Yes, you should consider the genus Rhoptropella, Ph. ocellata was moved to
this recently I think, may have been switched back though. I would like to
read your paper too if I am able to. I do agree that breviceps and mutabilis
are unique.
An other fascinating group is the
Tarentola/Pachydactylus/Ptenopus/Chondrodactylus group. These geckoes really
resemble eachother to me. Perhaps I am wrong i calling them a group, but
certainly a relationship exists, maybe with more genera like Rhoptropus,
Quendenfeltia, Ptyodactylus and Gekkonia.
Well, Tarentola is one well traveled genus. As far as the Cuba for sure. It
is believed a species evolved in Jamaica but it (albertschawrtzi) is known
from a single museum specimen collected a century(?) ago.
Several crossings were made to the Canary and Cape Verde Island groups and if
T. albertschawrtzi is indeed a Jamaican native, then 2 crossings were made
from africa to the caribean. T. americana is not related to any of the other
Island species and does not seem to have crossed from the aforemention
islands to cuba.
This info is from
Carranza, S., Arnold, E. Nicholas; Mateo, J. A. and L. F. López-Jurado 2000
Long-distance colonization and radiation in gekkonid lizards, Tarentola
(Reptilia: Gekkonidae), revealed by mitochondrial DNA sequences.
Proc. R. Soc. London B 267: 637-649
--Daniel
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