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Abstract: Together, Indian plus Seychelles caeciliid caecilian amphibians (Gymnophiona) constitute approximately 10% of the extant species of this order. A molecular phylogenetic analysis of all but one (or two) nominal species (16, in five genera) is presented based on mitochondrial (12S, 16S, cytb, cox1) and nuclear (RAG1) sequence data. Results strongly support monophyly of both Seychelles and peninsular Indian caeciliids, and their sister-group status. Within the Indian caeciliids, Indotyphlus and Gegeneophis are monophyletic sister genera. The phylogenetic position of Gegeneophis ramaswamii, Gegeneophis seshachari, and Gegeneophis carnosus are not well resolved, but all lie outside a well-supported clade of most northern Western Ghats Gegeneophis (madhavai, mhadeiensis, goaensis, danieli/nadkarnii). Most nominal species of Indian caeciliid are diagnosed by robust haplotype clades, though the systematics of G. carnosus-like forms in northern Kerala and southern Karnataka requires substantial further investigation. For the most part, Indian caeciliid species comprise narrowly distributed, allopatric taxa with low genetic diversity. Much greater geographic genetic diversity exists among populations referred to G. seshachari, such that some populations likely represent undescribed species. This, the first phylogenetic analysis of Indian caeciliids, generally provides additional support for recent increases in described species (eight since 1999), and a framework for ongoing taxonomic revision. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Night frogs (Nyctibatrachidae) form a family endemic to the Western Ghats, a hill chain along the west coast of southern India. Extant members of this family are descendants of a lineage that originated on the subcontinent during its longtime isolation in the Late Cretaceous. Because the evolutionary history of Nyctibatrachidae has always been tightly connected to the subcontinent, these tropically-adapted frogs are an ideal group for studying how patterns of endemism originated and evolved during the Cenozoic in the Western Ghats. We used a combined set of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA fragments to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of 120 ingroup specimens of all known species of Nyctibatrachidae. Our analyses indicate that, although this family had an early origin on the Indian subcontinent, the early diversification of extant nyctibatrachids happened only in the Eocene. Biogeographic analyses show that dispersal across the Palghat gap and Shencottah gap was limited, which led to clade endemism within mountain ranges of the Western Ghats. It is likely that multiple biota have been affected simultaneously by these prominent geographical barriers. Our study therefore further highlights the importance of considering the Western Ghats–Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot as an assemblage of distinct mountain regions, each containing endemism and deserving attention in future conservation planning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Hemidactylus geckos are a species-rich component of many tropical lizard assemblages. We sampled deeply among tropical Asian, and especially South Asian, taxa and used a multi-gene approach to establish the affinities of Indian and Sri Lankan Hemidactylus and to evaluate the monophyly of previously proposed taxa within the genus. There is only weak support for the monophyly of tropical Asian Hemidactylus as a whole, but two strongly supported subclades were retrieved: the bowringii group is a predominantly East Asian clade that reaches South Asia only peripherally; the brookii group is a morphologically diverse clade that represents a previously unrecognized, species-rich (25 species), chiefly South Asian radiation. Deep genetic divergences support the specific recognition of three Sri Lankan taxa previously regarded as subspecies of mainland forms and validate H. subtriedrus as a species distinct from H. triedrus. Unlike several other vertebrate groups, Sri Lankan Hemidactylus do not represent a single insular radiation. Rather, each of six Sri Lankan species reached the island independently from different continental sources. There have been extensive Quaternary land connections between India and Sri Lanka but sister-species pairs of Hemidactylus on the two land masses diverged from one another much earlier, probably in the mid-Miocene. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

[Display omitted] • First multi-locus, range-wide sampling of leopard geckos, including most recognised species, synonyms. • Updated time-tree for Eublepharidae shows most recent common ancestry at 77 Myr ago. • 10 species of Eublepharis , Oligo-Miocene origins, with the most recent common ancestor entering India from Saharo-Arabia. • Pleistocene separation of lineages occurs across different biogeographic regions within E. angramainyu and E. hardwickii , with E. macularius now recognized as five species. • Model organism E. macularius represents a single population of this species with low mtDNA divergence, distributed in Pakistan. The leopard gecko, Eublepharis macularius , is a widely used model organism in laboratory and experimental studies. The high phenotypic diversity in the pet trade, the fact that the provenance of different breeding lines is unknown, and that distinct Eublepharis species are known to hybridize, implies that the continued use of E. macularius as a model requires clarity on the origin of the lineages in the pet trade. We combine multi-locus sequence data and the first range-wide sampling of the genus Eublepharis to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the Eublepharidae and Eublepharis , with an updated time-tree for the Eublepharidae. Our sampling includes five of the six recognized species and additional nominal taxa of uncertain status comprising 43 samples from 34 localities plus 48 pet-trade samples. The Eublepharidae began diversifying in the Cretaceous. Eublepharis split from its sister genera in Africa in the Palaeocene-Eocene, and began diversifying in the Oligocene-Miocene, with late Miocene-Pliocene cladogenesis giving rise to extant species. The current species diversity within this group is moderately underestimated. Our species delimitation suggests 10 species with four potentially unnamed divergent lineages in Iran, India and Pakistan. All 30 individuals of E. macularius that we sampled from the pet trade, which include diverse morphotypes, come from a few shallow E. macularius clades, confirming that lab and pet trade strains are part of a single taxon. One of the wild-caught haplotypes of E. macularius , from near Karachi, Pakistan, is identical to (10) pet-trade samples and all other captive populations are closely related to wild-caught animals from central/southern Pakistan (0.1–0.5 % minimum pairwise uncorrected ND2 sequence divergence). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]