Publications by authors named "Awal Riyanto"

We describe a new species of Cyrtodactylus from the northern lowlands and foothills of mainland New Guinea. Cyrtodactylus mamberamo sp. nov.

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Bronchocela celebensis Gray, 1845 is one of the rarest species of the genus, known only from less than 20 museum specimens collected from northern Sulawesi. It is often confused with its similar congener, B. cristatella, which occurs widely throughout the Indonesian Archipelago and Peninsular Malaysia, except on the Sulawesi mainland.

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Divergence dating analyses in systematics provide a framework to develop and test biogeographic hypotheses regarding speciation. However, as molecular datasets grow from multilocus to genomic, sample sizes decrease due to computational burdens, and the testing of fine-scale biogeographic hypotheses becomes difficult. In this study, we use coalescent demographic models to investigate the diversification of poorly known rice paddy snakes from Southeast Asia (Homalopsidae: Hypsiscopus), which have conflicting dates of origin based on previous studies.

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The lowland region of Sumatra Barat has received little attention in previous biodiversity studies. Past studies have mainly focused on highland habitat and conservation areas. However, many populations of in the lowland habitats of Sumatra Barat were not correctly identified.

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Herein, we describe a new species of terrestrially-nesting fanged frog from Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. Though male nest attendance and terrestrial egg deposition is known in one other Sulawesi fanged frog (Limnonectes arathooni), the new species exhibits a derived reproductive mode unique to the Sulawesi assemblage; male frogs guard one or more clutches of eggs festooned to leaves or mossy boulders one to two meters above small slow-moving streams, trickles, or seeps. This island endemic has thus far been collected at three sites on Sulawesi: one in the Central Core of the island, and two on the Southwest Peninsula-south of the Tempe Depression (a major biogeographical boundary).

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Article Synopsis
  • - Natural history museums hold important specimens, samples, and data that help us understand the natural world.
  • - A recent commentary discusses the need for more compassionate collection methods for specimens in these museums.
  • - It raises the question of whether it's feasible to entirely stop the collection of whole animal specimens in the future.
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The Indonesian island of Sulawesi has a unique geology and geography, which have produced an astoundingly diverse and endemic flora and fauna and a fascinating biogeographic history. Much biodiversity research has focused on the regional endemism in the island's Central Core and on its four peninsulas, but the biodiversity of the island's many upland regions is still poorly understood for most taxa, including amphibians and reptiles. Here, we report the first of several planned full-mountain checklists from a series of herpetological surveys of Sulawesi's mountains conducted by our team.

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Bent-toed Geckos, genus Cyrtodactylus, are one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate groups, and their range extends from South Asia into Australo-Papua and adjacent Pacific islands. Given the generally high faunal endemism on Wallacean islands, it is rather paradoxical that the diversity in these geckos appears to be so low (21 species in Wallacea, 15 in the Philippines) compared with continental shelf assemblages (>300 species on Sunda + Sahul Shelves + adjacent islands). To determine whether this shortfall was real or an artifact of historical undersampling, we analyzed mitochondrial DNA sequences of hundreds of southern Wallacean samples (Lesser Sundas + southern Maluku).

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The biota of Sulawesi is noted for its high degree of endemism and for its substantial levels of in situ biological diversification. While the island's long period of isolation and dynamic tectonic history have been implicated as drivers of the regional diversification, this has rarely been tested in the context of an explicit geological framework. Here, we provide a tectonically informed biogeographical framework that we use to explore the diversification history of Sulawesi flying lizards (the Draco lineatus Group), a radiation that is endemic to Sulawesi and its surrounding islands.

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Although they are among the most abundant snakes on Earth, and are heavily exploited for their skins and meat, Asian bockadams (or "dog-faced water snakes", Cerberus schneiderii) have attracted relatively little study across their wide geographic range. Based on dissection of 3,382 snakes brought to processing facilities in and around the city of Cirebon in West Java, Indonesia, we document facets of the biology of these mangrove-dwelling aquatic homalopsids. Females attain larger body sizes than do males, and are heavier-bodied (due in part to greater fat reserves) but have shorter tails relative to snout-vent length.

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Bronchocela jubata Dumril and Bibron, 1837 is one of the commonest species of the genus, known mostly from Java Island and southern parts of Sumatra. It is rare in Bali and Borneo. The juveniles are often confused with its morphologically similar congener, B.

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Bronchocela hayeki (Mller, 1928) is one of the rarest species of the genus, known only from a handful of museum specimens from five locations in North Sumatra, and often confused with its similar congener, B. cristatella, which occurs widely throughout the Indonesian Archipelago and Peninsular Malaysia. Here, we examined the morphology of B.

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To reveal the diversity of Indonesian bent-toed geckos, we pay attention to Kalimantan (Borneo)an island which has received less attention than other Indonesian islands such as Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, and the Lesser Sunda archipelagos. About 30 years after Hikida (1990) described three new Cyrtodactylus from Borneo, four more species were described, namely C. limajalur and C.

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Article Synopsis
  • A new nematode species, Spinicauda ciremaiensis sp. nov., has been identified from the large intestine of the Gonocephalus kuhlii lizard in Gunung Ciremai National Park, West Java, Indonesia.
  • This species is similar to Spinicauda sumatrana but has some distinct differences, including longer spicula, smaller eggs, and weaker sclerotization of the gubernaculum.
  • Spinicauda ciremaiensis is unique for having a sclerotized accessory piece of the gubernaculum and a species key for identification is included.
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Biodiversity knowledge is widely heterogeneous across the Earth's biomes. Some areas, due to their remoteness and difficult access, present large taxonomic knowledge gaps. Mostly located in the tropics, these areas have frequently experienced a fast development of anthropogenic activities during the last decades and are therefore of high conservation concerns.

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The bent-toed geckos of the genus Cyrtodactylus are the most speciose land vertebrates of Southeast Asia (about 300 species so far) and new species continue to be recognized at a rapid rate. Within the last decade three new species were described from Java, Indonesia, C. semiadii, C.

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Article Synopsis
  • The New Guinean pythons in the Leiopython genus are collected for the international pet trade, with six species previously recognized but facing taxonomic debate.
  • Recent research, utilizing genetic and morphological analysis, suggests only two valid species: L. albertisii and L. fredparkeri, while the others are reclassified as synonyms.
  • The study emphasizes that misidentifying species can lead to misallocation of conservation resources and warns against revising species classifications without robust genetic data.
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We describe a new species of rock gecko of the genus Cnemaspis from Java, Indonesia, representing the first record of the genus for this Island. The new species was collected from the southern slopes of Gunung Muria, a dormant volcano in Central Java. The new species is easily distinguished from all congeners by having a maximum SVL of 58.

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Article Synopsis
  • Molecular data and integrative systematics are uncovering hidden diversity in various species, especially in remote areas like New Guinea.
  • Green pythons were studied using genetic analysis and morphology, confirming two distinct species north and south of New Guinea's central mountains, as well as three subspecies within the northern species.
  • The research also reveals new biogeographical zones and revises the taxonomy of green pythons, which is important for understanding Papuan biogeography and managing conservation efforts.
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Complex geological processes often drive biotic diversification on islands. The islands of Sumatra and Java have experienced dramatic historical changes, including isolation by marine incursions followed by periodic connectivity with the rest of Sundaland across highland connections. To determine how this geological history influenced island invasions, we investigated the colonization history and diversification of bent-toed geckos (genus Cyrtodactylus) on Sumatra and west Java.

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The recent description of Cyrtodactylus tahuna from Sangihe Island and descriptions of other new species from remote islands in the Indo-Australian Archipelago indicate the important role of oceanic dispersal and isolation in the evolution and diversification of the genus Cyrtodactylus. We provide another example involving Tanahjampea Island, a remote island 155 km south of the Southwestern Peninsula of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Here, we describe a new species on the basis of 11 specimens collected from that island.

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Cyrtodactylus tahuna sp. nov. is a new bent-toed gecko we describe herein based on three specimens from Sangihe, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, an island situated in the northern corner of the Wallacea biodiversity hotspot.

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We used Massively Parallel High-Throughput Sequencing to obtain genetic data from a 145-year old holotype specimen of the flying lizard, . Obtaining genetic data from this holotype was necessary to resolve an otherwise intractable taxonomic problem involving the status of this species relative to closely related sympatric species that cannot otherwise be distinguished from one another on the basis of museum specimens. Initial analyses suggested that the DNA present in the holotype sample was so degraded as to be unusable for sequencing.

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