Higher Taxa | Sphaerodactylidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
Subspecies | |
Common Names | E: Leeward Banded Geckolet, Island Least Gecko |
Synonym | Lacerta sputator SPARRMAN 1784: 164 Lacerta sputator — MEYER 1795: 30 Sphaeriodactylus sputator — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1836: 402 Sphaerodactylus sputator — BOULENGER 1885: 219 Sphaerodactylus pictus GARMAN 1887 Sphaerodactylus sputator — SCHWARTZ & HENDERSON 1991: 537 Sphaerodactylus sputator — KLUGE 1993 Sphaerodactylus sputator — RÖSLER 2000: 114 Sphaerodactylus sputator — POWELL & BAUER 2012 |
Distribution | Antilles, Statia, Dog, St. Martin, St. Barts, St. Kitts, Nevis, Haiti (Departm. de l'Artibonite), Sombrero Island, Anguilla Bank (Dog, Little Scrub, Scrub, St. Barthelemy, St. Martin, Ile Fourchue, Îlet Pinel), St. Eustatius, St. Christopher
Type locality: St. Eustatius.
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Reproduction | oviparous |
Types | Lectotype: NRM (NHRM) 2669. |
Diagnosis | Description: Size moderate (SVL to 35 mm in males, to 39 mm in females); dorsals keeled, slightly imbricate, axilla to groin 31-39; ventrals cycloid, smooth, axilla to groin 27-34; middorsal area of granular scales; dorsal caudal scales weakly keeled, imbricate, ventral caudal scales cycloid, imbricate, enlarged midventrally; snout scales flat, smooth, juxtaposed; 2 postnasals; 1-2 (mode 2) internasals; upper labials to mideye 3-4 (mode 3); gular scales smooth; midbody scales 49-62; escutcheon 3-6 x 26-30 (Schwartz & Henderson 1991: 537).
Sexual dichromatism: absent.
Coloration: dorsal ground color pale tan (St. Martin), sandy buffy (St. Martin), purplish tan (St. Barthelemy; St. Eustatius), or pale pink (Anguilla); pattern of 5-8 brown-edged, dull white, cream, or buffy crossbands between head and groin; crossbands continue onto tail, but ill-defined and obscure; entire animal may have slight greenish cast; yellow canthal line; throat pale yellow; ventral ground color pearly (St. Martin), creamy white (Anguilla), pinkish (St. Eustatius); tail pale yellow to orangish (St. Martin; St.Barthelemy); iris bronze (St. Martin; St. Barthelemy), golden (Anguilla), golden orange (St. Eustatius) (Schwartz & Henderson 1991: 537).
Diagnosis: Sphaerodactylus sputator may be distinguished from other Lesser Antillean congeners by having a middorsal area composed of granules that lack knob-like scale organs and have only hair-bearing scale organs (King 1962) and in having smooth gular and ventral scales (Schwartz and Henderson 1985, Powell & Bauer 2012). |
Comment | For illustrations see Barbour, 1921 (as S. pictus); King, 1960; King, 1962.
Type species: Lacerta sputator SPARRMAN 1784: 164 is the type species of the genus Sphaerodactylus WAGLER 1830: 143.
Type genus: Sphaerodactylus is the type genus of the family Sphaerodactylidae.
The family Sphaerodactylidae has changed in composition. Vanzolini 1968 assigned 5 genera to the family (Gonatodes, Lepidoblepharis, Pseudogonatodes, Coleodactylus, and Sphaerodactylus) while it now (2018) has 12.
Extinct species: Sphaerodactylus dommeli Böhme 1984 has been described from amber, found in the Dominican Rebuplic.
Distribution: For maps of South American species see Vanzolini 1968: 94 (Map 5).
Reproduction: for a collection of data on reproductive details in Sphaerodactylidae see Rösler 2022. |
References |
- Barbour, T. 1921. Sphaerodactylus. Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool. (Harvard) 47: 215-282. - get paper here
- Barbour, Thomas 1923. West Indian investigations of 1922. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan (132): 1-9 - get paper here
- 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
- Duméril, A.M. C. and G. Bibron. 1836. Erpetologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete des Reptiles. Vol. 3. Libr. Encyclopédique Roret, Paris, 528 pp. - get paper here
- Garman, S. 1887. On West Indian Geckonidae and Anguide. Bull. Essex Inst. 19: 17-24. - get paper here
- Howard, K. G., J. S. Parmerlee. Jr and R. Powell. 2001. Natural History of the edificarian geckos Hemidactylus mabouia, Thecadactylus rapicauda, and Sphaerodactylus sputator on Anguilla. Carib. J. Sci. 37 (3-4): 285-288
- Kaup, B. 2012. Farbenfrohe Winzlinge – Kugelfingergeckos im heimischen Wohnzimmer. Reptilia (Münster) 17 (97): 39-45 - get paper here
- King, F.W. 1960. The status of Sphaerodactylus pictus, with comments on the distribution of S. sputator and S. sabanus. Breviora (132):1-5. - get paper here
- King, W. 1962. Systematics of Lesser Antillean lizards of the genus Sphaerodactylus. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences, 7:1-52 - get paper here
- Malhotra, A. & Thorpe, R.S. 1999. Reptiles & Amphibians of the Eastern Caribbean. MacMillan, London & Oxford
- Meyer, F.A.A. 1795. Synopsis Reptilium, novam ipsorum sistens generum methodum, nec non Gottingensium huius ordinis animalium enumerationem. Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, Göttingen, 32 pp [for current names see Rösler & Böhme 2021] - get paper here
- Powell, Robert and Aaron M. Bauer. 2012. Sphaerodactylus sputator. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (897): 1-7 - get paper here
- Questel K. 2012. Sphaerodactylus sputator (Leeward Banded Sphaero). Distribution. Caribbean Herpetology 34: 1 - get paper here
- Questel K. 2018. Discovery of geckos, Sphaerodactylus macrolepis Günther and Sphaerodactylus sputator Sparrman, on Prickly Pear Cays, Anguilla, British West Indies. Caribbean Herpetology 61, 1-2 (4 September 2018) - get paper here
- Rösler, H. 2000. Kommentierte Liste der rezent, subrezent und fossil bekannten Geckotaxa (Reptilia: Gekkonomorpha). Gekkota 2: 28-153
- Rösler, Herbert 2022. Akzente der Fortpflanzungsbiologie oviparer Geckos (Squamata: Gekkota) - Charakter, Evolution, Phylogenie. Vernate 41/2022: 91-212
- Rösler, Herbert & Wolfgang Böhme 2021. Das Leben von Friedrich Albrecht Anton Meyer (1768 – 1795) und die Herpetologie in seinen Schriften, unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der „Synopsis Reptilium“. Sekretär 21: 83-129
- Schwartz, A. & Henderson, R.W. 1991. Amphibians and Reptiles of the West Indies. University of Florida Press, Gainesville, 720 pp.
- Schwartz, Albert 1973. Sphaerodactylus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (142): 1-2 - get paper here
- Sparrman, A. 1784. Lacerta Sputator und Lacerta bimaculata, zwey neue Eideren aus Amerika, beschrieben von ANDERS SPARRMAN. [in German] Der Königlich-Schwedischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Neue Abhandlungen, aus der Naturlehre Haushaltungskunst und Mechanik, für das Jahr 1784, 3(1): 166-168 - get paper here
- Vanzolini, P.E. 1968. Geography of South American Gekkonidae (Sauria). Arquivos de Zoologia (Sao Paulo) 17(2): 85-112. - get paper here
- Wissmann, S.M.; R.L. Hensley, R. Powell & J.S. Parmerlee Jr. 2005. Social behavior in the dwarf geckos Sphaerodactylus sabanus and S. sputator from St. Eustatius, Netherlands Antilles. Salamandra 41 (1-2): 45-50 - get paper here
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