Taxonomy and phylogeny of the Levant fan-footed gecko Ptyodactylus puiseuxi Boutan, 1893 and the resurrection of Ptyodactylus bischoffsheimi Boutan, 1893 (Squamata, Phyllodactylidae)

A recent molecular phylogenetic study of the genus Ptyodactylus revealed a deep genetic divergence within P. puiseuxi, the northern-most distributed species of the genus, suggesting that a re-evaluation of its taxonomic status may be needed. Ptyodactylus puiseuxi was originally described in 1893 along with three other Ptyodactylus species from Syria (P. bischoffsheimi, P. montmahoui, and P. barroisi) and its distribution currently includes Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and possibly Saudi Arabia. In order to revise the taxonomy and biogeography of P. puiseuxi, we performed an integrative approach combining molecular and morphological data. We reconstructed phylogenetic relationships, estimated divergence times, evaluated intraspecific molecular diversity, and examined the morphological variability of populations. We inferred a nearly complete calibrated phylogeny of the genus Ptyodactylus; within it, P. puiseuxi (sensu lato) is genetically separated into distinct northern and southern lineages, which correspond to an observed morphological differentiation. We thus treat these lineages as two valid species. The southern species belongs to P. puiseuxi (sensu stricto) distributed in northern Israel and Jordan, Lebanon, and southern Syria. The name Ptyodactylus bischoffsheimi is reinstated from the synonymy of P. puiseuxi for the northern species found in northwestern, central, and eastern Syria, and western Iraq. Because the current location of the type specimens described in 1893 are unaccounted for and because of previous taxonomic confusion, we assign for both species neotypes and provide updated redescriptions. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:4D5EA8B3-D108-43EB-B7C3-B819F7880147.