Kluge's dwarf gecko (''Lygodactylus klugei'') 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
gecko
Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from .
Geckos ar ...
, a
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 ...
Gekkonidae
Gekkonidae (the common geckos) is the largest family of geckos, containing over 950 described species in 64 genera. Members of the Gekkonidae comprise many of the most widespread gecko species, including house geckos (''Hemidactylus''), tokay ge ...
. The species is native to northeastern
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 ...
.
Etymology
The
specific name, ''klugei'', is in honor of American herpetologist
Arnold G. Kluge
Arnold G. Kluge (born 1935) is professor emeritus of zoology and curator emeritus of amphibians and reptiles at the University of Michigan, Museum of Zoology. Kluge authored over 140 journal articles. He served as past president of the Willi Henn ...
.
Geographic range
''L. klugei'' is found in 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 ...
,
Piauí
Piaui (, ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP.
Piaui has the shortest coastline of any coastal Brazilian state at 66&n ...
, and
Rio Grande do Norte
Rio Grande do Norte (, , ) is one of the states of Brazil. It is located in the northeastern region of the country, forming the northeasternmost tip of the South American continent. The name literally translates as "Great Northern River", ref ...
.
Habitat
The preferred natural
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
of ''L. klugei'' is
savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
.
[
]
Diet
''L. klugei'' mainly preys
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 th ...
upon insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...
s and spider
Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...
s, but it also eats nectar
Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...
.[Aximov, Izar; Felix, Edesio (2017). "''Lygodactylus klugei'' (Kluge's Dwarf Gecko). Diet". ''Herpetological Review'' 48 (2): 439.]
Reproduction
''L. klugei'' 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 ...
.[
]
References
Further reading
*Bons, Jacques; Pasteur, Georges (1977). "''Solution histologique à un problème de taxinomie herpétologique interessant les rapports paléobiologiques de l'Amerique du Sud e de l'Afrique'' ". ''C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris'' 284 (D): 2547–2550. (''Lygodactylus klugei'', new combination). (in French).
* Lanna FM, Gehara M, Werneck FP, Fonseca EM, Colli GR, Sites JW, Rodrigues MT, Garda AA (2019). "Dwarf geckos and giant rivers: the role of the São Francisco River in the evolution of ''Lygodactylus klugei'' (Squamata: Gekkonidae) in the semi-arid Caatinga of north-eastern Brazil". ''Biological Journal of the Linnean Society'' 129 (1): 88–98.
* Rösler H (2000). "''Kommentierte Liste der rezent, subrezent und fossil bekannten Geckotaxa (Reptilia: Gekkonomorpha)''". ''Gekkota'' 2: 28–153. (''Vanzoi klugei'', p. 120). (in German).
* Smith, Hobart M.; Martin, Robert L.; Swain, Tom A. (1977). "A new genus and two new species of South American geckos (Reptilia: Lacertilia)". ''Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia, Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo'' 30: 195–213. (''Vanzoia klugei'', new species, p. 196).
Lygodactylus
Endemic reptiles of Brazil
Reptiles of Brazil
Reptiles described in 1977
Taxa named by Hobart Muir Smith
{{Lygodactylus-stub