Sphaerodactylus guanajae MCCRANIE & HEDGES, 2012
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Sphaerodactylus guanajae
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| Higher Taxa | Sphaerodactylidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Guanaja Head-spotted Geckolet |
| Synonym | Sphaerodactylus guanajae MCCRANIE & HEDGES 2012 Sphaerodactylus continentalis — MEYER & WILSON 1973:12 (part) Sphaerodactylus continentalis — WILSON & HAHN 1973:105 (part) Sphaerodactylus millepunctatus — HARRIS & KLUGE 1984:17 (part) Sphaerodactylus millepunctatus — MCCRANIE et al. 2005:80 (part) Sphaerodactylus millepunctatus — MCCRANIE et al. 2006:110 (part) |
| Distribution | Honduras (Isla de Guanaja, Islas de la Bahía) Type locality: East End, 16.486°, -85.832°, Isla de Guanaja, Islas de la Bahía, Honduras, elevation ca. 0 m (near sea level). |
| Reproduction | oviparous (manual and phylogenetic imputation, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Holotype: USNM 580000, an adult male, collected 16 November 2011 by James R. McCranie. Paratypes (6). USNM 579994–95, 579996 (genetic sample 1, JX073112, JX073123), 579997 (genetic sample 2, JX073113, JX073124), 579998–99, same data as holotype, except 16–17 November 2011; all adult females except USNM 579997 is a juvenile. Appendix II lists additional specimens of this new species. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Sphaerodactylus guanajae can be distinguished from S. millepunctatus (sensu stricto), the species it was previously identified as, and from S. continentalis, herein removed from the synonymy of S. millepunctatus, in having a short pale longitudinal line located above each pelvic area that curves inward posteriorly to almost always connect with its counterpart on the other side, dark dorsal spots on the body occupying single scales, and dark lines on the head and body indistinct (versus short pale pelvic line absent, dark dorsal spots on body occupying more than one scale, and dark lines usually distinct on posterior portion of head and anterior portion of body in S. millepunctatus and S. continentalis). Sphaerodactylus guanajae also differs from S. continentalis and S. millepunctatus in having fewer subdigital lamellae on the fourth digit of the hind limb (8–9, x = 8.6 ± 0.5 on 12 sides in S. guanajae versus 9–12, x = 10.0 ± 0.8 on 40 sides in S. continentalis and 9–12, x = 9.7 ± 0.8 on 30 sides in S. millepunctatus). Sphaerodactylus guanajae differs from S. leonardovaldesi in having fewer subdigital lamellae under the fourth toes and fourth fingers (8–9, x = 8.6 ± 0.5 and 7–8, x = 7.6 ± 0.5 on 12 sides, respectively, and 31–34, x = 32.3 ± 1.5 combined subdigital lamellae on fourth digits in S. guanajae versus 9–12, x = 10.2 ± 0.8 and 8–10, x = 9.0 ± 0.4 on 26 sides, respectively, and 36–42, x = 38.5 ± 1.6 combined subdigital lamellae on fourth digits in S. leonardovaldesi) and in usually having the pelvic lines dorsally crossing the base of the tail to connect (in 5 of the 6 adults [narrowly separated in one adult] and in the juvenile) with their counterparts on the other side (versus pelvic stripes widely separated from their counterparts on other side in S. leonardovaldesi). Sphaerodactylus guanajae occurs sympatrically with one other species of Sphaerodactylus, S. rosaurae Parker, but is most easily distinguished from that species in having all dorsal body scales of a similar size (versus middorsal row of granular scales that are sharply and distinctly differentiated from the much larger surrounding dorsal scales in S. rosaurae). Sphaerodactylus guanajae also differs from S. continentalis, S. leonardovaldesi, and S. millepunctatus in an amount of cytochrome b DNA sequence divergence (6.8–10.1 %; Fig. 1) comparable to that seen among other species of lizards (Johns & Avise 1998; Hedges & Conn 2012). |
| Comment | Synonymy after MCCRANIE & HEDGES 2012. Abundance: only known from its original description (Meiri et al. 2017). |
| Etymology | The specific name guanajae is formed from Guanaja and the Latin suffix –ae (used herein as a derivation), and alludes to this species occurring on Isla de Guanaja. The name is a feminine genitive singular noun. |
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