Baur's leaf-toed gecko (''Phyllodactylus baurii'') 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 ...
Phyllodactylidae
The Phyllodactylidae are a family of geckos (Gekkota) consisting of over 150 species in 10 genera, distributed throughout the New World, North Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The family was first delineated based on a molecular phylogenetic ...
. 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 the
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands (Spanish: , , ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands. They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, and are part of the Republic of Ecuador ...
.
Etymology
The
specific name, ''baurii'', is in honor of German herpetologist
Georg Baur
Georg Baur (1859–1898) was a German vertebrate paleontologist and Neo-Lamarckian who studied reptiles of the Galapagos Islands, particularly the Galápagos tortoises, in the 1890s. He is perhaps best known for his subsidence theory of the o ...
.
[ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Phyllodactylus baurii'', p. 19).]
Geographic range
''P. baurii'' is found on
Charles Island
Charles Island is a 14-acre (57,000 m2) island located roughly 0.5 mile (1 km) off the coast of Milford, Connecticut, in Long Island Sound centered at .
Charles Island is accessible from shore via a tombolo (locally referred to as a san ...
, including its islets Champion and Enderby, and on
Hood Island.
[
]
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 ''P. baurii'' is shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...
.
Description
''P. baurii'' may attain a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of about . Dorsally
Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...
, it is brownish gray, with dark brown markings. Ventrally, it is yellowish white, with minute dark brown dots.[ Vandenburgh (1912).]
Reproduction
''P. baurii'' 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 ...
.[ Average egg size is .][
]
References
Further reading
* Garman S (1892). "The Reptiles of the Galapagos Islands. From the Collection of Dr. Geo. Baur". ''Bulletin of the Essex Institute'' 24: 73–87. (''Phyllodactylus baurii'', new species, pp. 82–83).
* Rösler H (2000). "''Kommentierte Liste der rezent, subrezent und fossil bekannten Geckotaxa (Reptilia: Gekkonomorpha)''". ''Gekkota'' 2: 28–153. (''Phyllodactylus baurii'', p. 103). (in German).
* Torres-Carvajal O, Rodríguez-Guerra A, Chaves JA (2016). "Present diversity of Galápagos leaf-toed geckos (Phyllodactylidae: ''Phyllodactylus'') stems from three independent colonization events". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 103: 1–5.
* Van Denburgh J (1912). "Expedition of the California Academy of Sciences to the Galapagos Islands, 1905–1906. VI. The Geckos of the Galapagos Archipelago". ''Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Fourth Series'' 1: 405–430. (''Phyllodactylus baurii'', pp. 426–430).
Phyllodactylus
Endemic reptiles of the Galápagos Islands
Reptiles of Ecuador
Reptiles described in 1892
Taxa named by Samuel Garman
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