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Tarentola gigas (BOCAGE, 1875)

IUCN Red List - Tarentola gigas - Endangered, EN

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Higher TaxaPhyllodactylidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos)
SubspeciesTarentola gigas brancoensis SCHLEICH 1984
Tarentola gigas gigas BOCAGE 1875 
Common Names 
SynonymAscalabotes gigas BOCAGE 1875
Platydactylus gigas — ROCHEBRUNE 1884
Tarentola gigas — BOULENGER 1885: 200
Tarentola gigas — BOCAGE 1896
Tarentola giganteu — SCHERER 1907
Tarentola gigas — ANGEL 1937
Tarentola delalandii gigas — LOVERIDGE 1947
Tarentola delalandii gigas — MERTENS 1955: 7
Tarentola delalandii gigas — SCHLEICH 1979
Tarentola delalandii gigas — SCHLEICH 1980
Tarentola "delalandii" gigas — SCHLEICH 1982
Tarentola delalandii gigas — GRUBER & SCHLEICH 1982
Tarentola delalandii gigas — BAEZ & SANCHEZ-PINTO 1983
Tarentola delalandii gigas — SCHLEICH & WUTTKE 1983
Tarentola gigas — SCHLEICH 1984
Tarentola borneensis gigas — JOGER 1984: 100
Tarentola borneensis — JOGER 1993
Tarentola gigas — KLUGE 1993
Tarentola borneensis gigas — JOGER 1993
Tarentola (Makariogecko) gigas — CARRANZA et al. 2000
Tarentola borneensis GRAY 1845
Tarentola gigas — VASCONCELOS et al. 2012: 350

Tarentola gigas brancoensis SCHLEICH 1984
Ascalabotes gigas — BOCAGE 1875
Platydactylus gigas — ROCHEBRUNE 1884
Tarentola gigas — BOULENGER 1885
Tarentola giganteu — SCHERER 1907
Tarentola gigas — ANGEL 1937 (part.)
Tarentola delalandii gigas — LOVERIDGE 1947 (non BOCAGE 1875) (part.)
Tarentola delalandii gigas — MERTENS 1955
Tarentola delalandii gigas — SCHLEICH 1980
Tarentola "delalandii" gigas — SCHLEICH 1982 (part.)
Tarentola gigas brancoensis — SCHLEICH 1984
Tarentola borneensis borneensis — JOGER 1984
Tarentola gigas brancoensis — SCHLEICH 1987: 49
Tarentola borneensis borneensis — JOGER 1993
Tarentola (Makariogecko) gigas brancoensis — CARRANZA et al. 2000
Tarentola (Makariogecko) gigas brancoensis — RÖSLER 2000: 116
Tarentola gigas brancoensis — VASCONCELOS et al. 2012: 351

Tarentola gigas gigas (BOCAGE 1875)
Ascalabotes gigas BOCAGE 1875
Platydactylus gigas — ROCHEBRUNE 1884
Tarentola gigas — BOULENGER 1885
Tarentola gigas — BOCAGE 1896
Tarentola giganteu — SCHERER 1907
Tarentola gigas — ANGEL 1937
Tarentola delalandii gigas — LOVERIDGE 1947
Tarentola delalandii gigas — MERTENS 1955
Tarentola gigas gigas — SCHLEICH 1984
Tarentola borneensis gigas — JOGER 1984
Tarentola borneensis gigas — JOGER 1993
Tarentola (Makariogecko) gigas gigas — CARRANZA et al. 2000
Tarentola gigas gigas — VASCONCELOS et al. 2012 
DistributionCape Verde Islands (Razo, Branco)

brancoensis: Branco (Cape Verde Islands); Type locality: Branco (Cape Verde Islands)

gigas: Raso, São Nicolau (Cape Verde Islands); Type locality: Raso (Cape Verde Islands)  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: ZMB 8998
Holotype: ZSM 362/1978/1 (given as ZSM 362/78.1 in the original description) [brancoensis] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Giant gecko with SVL above 100mm [maximum SVL 155 mm (Bocage, 1896), 103.6 mm on average; (Schleich, 1987)]; eye/ear opening ratio 1.5– 2.0 (Schleich, 1987); ear–eye/eye–snout distance ratio slightly ????1 (Schleich, 1984, 1987). Eight to 12 supralabials and seven to nine infralabials (Schleich, 1984); eight to 12 enlarged lamellae under the 4th finger; 160–195 midbody scales (Joger, 1984b); flatter apical dorsal tubercles (Fig. 5D1) with 16 transverse rows (Schleich, 1984); several enlarged tubercles between the eye and the ear opening. Grey dorsal or olive greyish pattern with a broad, light well-defined middorsal line with generally five large saddle-like marks (Figs 6D1, 7D1); cream ventral parts, yellow on the lower parts; big dark spots on the labials, creating an alternating light and dark pattern; eye iris dark grey with a typical vertical light area around the pupil, joining the upper and lower parts of the eye which are also light.
It differs from other Tarentola from the same clade D, T. ‘rudis’ from Santiago, Fogo, Brava, Rombos, and Maio, besides from its size, by the absence of a keel on dorsal tubercles. Unlike all other Cape Verdean Tarentola, strong vocalisations play a clear role in social behaviour (Schleich, 1982b, 1987). This species avoids vertical surfaces presumably due to its weight, and presents a robust body with typical extreme fat storage (Schleich, 1987).


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CommentSynonymy after Filipe Sousa (pers. comm.). See also comment on T. rudis. 
EtymologyNamed after the giant “Gigas” in Greek mythology, the child of Uranus and Gaea. The name is applied to taxa that are giants oftheir kind. 
References
  • Bocage, J. V. Barboza du. 1875. Sur deux reptiles nouveaux de l’Archipel du Cap-Vert. Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes, Lisboa, 5:108—112 - 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
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Note on Tarentola americana. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6)12: 204 - get paper here
  • Bretzel, Joachim 2018. Die Kapverden – ein herpetologischer Reisebericht. Terraria-Elaphe 2018 (6): 48-58 - get paper here
  • Carranza, S., Arnold, E. Nicholas; Mateo, J. A. and L. F. López-Jurado 2000. Long-distance colonization and radiation in gekkonid lizards, Tarentola (Reptilia: Gekkonidae), revealed by mitochondrial DNA sequences. Proc. R. Soc. London B 267: 637-649 - get paper here
  • Gray, J. E. 1845. Catalogue of the specimens of lizards in the collection of the British Museum. Trustees of die British Museum/Edward Newman, London: xxvii + 289 pp. - get paper here
  • Jesus, J.; Brehm, A. & Harris, D.J. 2002. Relationships of Tarentola (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) from the Cape Verde Islands estimated from DNA sequence data. Amphibia-Reptilia 23 (1): 47-54 - get paper here
  • Joger U 1993. On two collections of reptiles and amphibians from the Cape Verde Islands, with descriptions of three new taxa. COURIER FORSCHUNGSINSTITUT SENCKENBERG 159: 437-444
  • Joger, U. 1984. Die Radiation der Gattung Tarentola in Makaronesien. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 71: 91-111
  • Loveridge, A. 1947. Revision of the African lizards of the family Gekkondiae. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 98: 1-469 - get paper here
  • Mertens, R. 1955. Die Eidechsen der Kapverden. Soc. Sci. fenn. Comment. biol. 15: 1-16
  • MUSSELECK, J. 2013. Über das Öffnen von Geckoeiern, mit Anmerkungen zum Aufbau der Eischale. Sauria 35 (3): 49-54 - get paper here
  • Rösler, H. 2000. Kommentierte Liste der rezent, subrezent und fossil bekannten Geckotaxa (Reptilia: Gekkonomorpha). Gekkota 2: 28-153
  • Schleich H H 1984. Die Geckos der Gattung Tarentola der Kapverden (Reptilia: Sauria: Gekkonidae). COURIER FORSCHUNGSINSTITUT SENCKENBERG 68: 95-106
  • Schleich H H 1988. Ascalabotes gigas BOCAGE 1875 (currently Tarentola gigas); proposed conservation of the specific name, by suppression of the senior synonym Tarentola borneensis GRAY 1845. Bull. Zool. Nomenclature 45 - get paper here
  • Schleich, H.H. 1987. Herpetofauna caboverdiana. Spixiana Suppl. (12) 75 pp. - get paper here
  • Vasconcelos, R., A. Perera, P. Geniez, D. J. Harris, and S. Carranza. 2012. An integrative taxonomic revision of the Tarentola geckos (Squamata, Phyllodactylidae) of the Cape Verde Islands. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 164 (2): 328-360 - get paper here
 
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