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Aristelliger lar COPE, 1862

IUCN Red List - Aristelliger lar - Near Threatened, NT
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Higher TaxaSphaerodactylidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Hispaniolan Giant Croaking Gecko, Spotted Caribbean Gecko 
SynonymAristelliger lar COPE 1862: 497
Aristelliger lar — BOULENGER 1885: 147
Aristelliger lar — COCHRAN 1941
Aristelliger titan HECHT 1951 (fide ESTES 1983)
Aristelliger lar — SCHWARTZ & HENDERSON 1991: 363
Aristelliger lar — RÖSLER 2000: 60
Aristelliger lar — RÖSLER 2018: 71 
DistributionHaiti, Hispaniola (Jeremi)

Type locality: Near Jérémie, Département de la Grand' Anse, Haiti.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: MCZ 3607 (in catalogue as 25425) 
DiagnosisDescription (genus): he following combination of characters (among others) are present in Aristelliger: 1) small granular scales on most of the body surface; 2) fragile skin; 3) a supraciliar scale modified as a tiny spine; 4) all digits clawed; 5) subdigital lamellae undivided; 6) “friction pads” (sensu Cochran, 1933) on three fingers and two outer toes, or only in one digit of each extremity, depending on the species group; 7) eyes with vertical pupil; 8) one egg per clutch; 9) presence of hemipenial bones (Kluge, 1982); 10) presence of parafrontal bones (Bauer and Rusell, 1989; Gamble et al., 2008); and 11) croaking calls [from DIAZ & HEDGES 2009]. 
CommentIllustrations: see Hassler, 1930; Cochran, 1941; Hecht, 1951.

Type species: Aristelliger lar is the type species of the genus Aristelliger COPE 1861.

Diet: see DeBoer et al. 2018. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin “lar”, a Roman household deity. The name may refer to the finding of the original specimen in a house. 
References
  • Bauer, A. M. and A. P. Russell 1993. Aristelliger lar. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (570) - get paper here
  • Bauer, A.M. and A.P. Russell 1993. Aristelliger. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (565): 1-4 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. Geckonidae, Eublepharidae, Uroplatidae, Pygopodidae, Agamidae. London: 450 pp. - get paper here
  • Cochran, D.M. 1941. The herpetology of Hispaniola. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 177: vii + 398 pp. - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1862. On the genera Panolopus, Centropyx, Aristelliger and Sphaerodactylus. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 13: 494-500. [1861] - get paper here
  • DeBoer JC, Griffing AH, Iyengar VK, Bauer AM. 2018. New dietary records for croaking lizards of the genus Aristelliger (Reptilia: Sphaerodactylidae). Caribbean Herpetology, 62, 1-8 (5 September 2018). DOI: 10.31611/ch.62 - get paper here
  • DÍAZ, LUIS M. & S. BLAIR HEDGES 2009. First record of the genus Aristelliger (Squamata: Sphaerodactylidae) in Cuba, with the description of a new species. Zootaxa 2028: 31-40 - get paper here
  • Estes, R. 1983. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie, Teil 10A, Sauria terrestria, Amphisbaenia. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart.
  • Griffing, Aaron H., Alberto L. Lòpez-Torres, Miguel A. Landestoy, Juan D. Daza and Aaron M. Bauer 2016. Aristelliger lar (Spotted Caribbean Gecko) Communal retreat behavior. Herpetological Review 47 (2): 293-294 - get paper here
  • Hassler, W.G. 1930. Digging for lizard nests. Nat. Hist. 30:409-20.
  • Hecht, M.K. 1951. Fossil lizards of the West Indian genus Aristelliger (Gekkonidae). American Museum Novitates (1538): 1-33 - get paper here
  • Keating, S. E., Griffing, A. H., Nielsen, S. V., Scantlebury, D. P., & Gamble, T. 2020. Conserved ZZ/ZW sex chromosomes in Caribbean croaking geckos (Aristelliger: Sphaerodactylidae). Journal of Evolutionary Biology - get paper here
  • Powell, R. & Parmerlee, J.S. Jr. 1992. In the spotlight: Aristelliger lar COPE 1862. Dactylus 1 (3): 37-38
  • Rösler, H. 2000. Kommentierte Liste der rezent, subrezent und fossil bekannten Geckotaxa (Reptilia: Gekkonomorpha). Gekkota 2: 28-153
  • Rösler, H. 2018. Haftbar -- Die einzigartige Welt der Geckos. Begleitheft zur Ausstellung im Naturkundemuseum Erfurt Mai-Aug 2018, 96 pp.
  • Rösler, Herbert 2017. Gecko-Chorologie (Squamata: Gekkota). Gekkota (4): 1-160
  • Russell, A.P., Garner, A.M. 2023. Solutions to a Sticky Problem: Convergence of the Adhesive Systems of Geckos and Anoles (Reptilia: Squamata). In: Bels, V.L., Russell, A.P. (eds) Convergent Evolution. Fascinating Life Sciences. Springer, Cham - get paper here
  • Schwartz, A. & Henderson, R.W. 1991. Amphibians and Reptiles of the West Indies. University of Florida Press, Gainesville, 720 pp.
 
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