The demise of a wonder: evolutionary history and conservation assessments of the Wonder Gecko Teratoscincus keyserlingii (Gekkota, Sphaerodactylidae) in Arabia

Effective biodiversity conservation planning starts with the genetic characterization within and among focal populations, in order to understand the likely impact of threats for ensuring the long-term viability of the species. The Wonder Gecko, Teratoscincus keyserlingii, is one of nine members of the genus. The species is distributed in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, with a small isolated population in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where it is classified nationally as Critically Endangered. Within its Arabian range, anthropogenic activity is directly linked to the species’ decline, highly localized and severely fragmented populations. Here we describe the evolutionary history of Teratoscincus, by reconstructing its phylogenetic relationships and estimating its divergence times and ancestral biogeography. For conservation implications of T. keyserlingii we evaluate the genetic structure of the Arabian population using genomic data. The presentstudy supports the monophyly of most spec...