Goniurosaurus hainanensis Barbour, 1908

Qi, Shuo, Ngo, Hai Ngoc, Grismer, L. Lee, Wang, Hao-Tian, Song, Han-Ming, Zhu, Xiao-Yu, He, Zhu-Qing, Zhou, Zi-Chen, Li, Pi-Peng, Wang, Ji-Chao & Wang, Ying-Yong, 2025, Integrative taxonomic revision of the Goniurosaurus lichtenfelderi group (Squamata: Eublepharidae): Insights from morphological and molecular data, Vertebrate Zoology 75, pp. 673-698 : 673-698

Goniurosaurus hainanensis Barbour, 1908

Figures 10 ( A 1, A 2, B 1, C 1 – C 3), 11 ( A – C), 12

Synonymy.

Goniurosaurus sinensis Zhou, Peng, Hou & Yuan, 2019 syn. nov.

Goniurosaurus kwanghua Zhu & He, 2020

Chinese name.

海南睑虎 (hǎi nán jiǎn hǔ).

English names.

Hainan leopard gecko, Hainan tiger gecko.

Vietnamese name.

Thach sung mi hai nan.

Holotype.

A juvenile male, MCZ 7104 , collected from Mt. Wuchi (= Mt. Wuzhi), Hainan, China on 16 November 1906, by a Japanese collector (probably Zensaku Katsumata) of Alan Owston .

Specimens examined.

11 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀ from China, see Appendix 1 for detail.

Diagnosis.

Based on the previous description ( Grismer 2000; Blair et al. 2009; Zhou et al. 2019; Zhu et al. 2020 b) and examined specimens in this study: (1) SVL 69.5–99.7 mm in adult males, 79.7–105.7 mm in adult females; (2) external nares bordered by 7–10 nasal scales; (3) internasal 0–2, mostly single, rarely absent or 2; (4) supralabials 7–11; (5) infralabials 6–11; (6) preorbital scales 15–21; (7) supraorbital region with a row of slightly enlarged tubercles; (8) eyelid fringe scales 47–62; (9) scales around midbody 92–123; (10) longitudinal dorsal tubercle rows at midbody 20–22; (11) paravertebral tubercles between limb insertions 21–27; (12) axillary pockets shallow or deep; (13) presence of 23–31 precloacal pores in males, form a continuous transverse series extending onto the femora; precloacal pores in females absent; (14) dorsal ground color of head, body and limbs dark purple-brown to almost black in juveniles without blotches; dorsal ground color of head, body and limbs purple to dark purple-brown in adults, with or without small irregularly shaped dark brown blotches; (15) presence of four transverse bands, including one nuchal loop, two body bands and one caudal constriction band, light yellow with black brown anterior and posterior borders; (16) nuchal loop mostly rounded posteriorly, rarely protracted; (17) iris orange to dark reddish-brown.

Distribution.

After this taxonomic revision, the distribution of G. hainanensis is restricted to the southern and southwestern regions of Hainan Island, at elevations of 30–800 m ( Zhou et al. 2019; Zhu et al. 2020 b; this study; Fig. 7 A – C ). Its northern limit is located in Wuzhishan City, the southern limit in Sanya City, and the western extent reaches to Jianfengling. The eastern boundary remains uncertain, but is tentatively inferred to lie along the northern foothills of the Wuzhishan mountain range. Due to current sampling gaps, it remains unclear whether G. hainanensis and G. cf. lichtenfelderi are sympatric or experience gene flow in this region.

Remarks.

Although the precise type locality of G. hainanensis is not definitively recorded, we infer the northwestern slope of Mt. Wuzhi as the most probable area, considering historical accessibility, transportation, and manpower conditions at the time of collection. Goniurosaurus kwanghua was previously regarded as a junior synonym of G. sinensis ( Cai et al. 2022) , and our results support this synonymy. Here we additionally synonymize G. sinensis with G. hainanensis , based on integrated genetic evidence and phylogenetic position.

Figures

Figure 7. Geographic distribution of accepted taxa of the Goniurosaurus lichtenfelderi group. A Prior to the present taxonomic revision; B Following the revised delimitation proposed in this study; C Distributional separation of G. hainanensis and G. cf. lichtenfelderi on Hainan Island.

Figure 10. Morphological comparison of adult Goniurosaurus sinensis syn. nov., Goniurosaurus hainanensis and Goniurosaurus lichtenfelderi. A 1 Holotype of Goniurosaurus sinensis syn. nov. (BL-RBZ- 102), cited from Zhou et al. (2019); A 2 Goniurosaurus sinensis syn. nov. from Mt. Jianfengling, photo by Tong-Liang Wang; B 1 Paratype of Goniurosaurus kwanghua (= Goniurosaurus sinensis syn. nov.) (ECNU - V 0059), cited from Zhu et al. (2020 b); C 1 to C 3 Goniurosaurus hainanensis from Hainan Province, China (Wuzhishan City, Wuzhishan City and Sanya City, respectively), photos by Shuo Qi and Yong-Heng Zhu (photo C 2); D 1 to D 3 Goniurosaurus lichtenfelderi from Vietnam, photos by Hai Ngoc Ngo; E 1 to E 3 Goniurosaurus cf. lichtenfelderi from Hainan Province, China (Haikou City, Wanning City and Lingshui County, respectively), photos by Shuo Qi.

Figure 11. Morphological comparison of juvenile Goniurosaurus lichtenfelderi with its three junior synonyms: A Goniurosaurus sinensis syn. nov., cited from Zhou et al. (2019); B Goniurosaurus kwanghua (= Goniurosaurus sinensis syn. nov.), cited from Zhu et al. (2020 b); C Goniurosaurus hainanensis (western clade) from Hainan Province, China (Baoting County), photo by Shuo Qi; D Goniurosaurus lichtenfelderi from Fangchenggang City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, photo by Shuo Qi.

Figure 12. The holotype of Goniurosaurus hainanensis (MCZ 7104, unsex juvenile), A Dorsal and ventral view of the entire body; B Three views of the head; C Hand-drawn illustration. A and B by Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, © President and Fellows of Harvard College; C from Barbour (1909).