The meridian gecko (''Coleodactylus meridionalis'') is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...
in the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
Sphaerodactylidae. The species is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
.
Geographic range
''C. meridionalis'' has been recorded from the Brazilian states of
Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...
,
Ceará
Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...
,
Pará,
Paraíba
Paraíba ( Tupi: ''pa'ra a'íba''; ) is a state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba ...
,
Pernambuco, and
Sergipe.
Description
''C. meridionalis'' may attain a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of . The pupil of the eye is round.
[
]
Behavior
''C. meridionalis'' is diurnal.[
]
Reproduction
''C. meridionalis'' is oviparous
Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...
.[
]
As prey
''C. meridionalis'' is preyed
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill t ...
upon by the spider ''Parabatinga brevipes
''Parabatinga'' is a monotypic genus of South American wandering spiders containing the single species, ''Parabatinga brevipes''. It was first described by D. Polotow & Antônio Brescovit in a 2009 revision of ''Isoctenus'', naming ''Ctenus ...
''.[Almeida, Rony Peterson Santos; do Rosário, Igor Rios; Dias, Eduardo José dos Reis (2015). "''Coleodactylus meridionalis''. Predation". ''Herpetological Review'' 46 (3): 432-433.]
References
Further reading
* Boulenger GA (1888). "On some Reptiles and Batrachians from Iguarasse, Pernambuco". ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Eighth Series'' 2: 40–43. (''Sphaerodactylus meridionalis'', new species, pp. 40–41).
* Parker HM (1926). "The Neotropical Lizards of the Genera ''Lepidoblepharis, Pseudogonatodes, Lanthrogecko'', and ''Sphaerodactylus'', with the Description of a new Genus". ''Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ninth Series'' 17: 291–301. (''Coleodactylus meridionalis'', new combination, p. 300).
Coleodactylus
Reptiles described in 1888
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