New Records of Lepidodactylus lugubris (Duméril and Bibron, 1836) (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Thailand and a Brief Revision of Its Clonal Composition in Southeast Asia

Singapore's herpetofauna: updated and annotated checklist, history, conservation, and distribution

Given Singapore's location at the confluence of important maritime trading routes, and that it was established as a British East India Company trading post in 1819, it is unsurprising that Singapore has become one of the centres of natural history collecting and research in Southeast Asia. Despite its small size, Singapore is home to a diverse herpetofauna assemblage and boasts a rich herpetological history. The first systematic studies of Singapore's herpetofauna (within the Linnaean binomial framework) date back to Stamford Raffles and the naturalists hired by him who first came to the island in 1819. Specimens that were collected during and after this time were deposited in museums worldwide. Over time, 39 species from Singapore were described as new to science. Due to the entrepôt nature of Singapore with its associated purchasing and trading of specimens (both alive and dead), poor record-keeping, and human introductions, numerous extraneous species from outside of Singapore were reported to occur on the island. Such issues have left a complicated legacy of ambiguous records and taxonomic complications concerning the identity of Singapore's species-rich herpetofauna, many of which were only resolved in the past 30-40 years. By compiling a comprehensive collection of records and publications relating to the herpetofauna of Singapore, we construct an updated and more accurate listing of the herpetofauna of Singapore. Our investigation culminated in the evaluation of 309 species, in which we compiled a final species checklist recognising 166 species (149 native and 17 non-native established species). Among the 149 native species are two caecilians, 24 frogs, one crocodilian, 13 turtles (three visitors), 34 lizards, and 75 snakes. Of the 17 non-native species are five frogs, four turtles, six lizards, and two snakes. The remaining 143 species represent species to be excluded from Singapore's herpetofauna species checklist. For each of the 309 species examined, we provide species accounts and explanatory annotations. Furthermore, we discuss Singapore's herpetofauna from a historical and conservation perspective. Immediate deforestation and nationwide urbanisation following colonisation completely eliminated many species from throughout much of the country and restricted them to small, degraded forest patches. We hope this publication highlights the importance of publishing observations and serves as a valuable resource to future researchers, naturalists, biological consultants, and policy makers in initiating studies on species ecology, distribution, status, and promoting conservation efforts to safeguard Singapore's herpetofauna.

First record of Lepidodactylus lugubris (Duméril & Bibron, 1836) (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Hainan Island, China

Lepidodactylus lugubris is known from tropical Asia, Oceania, and Latin America, but in China it was previously known only from Taiwan Island. In this paper, we report a new herpetofaunal record based on one specimen collected from Wanning, Hainan, China, which conforms to L. lugubris on both morphological and molecular data. Our finding brings the total species of the family Gekkonidae in Hainan to six.

"Flora of Russia" on iNaturalist: a dataset

Background

The "Flora of Russia" project on iNaturalist brought together professional scientists and amateur naturalists from all over the country. Over 10,000 people were involved in the data collection.

New information

Within 20 months, the participants accumulated 750,143 photo observations of 6,857 species of the Russian flora. This constitutes the largest dataset of open spatial data on the country’s biodiversity and a leading source of data on the current state of the national flora. About 87% of all project data, i.e. 652,285 observations, are available under free licences (CC0, CC-BY, CC-BY-NC) and can be freely used in scientific, educational and environmental activities.

Continuous expansion of the geographic range linked to realized niche expansion in the invasive Mourning gecko Lepidodactylus lugubris (Duméril & Bibron, 1836)

Lepidodactylus lugubris is a parthenogenetic gecko which has been increasingly expanding its range during the last century. This invasive species has been reported from multiple tropical and subtropical countries in five continents, most of which were colonized in recent times. In order to understand how the realized niche of the species was affected by this dramatic geographic range expansion, we reconstructed the history of the geographic range expansion. We built models of the realized niche of the species at different points in time during the invasion process. This was achieved through the implementation of modern hypervolume construction methods, based on the Hutchinson's niche concept. The models were then compared to detect possible realized climatic niche expansion over time. Furthermore, we investigated possible pathways used by the species to spread. A progressive expansion of the realized niche was identified. As the species spread into new areas, we observed a tendency to colonize regions with warmer temperatures and higher precipitation rates. Finally, we found evidence for cargo shipping being the major pathway through which the species expands its range. Further studies on this topic should aim to investigate the role of biological interactions, and how they shape the distribution of L. lugubris on a global scale. A deeper understanding of this kind of processes will help us tackle the issue of invasive species, which has become a major challenge in conservation biology.

A check list and population trends of invasive amphibians and reptiles in Taiwan

Invasive species have impacted biodiversity all around the world. Among various ecosystems, islands are most vulnerable to these impacts due to their high ratio of endemism, highly specialized adaptation, and isolated and unique fauna. As with other subtropical islands, Taiwan faces constant risk of biological invasions and is currently ranked as one of the countries most affected by invasive amphibians and reptiles. In this paper, a comprehensive checklist of all known exotic amphibians and reptiles is provided, including twelve species which have successfully colonized Taiwan and six species with a controversial status. We provide an update on the knowledge of all these species including their distribution, colonization history, threats to native animals, and population trends based on literature records, fauna surveys, and data collected during invasive species eradication and control programs. A list of species with high invasive potentials is also provided. This study reports, for the first time, a comprehensive survey of invasive herpetofauna in Taiwan, which should provide a valuable reference to other regions which might suffer from similar invasion risk.