Masanao Honda

Fuzziness of nonverbal courtship communication unblurred by motion energy detection

A new method for the assessment of qualitative description of nonverbal behavior (automatic movie analysis) is introduced. This model-free method does not use any assumptions on the structure and organization of nonverbal behavior. Cross-cultural comparison (Germany, Japan) of unobtrusively filmed initial interactions between 2 opposite-sex strangers revealed no consistent courtship repertoire of directly observable behavior categories. Furthermore, an extensive analysis of gaze behavior and speech revealed differences between the countries but also showed no consistent relation to interest. Motion energy detection demonstrated in both cultures that female movement quality score (number of movements, duration, size, speed, and complexity) covaries with female interest. This effect is in concordance with the theory that in early stages of interactions manipulative efforts occur in order to avoid possible deception in high-risk situations.

Phylogenetic relationships of the family Agamidae (Reptilia : Iguania) inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences

Abstract Phylogenetic relationships of the family Agamidae were inferred from 860 base positions of a mitochondrial DNA sequence of 12S and 16S rRNA genes. Results confirmed the monophyly of this family including Leiolepis and Uromastyx (Leiolepidinae), and indicated the sister relationship between Agamidae and Chamaeleonidae. Our results also indicated the presence of two major clades in Agamidae. In one of these major clades, “Leiolepidinae” was first diverged, followed by the Lophognathus and Hypsilurus in order, leaving Physignathus, Chlamydosaurus and Pogona as monophyletic. This result contradicts the currently prevailing hypothesis for the agamid phylogeny, which, on the basis of morphological data, assumes the primary dichotomy between Leiolepidinae and the remainder (Agaminae). The phylogenetic diversity of agamid lizards in the Australian region is supposed to have increased through an in situ continental radiation rather than through multiple colonizations from Southeast Asia. Distributions of some species in Asia and Melanesia are attributed to the secondary dispersals subsequent to this radiation.

Phylogenetic Relationships of the Asian Box Turtles of the Genus Cuora sensu lato (Reptilia: Bataguridae) Inferred from Mitochondrial DNA Sequences

Abstract Phylogenetic relationships of the genus Cuora sensu lato (Cuora sensu stricto and Cistoclemmys) and other testudinoid genera were inferred from variations in 882 base positions of mitochondrial 12S and 16S rRNA genes. Results yielded a robust support to the monophyly of a group (Cuora group) consisting of Cuora sensu lato and the monotypic Pyxidea. Within the Cuora group, the continental Cuora (sensu stricto) and the two subspecies of Ci. flavomarginata constituted two well-supported monophyletic groups. Distinctly small interspecific genetic distances in the former groups suggested that in the continent speciations in Cuora took place much later than the primary divergences in the Cuora group, or speciations in other related genera, such as Mauremys. Our analyses failed to provide a substantial support to the monophyly of any other combinations of taxa within the Cuora group, including Cuora in broad and strict senses, and Cistoclemmys as consisting of Ci. galbinifrons and Ci. flavomarginata. Besides these, our results also suggested the non-monophyly for the Batagurinae and the Geoemydinae, and sister relationships of the Bataguridae with Testudinidae rather than with the Emydidae.

Extreme endemic radiation of the Malagasy vangas (Aves: Passeriformes).

Abstract. Phylogenetic relationships of the family Vangidae and representatives of several other passeriform families were inferred from 882 base positions of mitochondrial DNA sequences of 12S and 16S rRNA genes. Results indicated the monophyly of the Vangidae, which includes the genus Tylas, hitherto often placed in the family Pycnonotidae. Our results also revealed the Malagasy endemic Newtonia, a genus never previously assigned to the Vangidae, to be a member of this family. These results suggest the occurrence of an extensive in situ radiation of this family within Madagascar, and that the extant high diversity of this family is not the result of multiple colonizations from outside. The extremely high morphological and ecological diversification of the family seems to have been enhanced through the use and ultimate occupancy of vacant niches in this island.

Phylogenetic Relationships of the Flying Lizards, Genus Draco (Reptilia, Agamidae)

Abstract Phylogenetic relationships among 12 species of the genus Draco were inferred from 779 base pairs of mitochondrial 12S and 16S rRNA genes and allozymes for 20 presumptive loci. Results indicated the presence of at least four distinct lineages within the genus. The first lineage consists of D. volans and D. cornutus, whereas the second only of D. lineatus, which exhibits a great genetic divergence between two subspecies. The third is monotypic with D. dussumieri, the only species distributed in southern India. The fourth included all the remaining species. The third and fourth lineages are supposed to exclusively share a common ancestor. It is likely that the common ancestor of whole Draco originally diverged into three groups, the ancestors of the first, second, and third and fourth lineages, by vicariance. In the fourth lineage, D. blanfordii, D. haematopogon, D. melanopogon, D. obscurus and D. taeniopterus are likely to be exclusively close to each other. The resultant phylogenetic tree contradicts the dichotomous relationships previously hypothesized on the basis of morphological characters.

Phylogenetic Relationships of Eublepharid Geckos (Reptilia: Squamata): A Molecular Approach

Abstract Phylogenetic analyses were carried out for representatives of all eublepharid genera and a few other gekkonoid taxa using sequence data for 879 base pairs of mitochondrial 12S and 16S ribosomal RNA genes. Neighbor-joining (NJ) distance analysis of the data suggested independent great divergences of Coleonyx and Aeluroscalabotes, and monophyly of the remainder within Eublepharidae (bootstrap proportion [BP]=76%). Of the latter, the two African genera, Hemitheconyx and Holodactylus, were almost certainly monophyletic altogether (BP=99%), whereas their sister-group relationship with Eublepharis received a weaker, but still substantial support (BP=68%). Within Goniurosaurus kuroiwae, G. k. splendens first diverged from the remainder (BP=100%), followed by G. k. kuroiwae from the northern part of Okinawajima (BP=100%): G. k. kuroiwae from the southern part of Okinawajima and G. k. orientalis, differing from each other at only seven bases, diverged finally (BP=99%). Parsimony analysis yielded results consistent with those of NJ analysis with respect to the monophyly of the two African genera and relationships within G. kuroiwae, but retained the other relationships within Eublepharidae unresolved. Our results, while showing no serious discrepancies with the relationships among eublepharid genera hypothesized from morphological data, cast a serious doubt to the currently accepted population systematics within G. kuroiwae. Furthermore, results of both analyses suggested a closer affinity of Diplodactylinae (as represented by Rhacodactylus trachyrhynchus) with Eublepharidae, rather than with Gekkoninae. Our study lends a robust support to the Laurasian origin of the family Eublepharidae.

Evolution of Asian and African Lygosomine Skinks of the Mabuya Group (Reptilia: Scincidae): A Molecular Perspective

Abstract Phylogenetic relationships among Asian and African lygosomine skinks of the Mabuya group were inferred from 825 base pairs of DNA sequences of mitochondrial 12S and 16S rRNA genes. Results indicated the presence of two distinct lineages within this group, of which one consisted of Lamprolepis and Lygosoma, and the other of Apterygodon, Dasia, and Asian and African Mabuya. Within the latter, African species of Mabuya first diverged from the remainder, leaving the Asian congeners together with the Apterygodon–Dasia clade. Our results, while suggesting the non-monophyly of the genus Mabuya, do not support the currently prevailing phylogeographical hypothesis which assumes the independent origins of Lamprolepis and Lygosoma from the Asian Mabuya-like stock. On the other hand, our results suggest that morphological and karyological similarities between the Apterygodon–Dasia clade and Lamprolepis are attributable to symplesiomorphy, while their ecological similarity to convergence. Morphological and karyological character states unique to Apterygodon are supposed to have evolved from those exhibited by Dasia.

Phylogeny and biogeography of water skinks of the genus Tropidophorus (Reptilia: Scincidae): a molecular approach

Phylogenetic relationships of the Oriental semiaquatic lygosomine skinks of the genus Tropidophorus were inferred from 1219 base positions of mitochondrial 12S and 16S rRNA genes. Results of the phylogenetic analyses incorporating data for representatives of other lygosomine genera indicated that the basal phylogenetic split within Tropidophorus separated a clade of continental Indochinese species exclusive of T. cocincinensis and T. microlepis from one comprising T. cocincinensis, T. microlepis and species from Borneo, Sulawesi and the Philippines. Of the latter group, the two continental species form the sister taxon to a clade comprising the island species. Diversification among species in Indochina and among Borneo, the Philippines and Sulawesi was likely concentrated in the Miocene, with no apparent dispersal among these regions during the Pleistocene. The body depression recognized in several Indochinese species is likely to have occurred twice in parallel as an adaptation to saxicolous habitats.

Molecular Phylogeography of the Endemic Five-lined Skink ( Plestiodon marginatus ) (Reptilia: Scincidae) of the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan, with Special Reference to the Relationship of a Northern Tokara Population

ABSTRACT Phylogenetic relationships were inferred for populations of the Ryukyu five-lined skink Plestiodon marginatus, a species showing an extraordinary distribution across the Tokara Tectonic Strait. Phylogenetic analyses of 809 base positions of the mitochondrial 12S and 16S rRNA genes supported collective divergence of the southern Tokara and northern Amami populations, which have been classified as P. m. oshimensis. A population from Nakanoshima, an island of the Tokara Group north of the Tokara Tectonic Strait, has the closest affinity with the Okinawajima population of P. m. marginatus rather than with the geographically closer southern Tokara and northern Amami populations. This result is concordant with that of a recent allozyme study and suggests an origin of the Nakanoshima population through long-distance dispersal from the Okinawa Island Group. Also, our results strongly suggest a closer relationship of a population of P. m. oshimensis from Okinoerabujima, a southern island of the Amami Group, with P. m. marginatus from Okinawajima than with the “consubspecific” southern Tokara and northern Amami populations. Both Nakanoshima and Okinoerabujima populations are usually referred to as P. m. oshimensis, and therefore our results indicate nonmonophyly of P. m. oshimensis in the current taxonomic arrangement.

A new species of the worm-like lizard, Dibamus Duméril & Bibron 1839 (Squamata Dibamidae), from Vietnam

A new dibamid lizard, Dibamus kondaoensis, is described from Kondao Island, Vietnam. This species most closely resembles D. deharvengi Ineich 1999 in having an incomplete median rostral suture and a complete nasal suture. However, D. kondaoensis differs from D. deharvengi in having a complete labial suture, and larger numbers of postoculars, scales bordering the posterior edge of the first infralabial, midbody scale rows and presacral vertebrae. The biogeographical and conservation implications of the present findings are briefly discussed, and a revised key to the species of Dibamidae is provided.