Data from: Morphological differentiation correlates with ecological but not genetic divergence in a Gehyra gecko.

Body size affects life history, the ecological niche of an organism and its interactions with other organisms. Resultantly, marked differences in body size between related organisms are often an indication of a species boundary. This is particularly evident in the Gehyra variegata species complex of geckos, which displays differential body sizes between genetically divergent species, but high levels of intra-specific morphological conservatism. We report on a Gehyra population that displays extraordinary body size differentiation in comparison with other G. variegata species. We used morphological and environmental data to show this population is phenotypically and ecologically distinct from its parapatric congener G. lazelli and that morphology and ecology are significantly correlated. Contrastingly, mtDNA analysis indicates paraphyly between the two groups and allele frequencies at six microsatellite loci show no population structure concordant with morpho/eco-type. These results suggest either ecological speciation or environmentally induced phenotypic polymorphism, in an otherwise morphologically conservative group.

体型大小会影响生物的生活史、生态位及其与其他生物的相互作用。因此，近缘生物间显著的体型差异通常可作为物种边界的判定依据。这一点在斑叶趾虎（Gehyra variegata）物种复合体中体现得尤为典型：该复合体中遗传分化的物种间存在体型差异，但种内形态保守性极高。本研究报道了一个与其他斑叶趾虎物种相比，体型分化极为显著的斑叶趾虎种群。我们通过形态学与环境数据证实，该种群在表型与生态层面均与其邻近同属物种拉氏趾虎（G. lazelli）存在显著差异，且形态特征与生态特征间存在显著相关性。与之相反，线粒体DNA（mtDNA）分析显示两个类群间存在并系关系，且6个微卫星位点的等位基因频率并未呈现出与形态/生态类型相符的种群结构。上述结果表明，在这个整体形态保守的类群中，要么存在生态物种形成过程，要么出现了环境诱导的表型多态性。