The ashy gecko (''Sphaerodactylus elegans'') is a species of gecko native to Cuba (including

Isla de la Juventud Isla de la Juventud (; en, Isle of Youth) is the second-largest Cuban island (after Cuba's mainland) and the seventh-largest island in the West Indies (after mainland Cuba itself, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and Andros Islan ...

) and

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

(Haiti, including Gonâve Island and Les Cayemites, and the Dominican Republic). It is a small species, dark in color with many white spots. It is also a good climber. Ashy geckos have been introduced to a few small islands in southernmost Florida, and have established populations there.

Taxonomy

There are two

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of ''S. elegans'': * ''Sphaerodactylus elegans elegans'' Macleay, 1834 — Cuba, introduced to small area of southernmost Florida * ''Sphaerodactylus elegans punctatissimus'' Duméril and

Bibron Gabriel Bibron (20 October 1805 – 27 March 1848) was a French zoologist and herpetologist. He was born in Paris. The son of an employee of the Museum national d'histoire naturelle, he had a good foundation in natural history and was hir ...

, 1836 —

(

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

and Dominican Republic), including some satellite islands ''S. elegans elegans'' is the subspecies native to Cuba including

, the archipelagos of

Canarreos Canarreos Archipelago () is an archipelago of Cuba. It is located south of the main island of Cuba, in the Caribbean Sea, at . It is bordered to the east by the Gulf of Cazones, to the north by the Gulf of Batabano and to the west by the Los Indi ...

and Jardines de la Reina, and throughout the length of the Sabana-Camagüey Archipelago.

Description

''S. elegans elegans'' is small. ''S. elegans elegans'' has granular scales. Its snout has a maximum length of 39 millimeters. Its colors range from a red tail to a blue tail, with a green midsection, and always with thin horizontal bands of black across its body. Its limbs are a variously colored and seem almost opaque in comparison to the rest of the body. There are no color differences between male and females in this subspecies. The other subspecies, ''S. elegans punctatissimus'', is more muted and earthy in tone, overall less vibrant, with more of a spotted pattern.

In Florida

The first observation of the species in Florida occurred in 1922 when it was introduced from somewhere in the West Indies excluding The Bahamas. Prior to 1930 species from the West Indies migrated to nearby islands through the means of cargo shipments. This mechanism is the most probable means of the immigration for ''S. elegans elegans'' to

Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe: * Monroe County, Alabama *Monroe County, Arkansas * Monroe County, Florida * Monroe County, Georgia *Monroe County, Illinois *Monroe County, Indian ...

, specifically the lower

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...

. The subspecies has not travelled far since 1922. Still found in the lower Keys, this species has had almost a century to migrate north but has been limited by geographic barriers. Although many of the lower Keys are connected by bridges used for vehicular traffic, and the Seven Mile Bridge connects

Big Pine Key Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * '' Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show * ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...

and Bahia Honda Key to Marathon Key, this is apparently not a viable route for this tiny, tropical species. ''S. elegans elegans'' is one of only twelve of over five hundred species of reptiles and amphibians from the West Indies to colonize south Florida. The proximity of the origin of the species is an important factor in its immigration to the lower Keys.

References

{{taxonbar, from=Q146437 Sphaerodactylus

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 ...

Reptiles of Cuba Reptiles of Haiti Reptiles of the Dominican Republic Fauna of Hispaniola Reptiles described in 1834 Taxa named by William Sharp Macleay