FIG. 1. Map of northern Vietnam and southeastern China showing known localities of Goniurosaurus luii according to our new finding in Cao
Bang province (arrow) and in Guangxi province
after Grismer et al. (1999) and Seufer et al. (2005).
3THANH 短報 .fm 2 ページ 2006年11月29日 水曜日 午後4時29分
2
FIG. 2. Goniurosaurus luii (VNUH 010205) from
Cao Bang province, northern Vietnam. Photograph
by Vu Ngoc Thanh.
Goniurosaurus (Grismer et al., 1999). It differs
further from G. lichtenfelderi in having a
greater adult snout-vent length, a posteriorly
protracted, v-shaped nuchal loop (=first body
band according the standardization of band
nomenclature by Grismer, 1988), four lightcolored, dark-bordered body bands between
the nuchal loop and caudal constriction, and
deep axillary pockets. Goniurosaurus luii
differs further from G. araneus in having
narrower body bands and nuchal loop, a
darkly mottled ground color of dorsal surfaces
of head and body, dark mottling on lateral
portions of belly, limbs densely speckled with
small dark spots, and granular dorsal body
scales (Grismer et al. 1999). This specimen
can be distinguished further from G. bawanglingensis by its larger maximum snout-vent
length (SVL), by lacking dark spotting in the
body bands, by its dark mottling on the
infralabials and sublabials in adults, by the
lateral spotting on the belly, by caudal bands
being ventrally complete in adults, and by its
greatly enlarged supraorbital tubercles (Grismer et al., 2002).
The measurements (in mm) of the new
specimen from Cao Bang are as follows: SVL
119.0 (Grismer et al. [1999] stated only 107–
116 mm adult SVL for this species); tail
length 67.0; maximum head length (from
snout tip to hind margin of ear) 31.3; maxi-
Current Herpetol. 25(2) 2006
mum head width 20.0; maximum head height
13.4; maximum distance from snout tip to
anterior corner of eye 12.8; maximum distance
of posterior corner of eye to hind margin of
ear 11.7. The scalation features of the specimen from Cao Bang are as follows: 9/9
supralabials; 8/9 infralabials; 4 postmentals;
139 scales around midbody; 33 paravertebral
tubercles between limb insertions; 11–12 granular scales surrounding tubercles; 1–2 distinctly
enlarged tubercles laterally on each side at the
level of the vent; 11/11 subdigital lamellae
below first finger, and 19/18 subdigital lamellae below fourth finger; 12/12 subdigital lamellae below first toe, and 22/23 subdigital lamellae below fourth toe; claws are sheathed by
four scales.
Goniurosaurus luii was previously known
only from Hainan Island and Guangxi Province, Peoples Republic of China (Grismer et
al., 1999). However, the Hainan records may
be based on wrong locality data (see comment
by Grismer in Seufer et al. [2005]). Therefore,
the new finding represents the first country
record of G. luii for Vietnam. Three Goniurosaurus species (G. araneus, G. lichtenfelderi,
and G. luii) are now known from Vietnam, two
of which, G. araneus and G. luii occur sympatrically in Cao Bang Province. Grismer et al.
(1999) noted that G. luii and G. araneus were
separated by approximately 69 km along the
Bang Giang River Valley and indicated the
possibility of these two species intergrading.
The discovery of this new population of G. luii
from Cao Bang brings these two species to
within probable sympatry with no signs of
intergradation, thus supporting the taxonomy
of Grismer et al. (1999).
Further research and conservation measures
are undoubtedly required to learn more about
this species’ distribution and natural history as
well as for the long-term preservation of its
natural habitat. Grismer et al. (1999) noted
that conservation efforts are needed to protect
wild populations and their habitats from
illegal black market collectors in China and
therefore urged the Chinese and Vietnamese
Governments to put sanctions on the collec-
3THANH 短報 .fm 3 ページ 2006年11月29日 水曜日 午後4時29分
THANH ET AL.—CHINESE LEOPARD GECKO FROM VIETNAM
tion of all Goniurosaurus. As a first step, we
herein propose to list G. luii, which already
has been extirpated from its type locality in
China due to over collecting and habitat
damage (see Grismer et al., 1999; Stuart et al.,
2006), in the Red Data Book of Vietnam.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Field work of the senior author was made
possible due to Fauna and Flora International
(FFI) Vietnam Programme. Thanks also to Luu
Tuong Bach and Nguyen Thi Hien for their
help during the field surveys. Last but not
least we are grateful to Theo Pagel (Cologne
Zoo) for his support.
LITERATURE CITED
GRISMER, L. L. 1988. Phylogeny, taxonomy, classification, and biogeography of eublepharid geckos. p. 369–469. In: R. Estes and G. Pregill
(eds.), Phylogenetic Relationships of the Lizard
Families. Stanford University Press, Stanford,
California.
GRISMER, L. L. 2000. Goniurosaurus murphyi Orlov
and Darevsky: A junior synonym of Goniurosaurus lichtenfelderi Mocquard. J. Herpetol. 34:
3
486–488.
GRISMER, L. L., SHI HAITAO, N. L. ORLOV, AND N.
B. ANANJEVA. 2002. A new species of Goniurosaurus (Squamata: Eublepharidae) from Hainan
Island, China. J. Herpetol. 36: 217–224.
GRISMER, L. L., B. E. VIETS, AND L. J. BOYLE.
1999. Two new continental species of Goniurosaurus (Squamata: Eublepharidae) with a phylogeny and evolutionary classification of the
genus. J. Herpetol. 33: 382–393.
NGUYEN VAN SANG, HO THU CUC, AND NGUYEN
QUANG TRUONG. 2005. A Checklist of Amphibians and Reptiles of Vietnam. Nha xuat ban nong
nghiep, Hanoi.
ORLOV, N. L. AND I. S. DAREVSKY. 1999. Description of a new mainland species of Goniurosaurus genus, from the north-eastern Vietnam. Russ.
J. Herpetol. 6: 72–78.
SEUFER, H., Y. KAVERKIN, AND A. KIRSCHNER
(eds.). 2005. Die Lidgeckos. Pflege, Zucht und
Lebensweise. Kirschner & Seufer Verlag, Karlsruhe.
STUART, B. L., A. G. J. RHODIN, L. L. GRISMER,
AND T. HANSEL. 2006. Scientific description can
imperil species. Science 312: 1137.
Accepted: 26 October 2006