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Nactus pelagicus (GIRARD, 1858)

IUCN Red List - Nactus pelagicus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaGekkonidae, Sauria (lizards: geckos) 
SubspeciesNactus pelagicus pelagicus (GIRARD 1858)
Nactus pelagicus undulatus (KOPSTEIN 1926) 
Common NamesPelagic Gecko, Rock Gecko 
SynonymGymnodactylus Arnouxii DUMÉRIL 1851
Heteronota pelagica GIRARD 1858: 197
Gymnodactylus (Heteronota) arfakianus MEYER 1874: 129
Heteronota fasciata MACLEAY 1877: 100 (non Homonota fasciatus BLYTH)
Heteronota marmorata MACLEAY 1877: 100
Gymnodactylus arnouxii — BOULENGER 1885: 39
Gymnodactylus pelagicus - BOULENGER 1885: 40
Gymnodactylus heteronotus BOULENGER 1885: 41
Gymnodactylus pelagicus — GARMAN 1901: 1
Gymnodactylus pelagicus — DE ROOIJ 1915: 6
Cyrtodactylus pelagicus - UNDERWOOD 1954: 475
Nactus arnouxii - KLUGE 1983: 469
Nactus pelagicus - GREER 1989
Nactus pelagicus — RÖSLER 1995: 134
Nactus pelagicus — COGGER 2000: 253
Nactus ‘pelagicus’ — WILSON & SWAN 2010

Nactus pelagicus undulatus (KOPSTEIN 1926)
Gymnodactylus pelagicus undulatus KOPSTEIN 1926
Nactus arnouxii undulatus — KLUGE 1993: 23
Nactus (Nactus) pelagicus undulatus — RÖSLER 2000: 96 
DistributionFrom the Kei islands through New Guinea, Melanesia and into central Pacific;
Akiaki, Tuamotu Archipelago, Fiji Islands, Rotuma, Western Samoa, Solomon Islands [Nactus multicarinatus; McCoy 2000], New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Islands (Roratonga), Tonga Islands
Indonesia (Talaud archipelago etc.),
Australia (Queensland: Cape York Peninsula and Mornington Island)

USA: Northern Mariana Islands, Guam.

undulatus: endemic to Kei islands

Type locality: Samoa (as Navigator Ils.) and Fiji. Map legend:
TDWG region - Region according to the TDWG standard, not a precise distribution map.

NOTE: TDWG regions are generated automatically from the text in the distribution field and not in every cases it works well. We are working on it.
 
Typessyntypes: USNM 5626 (2 specimens) 
CommentReproduction: Nactus pelagicus is a composite of unisexual [parthenogenetic] and bisexual populations. Note however that Zug and Moon (1995) recognized Nactus pelagicus as the asexual species for the populations in southern Vanuatu and elsewhere in Oceania, and N. multicarinatus for the bisexual species from Vanuatu and the southern Solomon Islands.

Distribution: Erroneously reported from the Society Archipelago (HR 26: 159). A population on Guam is apparently extinct.

Synonymy: Gymnodactylus multicarinatus GÜNTHER 1872 has been removed from the synonymy of Nactus pelagicus and elevated to full species status by ZUG & MOON 1995. Heteronota eboracensis MACLEAY 1877 and Gymnodactylus cheverti BOULENGER 1885 are treated here as full species following COGGER 2000, although other authors synoymize them with N. pelagicus.

Type species: Gymnodactylus Arnouxii DUMÉRIL 1851 is the type species of the genus Nactus KLUGE 1983: 469

Etymology (genus): Nactus is Latin for "stumbled upon," which alludes to Kluge’s discovery by chance of the assemblage of species within Cyrtodactylus. 
References
  • Bauer, A. M. & SADLIER, R. A. (eds.) 2000. The herpetofauna of New Caledonia. Contributions to Herpetology, 17; Society for Study Amphibians and Reptiles, Ithaca, New York.
  • Bauer, Aaron M.;Sadlier, Roass A. 1994. The terrestrial herpetofauna of the Ile des Pins, New Caledonia Pacific Science 48 (4): 353-366
  • Bauer, Aaron M.;Vindum, Jens V. 1990. A checklist and key to the herpetofauna of New Caledonia, with remarks on biogeography Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 47 (2): 17-45 - get paper here
  • Blanchard, Frank N. 1923. The amphibians and reptiles of Dickinson County, Iowa Iowa Studies in Natural History 10 (2): 19-26
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. Geckonidae, Eublepharidae, Uroplatidae, Pygopodidae, Agamidae. London: 450 pp. - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 2, Second edition. London, xiii+497 pp. - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1886. On the reptiles and batrachians of the Solomon Islands. Trans. Zool. Soc. London 12: 35-62
  • Cogger,H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp.
  • de Rooij, N. de 1915. The Reptiles of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. I. Lacertilia, Chelonia, Emydosauria. Leiden (E. J. Brill), xiv + 384 pp.
  • Donnellan, S. C.;Moritz, C. 1995. Genetic diversity of bisexual and parthenogenetic populations of the tropical gecko Nactus pelagicus (Lacertillia: Gekkonidae) Herpetologica 51 (2): 140-154 - get paper here
  • Duméril, A.M.C. & A. H. A. DUMÉRIL 1851. Catalogue méthodique de la collection des reptiles du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris. Gide et Baudry/Roret, Paris, 224 pp.
  • Eckstut, Mallory E.; Alison M. Hamilton, and Christopher C. Austin 2013. Variable Unisexuals and Uniform Bisexuals: Morphology, Genetics, and Biogeography of the Nactus pelagicus Complex on Tanna Island, Vanuatu Herpetologica 69 (2): 199-213. - get paper here
  • Gill B J. 1993. The Land Reptiles of Western Samoa. Journal of the Royal Society Of New Zealand 23 (2): 79-89.
  • Girard,C. 1858. Descriptions of some new Reptiles, collected by the US. Exploring Expedition under the command of Capt. Charles Wilkes, U.S.N. Third Part. Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad. 9: 181-182 [1857] - get paper here
  • Günther, A. 1872. On some new species of reptiles and fishes collected by J. Brenchley, Esq. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) 10 (60): 418-426. - get paper here
  • HEINICKE, MATTHEW P.; ELI GREENBAUM, TODD R. JACKMAN, AARON M. BAUER 2010. Molecular Phylogenetics of Pacific Nactus (Squamata: Gekkota: Gekkonidae) and the Diphyly of Australian Species. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 61 (17): 633-646 - get paper here
  • Ineich, I. 2011. Amphibians and reptiles. In: Bouchet P., Le Guyader H. & PascaL O. (eds), The Natural History of Santo. pp. 187-236 MNhN, Paris; Ird, Marseille; PNI, Paris. 572 pp. (Patrimoines naturels; 70).
  • INEICH, Ivan 2009. The terrestrial herpetofauna of Torres and Banks Groups (northern Vanuatu), with report of a new species for Vanuatu. Zootaxa 2198: 1-15 - get paper here
  • Kluge,A.G. 1983. Cladistic relationships among gekkonid lizards. Copeia 1983 (2): 465-475 - get paper here
  • Koch, André; Arida, Evy; Riyanto, Awal & Böhme, Wolfgang 2009. Islands between the realms: A revised checklist of the herpetofauna of the Talaud archipelago, Indonesia, with a discussion about its biogeographic affinities. Bonner zoologische Beiträge 56 (1/2): 107-129 [2007] - get paper here
  • Kopstein,P.F. 1926. Reptilien von den Molukken und den benachbarten Inseln. Zool. Med. 1: 71-112 - get paper here
  • Macleay, W. 1877. The lizards of the Chevert Expedition. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 2: 60-69; 97-104
  • Meyer,A.B. 1874. [Eine Mittheilung von Hrn. Dr. Adolf Meyer] über die von ihm auf Neu-Guinea und den Inseln Jobi, Mysore und Mafoor im Jahre 1873 gesammelten Amphibien. Monatsber. K. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1874: 128-140 - get paper here
  • Milius S 2002. Are they really extinct? Sci News 161: 168-170
  • Morrison, C. 2003. A Field Guide to the Herpetofauna of Fiji. Suva, Fiji: Institute of Applied Sciences, University of the South Pacific, 121 pp.
  • Peters,W.H.C. 1874. Über neue Reptilien (Peropus, Agama, Euprepes, Lygosoma, Typhlops, Heterolepis) der herpetologischen Sammlung des Berliner zoologischen Museums. M. Ber. k. preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1874: 159-164
  • Pregill GK, Steadman DW 2009. The prehistory and biogeography of terrestrial vertebrates on Guam, Mariana Islands. Divers Distrib 15: 983-996
  • Rösler, H., Glaw, F.& R. Günther 2005. Aktualisierte Liste der Geckos von Neuguinea (Sauria: Geckonidae: Gekkoninae) mit vorläufiger Charakterisierung von neun Formen aus den Gattungen Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827, Gehyra Gray, 1834 und Nactus Kluge, 1983. Gekkota 5: 33-64 - get paper here
  • Rösler, Herbert 1995. Geckos der Welt - Alle Gattungen. Urania, Leipzig, 256 pp.
  • Sadlier R A. Bauer A M. 1997. The terrestrial herpetofauna of the Loyalty Islands. Pacific Science 51 (1): 76-90.
  • Ulber, T.M. 2005. Tauchen als Feindvermeidungsstrategie beim Gecko Nactus (Nactus) pelagicus pelagicus (GIRARD 1858), nebst Bemerkungen zu Haltung und Nachzucht. Sauria 27 (1): 27-30 - get paper here
  • Underwood, GARTH 1954. On the classifcation and evolution of geckos. Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 124 (3): 469-492
  • Wilson,S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
  • Zug, G. R. 1989. Heteronota pelagica Girard, 1857 (currently Gymnodactylus, Crytodactylus or Nactus pelagicus; Reptilia, Sauria): proposed conservation of the specific name Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 46 (1): 38-40
  • Zug, G. R. & B. R. MOON 1995. Systematics of the Pacific slender-toed geckos, Nactus pelagicus complex: Oceania, Vanuata, and Solomon Islands populations. Herpetologica 51 (1): 77-90. - get paper here
  • Zug, G. R., I. Ineich, G. Pregill, and A. M. Hamilton. 2012. Lizards of Tonga and a description of a new Tongan treeskink (Squamata: Scincidae: Emoia samoensis Group). Pacific Science 66(2):225-237 - get paper here
  • Zug, G.R. & Fisher, R.N. 2012. A preliminary assessment of the Nactus pelagicus species group (Squamata: Gekkonidae) in New Guinea and a new species from the Admiralty Islands. Zootaxa 3257: 22–37 - get paper here
  • ZUG, GEORGE R.; ALISON M. HAMILTON & CHRISTOPHER C. AUSTIN 2011. A new Emoia samoensis group lizard (Squamata: Scincidae) from the Cook Islands, South-central Pacific. Zootaxa 2765: 47–57 - get paper here
  • Zug,G. R. 1991. The lizards of Fiji: Natural history and systematics. Bishop Mus. Bull. Zool. 2: 1-136
 
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