Sphaerodactylus parvus KING, 1962
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Sphaerodactylus parvus
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| Higher Taxa | Sphaerodactylidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Anguilla Bank Geckolet |
| Synonym | Sphaerodactylus macrolepis parvus KING 1962: 16 Sphaerodactylus macrolepis parvus — WERMUTH 1965: 169 Sphaerodactylus macrolepis parvus — THOMAS & SCHWARTZ 1966: 230 Sphaerodactylus macrolepis parvus — SCHWARTZ & HENDERSON 1988 Sphaerodactylus macrolepis parvus — SCHWARTZ & HENDERSON 1991 Sphaerodactylus parvus — POWELL & HENDERSON 2001 Sphaerodactylus parvus — DAZA et al. 2019 |
| Distribution | Anguilla, St.-Barthélémy, St.-Martin, Tintamarre I., Dog. I., St. Barts. Type locality: Wayne King, St.-Martin Island, 2.5 miles west and .25 miles north of Philipsburg. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: UF/FSM 10034.1, adult male (Florida State Museum of Natural History) |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: This species was originally described as a subspecies of S. macrolepis by King (1962) and was elevated by Powell & Henderson (2001) who differentiated this species on the basis of 1) dorsal scales with hair bearing scale organs, with only one hair each along the dorso-distal edge; 2) maximum SVL size of 24 mm (18–24 mm, x̅ = 21.7); 3) having a higher mean number of midbody scale rows (48.4 ± 1.5); and 4) weak sexual dichroma- tism nor ontogenetic variation (King 1962; Thomas & Schwartz 1966). Nava et al. (2002) described six additional differences with other members of the S. macrolepis species complex: 5) less bulky habitus; 6) ventral scales keeled on the sides of abdomen of some specimens (King 1962); 7) less densely pigmented throat; 8) less conspicuous head patterns; 9) smaller scapular patch on females; and 10) ten toe lamellae on the fourth toe (9–11; King 1962). Our work shows that only characters 2, 3, 4, and 9 are actually diagnostic (Appendix 2). SVL Min/Max is 12.17/26.39 mm. Additional diagnostic traits for S. parvus include a scapular patch that can be brown and black (also present in S. macrolepis); males and females with no well-defined occipital spots and postorbital line; pale or yellowish ocelli from the scapular patch very close or united; males and females with no well-defined head patterns; males and females without dorsal lines, color pattern more ‘salt and pepper’. Females seem to have a more defined gular pattern than males (Daza et al. 2019: 162). |
| Comment | Sphaerodactylus parvus differs from most populations of S. macrolepis in having only hairbearing organs on the dorsal scales, in being much smaller, and in having a higher mean number of midbody scale rows (the range of the latter does not overlap with those known for five of the nine subspecies of S. macrolepis; see Table 1 in POWELL & HENDERSON 2001). Differences in pattern also exist, but “the lack of marked sexual dichromatism in parvus is of itself definitive” (Thomas and Schwartz, 1966). |
| Etymology | Named after Latin “parvus, -a, -um” = small. |
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