Chatogekko amazonicus (ANDERSSON, 1918)
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Chatogekko amazonicus?
Chatogekko amazonicus
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| Higher Taxa | Sphaerodactylidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | Portuguese: Lagartixa, Lagartixinha |
| Synonym | Sphaerodactylus amazonicus ANDERSSON 1918: 1 Coleodactylus amazonicus — VANZOLINI 1957: 6 Coleodactylus guimaraesi VANZOLINI 1957: 8 Coleodactylus zernyi WETTSTEIN 1928: 110 Coleodactylus amazonicus — RÖSLER 1995: 165 Coleodactylus guimaraesi — RÖSLER 2000 Coleodactylus amazonicus — AVILA-PIRES & HOOGMOED 2000: 222 Coleodactylus amazonicus — PIANKA & VITT 2003: 110 Chatogekko amazonicus — GAMBLE et al. 2011 Chatogekko amazonicus — RÖSLER 2015 Chatogeckko amazonicus — VAZ-SILVA et al. 2015 (in error) |
| Distribution | Brazil (Roraima, Amazonas, Amapa, Para, Rondonia, Acre), S Venezuela, S Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname, Bolivia ? Type locality: Roraima, Amazonas, Manaos, Lago Poraquecuare, Brazil. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: NRM 3254 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus): Diagnosis and description: A miniaturized species complex of diurnal sphaerodactyl geckos. Mean SVL 21 ± 1.8 mm, N = 41. Snout shortened. Pupil round. Body cylindrical. Dorsal scales keeled. Claws enclosed in ungual sheath consisting of four scales. Posterior edge of premaxilla contacts medial process of frontal bone. Posterior edge of ascending nasal process bifurcated. Palatine longer than vomer. Postparietal process of parietal in contact with supraoccipital and otooccipital, but not squamosal. Reduced paroccipital process located dorsally to fenestra ovalis. Chatogekko is distinguished from all gekkotans by the following unique combination of characters: (1) between two and four loreal scales (ls, Fig. 4A, also present in some Sphaerodactylus); (2) claws enclosed in an ungual sheath consisting of four scales (Parker, 1926; Vanzolini, 1957; Avila-Pires, 1995): inner supero-lateral (isl, Fig. 4B), outer supero-lateral (osl, Fig. 4B), inner infero-lateral (iil, Fig. 4C), and outer infero-lateral (oil, Fig. 4C) (ventrolaterals sensu Kluge, 1995); (3, Fig. 4D) keeled scales on dorsal body surface (Vanzolini, 1957; Avila-Pires, 1995), also present in some Sphaerodactylus; (4, Fig. 5A) bony external nares large and entering or approaching contact between prefrontal and nasals (as a consequence of extensive overlapping contact of maxilla and prefrontal); (5, Fig. 5A) posterior edge of premaxilla (i.e. the ascending nasal process) contacts medial process of frontal bone (Daza et al., 2008); (6, Fig. 5A) posterior edge of ascending nasal process bifurcated; (7, Fig. 5A) internasal contact absent; (8, Fig. 5A) jugal bone vestigial and limited to tip of maxilla; (9, Fig. 5A) postparietal process of parietal contacting supraoccipital and otooccipital, but not squamosal; (10, Fig. 5A) paroccipital process of otooccipital not visible in dorsal view; (11, Fig.5B) paroccipital process very reduced and located dorsally to fenestra ovalis (instead of posterior as in other gekkotans) and not participating in quadrate articulation (paroccipital abutting); (12, Fig. 5B) palatine exceeds vomer substantially in length; (13, Fig. 10) duplicipalatinate condition; (14) a 3-bp deletion in coding region of exon 8 (in Gallus) of RBMX; and (15) a 3-bp deletion in coding region of exon 13 (in Gallus) of PTPN12 [from GAMBLE et al. 2011]. Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 40 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Type species: Sphaerodactylus amazonicus ANDERSSON 1918 is the type species of the genus Chatogekko GAMBLE et al. 2011. Synonymy: GAMBLE et al. also discussed the possibility that Coleodactylus guimaraesi VANZOLINI 1957 and Coleodactylus zernyi WETTSTEIN 1928 are valid species of Chatogekko and represent opulations from the southwestern and eastern Amazon, respectively. Distribution: Presence in Bolivia unclear (Tiffany Doan, pers. comm.). Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. |
| Etymology | Named after the type locality. The genus was named after Spanish/Portuguese chato, flat + Malay gekoq, vernacular name of a lizard. ["...A composite word from the Spanish and Portuguese ‘Chato’, derived from the Greek ‘Platus’, meaning ‘flat’ and referring to its pug-nosed snout; and gekko from the Malay ‘gekoq’, onomatopoeic of the call of the species Gekko gecko and the common name to all limbed gekkotans..."]. |
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