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| Hemiphyllodactylus pakhaensis H. B. Ha, Hoang, Nguyen, N. V. Ha & Luu, 2026 |
Abstract
An integrative analysis revealed a new species of the Hemiphyllodactylus typus group collected from local house walls and surrounding karst formations in Pa Kha 1 Village, Long Phieng Commune, Son La Province, northwestern Vietnam. Hemiphyllodactylus pakhaensis sp. nov. is recovered within Clade 4 of the typus group, exhibiting an uncorrected pairwise distance greater than 6.65% from all other congeners based on a 1,043 base pair segment of the ND2 gene. It can be distinguished from its congeners by body size, chin scales, circumnasal scales, dorsal and ventral scales. A multiple factor analysis using normalized morphometric, meristic, and categorical character types recovered its unique, non–overlapping placement in morphospace as statistically significantly different from closely related species in the Clade 4. The discovery and description of this new Hemiphyllodactylus species represent the first record of the Clade 4 from Vietnam and increase the number of species of this genus recorded in the country to 12.
Key words: Gecko, morphology, phylogeny, Southeast Asia
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| Hemiphyllodactylus pakhaensis sp. nov. Dorsal (A) and ventral (B) views of adult male holotype VNUF R.2025.32 (Field No. Sonla02) in life; C. Drawing of the holotype’s head in dorsolateral view. |
Hemiphyllodactylus pakhaensis sp. nov.
Hong Bich Ha, Tuoi Thi Hoang, Manh Dac Nguyen, Nghia Van Ha and Vinh Quang Luu. 2026. A New Species of Hemiphyllodactylus Bleeker, 1860 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Son La Province, Vietnam. ZooKeys. 1268: 163-188. DOI: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1268.177040 [04 Feb 2026]