Matoatoa brevipes (MOCQUARD, 1900)
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Matoatoa brevipes
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Phyllodactylus brevipes MOCQUARD 1900: 346 Phyllodactylus porphyreus brevipes — KLUGE 1993 Phyllodactylus brevipes — GLAW & VENCES 1994: 264 Matoatoa brevipes — NUSSBAUM, RAXWORTHY & PRONK 1998: 2 Matoatoa brevipes — HEINICKE et al. 2014 |
| Distribution | Madagascar (Toliara) Type locality: Ambolisatra, Madagascar [probably today’s Ambolisaka, 10 km SE of Morombe, Toliara Province]. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: MNHN-RA 1899.0341 (specimen damaged by fire) |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus): Phyllodactyle gekkonines that have second ceratobranchials; fused nasals bones; pre cloacal pores in males; rugose or ornamented snout bones (premaxillae, maxillae, nasals, prefrontals, anterior frontal) strongly adhering to overlying skin; smooth postorbital skull bones not strongly adherent to overlying skin; homogeneous, flattened, smooth body scales arranged in parallel transverse rings; nonimbricate ventral scales; adhesive tail tip in which scansorial scales are not differentiated into distinct ventral pad, but rather consist of pilose scales of-normal size and shape that nearly or completely encircle tail tip. Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 2030 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Synonym: Listed as synonym of Phyllodactylus porphyreus porphyreus by WERMUTH 1965 (who cites ANGEL 1942 and GUIBÉ 1956 as sources). Type Species: Phyllodactylus brevipes MOCQUARD 1900 is the type species of the genus Matoatoa NUSSBAUM, RAXWORTHY & PRONK 1998. Habitat: dry, open, spiny forests, generally on sandy coastal soils. Also in more mesic, denser forests near boies of water. Often found inside hollow, dead branches of standing trees. Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. |
| Etymology | Named after Latin “brevis, -e” = short and “pes, pedis” = foot. The genus was named after the Malagasy word “matoatoa” meaning ghost, in reference to the elusive, mysterious, and secretive nature of the two species. |
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