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Sphaerodactylus lineolatus LICHTENSTEIN & MARTENS, 1856

IUCN Red List - Sphaerodactylus lineolatus - Least Concern, LC

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Higher TaxaSphaerodactylidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Panama Least Gecko 
SynonymSphaerodactylus lineolatus LICHTENSTEIN & VON MARTENS 1856
Sphaerodactylus casicolus COPE 1862: 499 (fide BARBOUR 1921)
Sphaerodactylus lineolatus — BOULENGER 1885: 221
Sphaerodactylus casicolus — BOULENGER 1885: 222
Sphaerodactylus lineolatus — BURT & MYERS 1942
Sphaerodactylus lineolatus — TAYLOR 1956: 40
Sphaerodactylus lineolatus — WERMUTH 1965: 169
Sphaerodactylus lineatus — RUIBAL 1968 (in error)
Sphaerodactylus lineolatus —HARRIS & KLUGE 1984: 9
Sphaerodactylus lineolatus — KLUGE 1993
Sphaerodactylus lineolatus — KÖHLER 2000: 51 
DistributionW Panama, NW Colombia

Type locality: Veragua, Panama.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesTypes: ZMB 417; (restricted by Dunn, 1940). Paralectotypes: ZMB 3 6 2 9 7 k . Collector:J. von Warszewicz. 
Diagnosis 
CommentDistribution: According to Villa et al. (1988), reports of lineolatus from Yucatán to Costa Rica are based on specimens of other species. See also Harris & Kluge (1984) for details. Stuart 1948, 1963 reported this species from Guatemala, Taylor 1956 reported it from Veracruz (Mexico).

Types: “Sphaerodactylus lineolatus was based on three syntypes ("stuck 3 7 , however, according to Gunther Peters (pers. comm.): "In the general catalogue of [ZMB] under the number 417, four specimens of S. lineolatus are noted by Lichtenstein. Three of them much later had been transferred by Wermuth to number 36297." We have identified three of the specimens as belonging to the same species, S. lineolatus, but the fourth, ZMB 36297a, appears to be of S. graptolaemus. [...] Stuart (1963:56) later called ZMB 417 the lectotype of S. lineolatus "fide H . Wermuth (in litt.)." Alternatively, Taylor (1956b:41) stated: "I designate this specimen redescribed by Bocourt as the type (lectotype) of the species [S. lineolatus]." Bocourt's (1873:46) specimen was said to have had lines on the head, which disappeared at the beginning of the sides, and a series of large scales below the tail, characters that correspond best to the exceptional specimen, ZMB 36279a, although it is now missing its tail. Our recognition of the species to which ZMB 36297a belongs is based principally on dorsal scale size--color pattern is obscure in all the specimens and one other specimen is missing its tail as well. Therefore, it is only by weak in- ference that we are able to assume which specimen is Taylor's "lectotype. [...] We conclude that Dunn (1940) effectively designated the lectotype of S. lineolatus of Lichtenstein and von Martens and that Taylor's (1956) subsequent designation of a lectotype was confusing because the identity of the specimen could only be surmised inferentially, but moreover was invalid because the designated specimen in our estima- tion is not a syntype.” [HARRIS & KLUGE 1984: 7-9] 
EtymologyNamed after Latin lineola, little line, thread + Latin -atus, having the nature of. [“...capite supra linea mediana et utrinque tribus lateralibus nigricantibus ornato...”]. 
References
  • 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
  • Burt, Charles E. & Myers, George S. 1942. Neotropical lizards in the collection of the Natural History Museum of Stanford University. Stanford University Press, 52 pp.
  • Carvajal-Cogollo, J.E.; L.E. Rojas-Murcia. & G. Cárdenas-Arévalo 2020. Reptiles del Caribe colombiano/ Reptiles of the Colombian Caribbean. Tunja: Editorial UPTC, 268 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
  • Duellman, W. E. 1963. Amphibians and reptiles of the rainforest of Southern El Peten, Guatemala. Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist. 15: 205-49. - get paper here
  • Dunn,E. R. 1940. Notes on some American lizards and snakes in the Museum at Goteborg. Herpetologica 1: 189-194 - get paper here
  • Flores, E E; Page, R; Aparicio, D & Bordones, E 2018. Erratum: Geographic Distribution: Sphaerodactylus lineolatus should have been Sphaerodactylus homolepsis. Herpetological Review 49 (2): 288 - get paper here
  • Flores, E.E., Page, R., Aparicio, D. & Bordones, E. 2018. Geographic Distribution: Sphaerodactylus lineolatus (Panama Least Gecko). Herpetological Review 49 (1): 74. - get paper here
  • Grant, C. 1959. Observations on Geckos Allied to Sphaerodactylus lineolatus Herpetologica 15 (4): 199-202. - get paper here
  • Harris D M; Kluge A G 1984. The Sphaerodactylus (Sauria: Gekkonidae) of Middle America. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology University of Michigan (No. 706): 1-59 - get paper here
  • Heyer, W. Ronald 1967. A herpetofaunal study of an ecological transect through the Cordillera de Tilarán, Costa Rica. Copeia 1967 (2): 259-271 - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 2000. Reptilien und Amphibien Mittelamerikas, Bd 1: Krokodile, Schildkröten, Echsen. Herpeton Verlag, Offenbach, 158 pp.
  • Köhler, G. 2008. Reptiles of Central America. 2nd Ed. Herpeton-Verlag, 400 pp.
  • Lichtenstein, H., and E. von Martens. 1856. Nomenclator reptilium et amphibiorum Musei Zoologici Berolinensis. Namenverzeichniss der in der zoologischen Sammlung der Königlichen Universität zu Berlin aufgestellten Arten von Reptilien und Amphibien nach ihren Ordnungen, Familien und Gattungen. Königliche Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin / Buchdruckerei der Königl. Akad. der Wiss., iv + 48 pp. - get paper here
  • Ortleb, Edward; Heatwole, Harold 1965. Comments on some Panamanian lizards with a key to the species from Barro Colorado Island, C.Z. and vicinity. Carib. J. Sci. 5 (3-4):141-147.
  • Páez, V.P. et al. 2002. Guía de campo de algunas especies de anfibios y reptiles de Antioquia. Universidad de Antioquia, - get paper here
  • Restrepo A, Molina-Zuluaga C, Hurtado JP, Marín CM, Daza JM 2017. Amphibians and reptiles from two localities in the northern Andes of Colombia. Check List 13 (4): 203-237 - get paper here
  • Ruibal R. 1968. The ultrastructure of the surface of lizard scales. Copeia 1968: 698 –703 - get paper here
  • Stuart, L. C. 1937. Some further notes on the amphibians and reptiles of the Peten Forest of Northern Guatemala. Copeia 1937 (1): 67-70 - get paper here
  • Stuart, L. C. 1948. The amphibians and reptiles of Alta Verapaz Guatamala. Miscellaneous Publications, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan 69: 1-109 - get paper here
  • Stuart, L.C. 1963. A checklist of the herpetofauna of Guatemala. Misc. Publ. Mus. Zool., Univ. Michigan (No. 122): 1-150 - get paper here
  • Taylor, E. H. 1956. A review of the lizards of Costa Rica. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 38 (part 1): 3-322 - get paper here
  • Taylor, Edward Harrison 1956. Sphaerodactylus lineolata (Reptilia: Lacertilia) in Mexico. Herpetologica 12 (4): 283-284 - get paper here
  • Villa, J., Wilson, L.D., Johnson, J.D. 1988. Middle American Herpetology - A Bibliographic Checklist. University of Missouri Press, 132 pp [review in Copeia 1989 (3): 802]
 
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