Tarentola crombiei DIAZ & HEDGES, 2008
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Tarentola crombiei
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| Higher Taxa | Phyllodactylidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Oriente Tuberculate Gecko |
| Synonym | Tarentola crombiei DIAZ & HEDGES 2008 |
| Distribution | E Cuba Type locality: La Mesa de Leo Prada (20°05′11′′N, 074°20′42’’W), a marine terrace at the W side of the mouth of Río Jauco, Maisí, Guantánamo. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: MNHNCu 4624, an adult male, collected by Luis M. Díaz on August 4 of 2005. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Tarentola crombiei has a small adult size: maximum SVL= 57.8 mm versus 120 mm in T. americana americana, and 92 mm in T. a. warreni (Schwartz, 1968). It has inconspicuous transverse folds among rows of enlarged tubercles (as usually present in T. americana); a tendency towards a lower number of dorsal tubercles in the axilla-groin distance despite a slight overlap (15–19, versus 18–25 in T. americana); lower number of ventral scales (35–45 versus 47–62 in T. americana) in the same distance; dorsal tubercles giving place to ventral scales without a definite zone of transitional scales (as present in T. a. americana); tendency for a lower number of subdigital lamellae in the fourth toe with only a slight overlap (10–14, versus 14– 21 in T. a. americana); lower number of subdigital lamellae in the first toe (8–12, versus 13–18 in T. a. americana); fourth toe dorsal scales arranged in 5–9 transverse rows (10–13 in T. a. americana) (see Fig. 2 for pattern comparisons); the toe marginal scales (dorsal view) are not conspicuously different from the submarginal scales (they are distinctive in T. americana) (Fig. 2); one egg per clutch (two eggs adhered to each other in T. a. americana); eggs fusiform shaped and usually not attached to the substrate (rounded, variably depressed in T. a. americana, and commonly attached to different surfaces). Regarding coloration, adult individuals of T. crombiei and young T. a. americana of similar size are easily separated because the later generally has better defined body bands than the former. The new species shares with T. a. warreni the condition of dorsal tuber- cles transitioning to ventral scales without a conspicuous zone of granules; however, the Bahamian subspecies, beside been larger in size, differs from T. crombiei by having a higher number of dorsal tubercles and ventral scales in the axilla-groin distance (which are within the referred range of variation of T. a. americana). At the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, the new species differs from T. americana by 22% sequence divergence (Weiss and Hedges, 2007). |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | The species name is a patronym for Ronald I. Crombie in recognition of his contributions to West Indian herpetology and for his early recognition of this distinct species. |
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