Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
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Online Publication Date: 08 Aug 2025

Two New Species of Pachydactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Kaokoveld

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Page Range: 412 – 432
DOI: 10.1643/h2024108
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Recent surveys in southwestern Angola uncovered cryptic diversity within Pachydactylus caraculicus. Phylogenetic analyses of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA recover three distinct lineages. Two of these lineages, characterized by their typical banded dorsal pattern, show clear geographic structuring: a “northern” lineage corresponding to true P. caraculicus, and a distinct “southern” lineage extending into neighboring Namibia. The third lineage, sister to the clade of banded caraculicus, comprises morphologically divergent specimens resembling P. punctatus. All three lineages within the P. caraculicus complex are diagnosable based on morphological and coloration characters. We formally describe the two unnamed lineages of P. caraculicus as new species and discuss these findings in the biogeographic context of the Kaokoveld’s lizard fauna.

Copyright: © 2025 by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists 2025
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.

(A) Habitat of Pachydactylus caraculicus at the type locality, Caraculo, Namibe Province, Angola. Juvenile (B) and adult (C) P. caraculicus from Serra da Neve, Namibe Province, Angola (MUHNAC/MB03-001578 and 001577, respectively).

Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.

(A) Maximum likelihood (ML) phylogeny of the Pachydactylus caraculicus complex and other Pachydactylus based on a concatenated analysis of 16S, ND2 + tRNA, and RAG1 sequences. The tree is rooted with Chondrodactylus fitzsimonsi (not shown). Bootstrap support values are indicated at nodes; (B) ML phylogeny based only on the mitochondrial subset of the full alignment; (C) ML phylogeny based only on the RAG1 subset of the full alignment. For clarity, only the portion of the tree depicting the “northwestern” clade is shown in panels B and C. See Data Accessibility for tree files.

Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.

Comparison of color pattern between members of the Pachydactylus caraculicus group and P. cf. punctatus. (A) Details of head pattern, from left to right: “northern” lineage (CAS 267475, from Vipungos); “southern” lineage (CAS 267398, from Otchifengo); “punctatus-like” lineage (CAS 267414, from Otchifengo); (B) “punctatus-like” lineage (MUHNAC/MB03-001802, from Ovipaca-Otchifengo); (C) P. cf. punctatus (CAS 267411, from Otchifengo). Note the presence and number of pale nuchal spots in (A), and the absence of scattered white spots in (B).

Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.

Distribution records for species of the Pachydactylus caraculicus group in southwestern Angola and northwestern Namibia. Stars represent the respective type localities; dotted symbols denote sequenced records.

Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.

Holotype of Pachydactylus namibensis (CAS 267193) in life, from Vipungos, Namibe Province, Angola.

Fig. 6.
Fig. 6.

Preserved holotype of Pachydactylus namibensis (CAS 267193), from Vipungos, Namibe Province, Angola. Scale bar represents 10 mm.

Fig. 7.
Fig. 7.

General view (A) and microhabitat (B) at the type locality of Pachydactylus namibensis, Vipungos, Namibe Province, Angola.

Fig. 9.
Fig. 9.

Preserved holotype of Pachydactylus ovahimba (CAS 267398), from Otchifengo, Namibe Province, Angola. Scale bar represents 10 mm.

Fig. 10.
Fig. 10.

General view (A) and microhabitat (B) of Pachydactylus ovahimba at the type locality, Otchifengo, Namibe Province, Angola.

Fig. 8.
Fig. 8.

Holotype of Pachydactylus ovahimba (CAS 267398) in life, from Otchifengo, Namibe Province, Angola.

Contributor Notes

Associate Editor: D. S. Siegel.

Received: 26 Nov 2024
Accepted: 26 Apr 2025
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