Tarentola nicolauensis SCHLEICH, 1984
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Tarentola nicolauensis
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| Higher Taxa | Phyllodactylidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: San Nicolau Wall Gecko |
| Synonym | Tarentola caboverdianus nicolauensis SCHLEICH 1984 Tarentola delalandii — BOCAGE 1902: 209 (part.) Tarentola delalandii delalandii — BOULENGER 1906: 200 (part.) Tarentola delalandii var. rudis — LOVERIDGE 1947: 334 (part.) Tarentola delalandii rudis — MERTENS 1954: 6 (part.) Tarentola caboverdiana nicolauensis — JOGER 1984: 104 Tarentola caboverdiana nicolauensis — SCHLEICH 1987: 43 Tarentola caboverdiana nicolauensis — JOGER 1993 Tarentola (Makariogecko) caboverdiana nicolauensis — CARRANZA et al. 2000 Tarentola caboverdiana nicolauensis — KÖHLER et al. 2007 Tarentola nicolauensis — VASCONCELOS et al. 2012: 349 |
| Distribution | S. Nicolau, São Vicente (Cape Verde Islands) Type locality: S. Nicolau (Cape Verde Islands) |
| Reproduction | oviparous (manual and phylogenetic imputation, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Holotype: ZSM 141/1981/2 (given as ZSM 03.141/81) |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Medium-sized gecko (maximum SVL 71.0 mm, 58.6 mm on average; Appendix 2); eye/ear opening ratio averages 1.53; ear–eye/eye–snout distance ratio averages 0.79. Nine to 12 supralabials; eight to ten infralabials; eight to 11 enlarged lamellae under the 4th finger; 133–155 midbody scales (Joger, 1984b); oblong asymmetrical angled dorsal tubercles (Fig. 5C) with 18–26 midbody longitudinal lines and 14–18 transverse rows (Schleich, 1987); no enlarged tubercles between the eye and the ear opening. Dorsal pattern greyish, presenting five clear symmetrical butterfly- or X-shaped dark dorsal crossbands often lined with whitish tubercles posteriorly (Figs 6C, 7C); white to yellowish light ventral parts; uniformly white labials; dark eye iris with golden upperparts. It differs from T. boavistensis, T. bocagei, T. fogoensis, and T. darwini, species from clade A, by butterfly- or X-shaped dorsal pattern and from all the species from clade D, and T.boavistensis by not having enlarged tubercles between the eye and ear opening. It differs from T. caboverdiana and T. substituta by a higher number of lamellae under the fourth and fifth toe (Joger, 1984b) and also from T. bocagei by generally presenting oblong apical tubercles (Schleich, 1987; this study). Finally, it differs from T. raziana by having a more massive head and a higher number of crossbands (generally five) on the dorsum. MORPHOBANK M45653–M45992 [VASCONCELOS et al. 2012]. |
| Comment | Synonymy after Filipe Sousa (pers. comm.) and VASCONCELOS et al. 2012. |
| Etymology | named after the type locality. |
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