A new species of Hemiphyllodactylus (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from southeast Yunnan, China

Hemiphyllodactylus species in clade 6 of Agung et al. (2022) have distributions spanning Vietnam, Thailand, and China. Numerous new species have been described in the recent past. An integrated taxonomic analysis was conducted on populations in Guangnan County, southeastern Yunnan Province.

A phylogenetic reconstruction based on mitochondrial ND2 sequences indicated that this population belongs to clade 6 and is most closely related to the recently described Hemiphyllodactylus yanshanensis, from which it is separated by a geographical distance of only 80 kilometers. Furthermore, evidence from morphological characteristics, color pattern and haplotypes of ND2 and C-mos suggest that it represents a new species.

Here, we describe it as a new species and discuss the potential existence of numerous cryptic species among populations of Hemiphyllodactylus in Vietnam, Thailand, and China, noting that medicinal use is one of the potential threats to members of this genus.