First record and origin of the non-native Peking gecko Gekko swinhonis Günther, 1864 (Squamata: Gekkonidae), newly discovered in Incheon Metropolitan City, South Korea

초록

Listing alien species is becoming more important due to the global spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, chytrid fungus, and ranavirus. We determined the identity and origin of newly discovered geckos (hereafter, Incheon gecko) near Incheon Port, South Korea, in September 2021, through morphological and genetic studies. The number of interorbitals of the Incheon geckos overlapped only with those of Gekko swinhonis, among four closely allied species. In addition, the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1, 658 bp) sequence of Incheon geckos had a close genetic p-distance (0.00-5.47%) with that of G. swinhonis in China. Furthermore, Incheon geckos shared major mitochondrial cytochrome b (Cytb, 1,140 bp) haplotypes with G. swinhonis samples collected in coastal cities along the Bohai Bay in northeast China, including Huludao, Shedao, Laiyang, and Tianjin, where regular car-ferry routes connect them to Incheon. These results suggest that the geckos, newly discovered in Incheon, South Korea, are G. swinhonis and were recently introduced from China via ocean cargo, showing a clear case of human-mediated introduction of non-native geckos.

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