Sphaerodactylus macrolepis GÜNTHER, 1859
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Sphaerodactylus macrolepis
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| Higher Taxa | Sphaerodactylidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Big-scaled Dwarf Gecko, Big-scaled Least Gecko, “Cotton ginner” spanius: Common Gecko Spanish: Salamanquita común (spanius) |
| Synonym | Sphaerodactylus macrolepis GÜNTHER 1859: 215 Sphaerodactylus imbricatus FISCHER 1881: 234 Sphaerodactylus macrolepis — BOULENGER 1885: 226 Sphaerodactylus danforthi GRANT 1931 Sphaerodactylus danforthi — GRANT 1937: 520 Sphaerodactylus macrolepis — BURT & MYERS 1942 Sphaerodactylus macrolepis macrolepis — THOMAS & SCHWARTZ 1966: 224 Sphaerodactylus macrolepis — SCHWARTZ & HENDERSON 1991: 505 Sphaerodactylus macrolepis — KLUGE 1993 Sphaerodactylus macrolepis — RÖSLER 2000: 112 Sphaerodactylus macrolepis — DAZA et al. 2019 |
| Distribution | Puerto Rico (Isla Verde, Isla Pineros), Antilles, Congo Key, St. Croix, Water, St. Thomas, St. John, Tortola, Virgin Gorda Ensenada Sun Bay (=Ensenada Sombe), Isla Vieques, Anegada Island, Anguilla, Dog Island, Green, Culebra, Great Camanoe, Guana, Jost van Dyke, Necker macrolepis: islands east of Puerto Rico, US. and British Virgin Islands; Type locality: St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Syntypes: BMNH 1946.8.30.74-.75 Holotype: MCZ 34403 [danforthi] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: SVL Min/Max is 11.81/27.54 mm, dorsal scales without knob-like organs, dorsal body scales are small, and can be rounded or acute. Tail also has dorsal scales with the free edge rounded, and fourth toe with six to eight lamellae. This species has several distinctive coloration features, including males with marked reticulated head (marbled); males without dorsal lines or salt and pepper (this shared with S. inigoi and S. parvus); males with a blue head (background color, similar to the head in S. g. mimetes); males with reticular pattern on the gular area (also in S. g. mimetes and S. parvus); males with indistinct cephalic figure (or pattern); males and females with head pattern either black or dark brown; females with a fragmented head pattern; females with fainter reticulation on the throat especially next to the jaw; females with dorsal medial lines fused to form a blotch or imperfect line (also present in S. inigoi); scapular patch of males (when present) and females could be bicolor (brown and black) with brown anterior part of the scapular patch (the area anterior to the ocelli); scapular patch well defined with two anterior lateral projections or could be formed by two united circles (but not rectangular), pale or yellowish ocelli inside the scapular patch; females with anterolateral lines that contact the scapular patch; central parietal dot with two lateral lines that extend from the snout and meet posterior to the parietal dot; shortened snout (also seen in S. parvus, S. inigoi, and S. g. stibarus) (DAZA et al. 2019: 163). |
| Comment | Illustrations: Stejneger, 1904 (as S. grandisquamis); Schmidt, 1928; Grant, 1931; King, 1962; Thomas and Schwartz, 1966; Rivero, 1978; MacLean, 1982; Grobman, 1983. Subspecies: Most subspecies of (former) S. macrolepis have been moved to S. grandisquamis by Daza et al. 2019. Sphaerodactylus macrolepis parvus KING 1962 has been elevated to species status by POWELL & HENDERSON 2001. Habitat: terrestrial Ecology: The Dwarf Gecko Sphaerodactylus macrolepis from the Virgin Islands is the world's “densest” terrestrial vertebrate at a density of 21,367 per acre (52,800 per hectare) and a biomass of about 8.9 pounds per acre (10 kilograms per hectare), which is similar to that of the African elephant, Loxodonta africana (Bauer 2013). Distribution: Not in Costa Rica fide SAVAGE 2002 and SAVAGE & BOLANOS 2009. Not in Panama according to Köhler 2008, Jaramillo et al. 2010, Lotzkat 2015 (pers. comm., 23 Dec 2015). |
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