Taxonomic revision of the polyphyletic Phyllodactylus bordai (Squamata: Phyllodactylidae), with the description of a new species

Through the re-evaluation of genomic data obtained from reduced genome representation sequencing method of the species belonging to Clade I within North American Phyllodactylus, we evidence the polyphyletic condition of the P. bordai taxon, which contains three independently evolving lineages. Gene flow tests demonstrated that the three lineages within P. bordai are genetically isolated and had no contact after their divergence.

Furthermore, the divergence ages estimated for two of the lineages, from northern Guerrero and the Tehuacan-Cuicatlan Valley, are relatively deep, dating back to the mid-Oligocene and the mid-Eocene, respectively. Interestingly, we only obtained a gene flow signal between the most recently diverged lineage (from Huautla, Morelos) and its sister species (P. papenfussi), probably due to sporadic introgression pulses after their divergence in the early Pliocene.

The evidence generated from the analysis of genomic, morphological, and climatic data allows us to propose taxonomic changes in accordance with the evolutionary history of the three main lineages, while avoiding the propagation of an artificial taxonomy within Clade I with respect to P. bordai. As such, in this study we describe Phyllodactylus ngiwa sp. nov., the earliest diverging lineage within the polyphyletic P. bordai taxon, from populations in the Tehuacan-Cuicatlan Valley.

We also restrict P. bordai to populations from northern Guerrero. While the results suggest that the Morelos lineage is a distinct species from the rest of the North American Phyllodactylus species, more studies with increased sampling are necessary to assess this divergence in detail, including any interactions with its sister taxon, P. papenfussi.