Sphaerodactylus fantasticus subspecies distribution

The fantastic least gecko, or fantastic sphaero (''Sphaerodactylus fantasticus'') is a species 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 ...

found in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, on the islands of

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...

, and the

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

archipelago.

Morphology

Sphaerodactylus fantasticus 01-Barbour 1921

A medium-sized

of the genus '' Sphaerodactylus''. Dorsal scales are keeled in texture, acute to cycloid in shape, and slightly imbricate. The color pattern is

sexually dichromatic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most anim ...

, and varies greatly between

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 ...

. The dorsal ground color of both sexes is brown to

ochre Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

. The head color is light brown which may be with or without markings, which may include dark stripes broken into small brown spots, or spots that fuse to produce a dark head with light stripes for spots. There is no dark scapular patch or ocelli in both sexes, a characteristic that is frequently seen in other species. The dorsal coloration is (salt and pepper) mottled with light and dark scales, either of which may dominate. The tail may contain dark-edged light ocelli (usually paired) irregularly arranged along the dorsal surface. Throat is grayish and distinctly lineate, with lines extending posteriorly from the tip of the snot. Venter is uniformly white or with dark spackling.Schwartz, Albert and Richard Thomas. 1975. ''A Check-list of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles''. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 1. pp. 150-151.

Subspecies

Nine

have been described, each of which has a very restricted range and varies in coloration and other physical characteristics. *''Sphaerodactylus fantasticus fantasticus'' A.M.C. Duméril &

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 *''Sphaerodactylus fantasticus anidrotus'' Thomas, 1965 *''Sphaerodactylus fantasticus fuga'' Thomas, 1965 *''Sphaerodactylus fantasticus hippomanes'' Thomas, 1965 *''Sphaerodactylus fantasticus karukera'' Thomas, 1965 *''Sphaerodactylus fantasticus ligniservulus'' King, 1962 *''Sphaerodactylus fantasticus orescius'' Thomas, 1965 *''Sphaerodactylus fantasticus phyzacinus'' Thomas, 1965 *''Sphaerodactylus fantasticus tartaropylorus'' Thomas, 1965

Distribution

Endemic to the Lesser Antilles. Native to

(including some of its satellites like Marie Galante and La Desirade),

, and the western coast of

Biogeography

On Dominica, the distribution of the subspecies ''S. fantasticus fuga'' is limited to the western coast (Malhotra and Thorpe 1999). These dwarf geckos have recently been found to be genetically similar to one population in Guadeloupe, suggesting that they are recent colonizers of Dominica (Malhotra and Thorpe 1999; Thorpe et al. 2008).

Ecology

This is a terrestrial species that occurs in a moderately wide range of

habitats 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 ...

which are usually near the coast. These include

mesic Mesic may refer to: * Mesic, North Carolina, a town in the United States * Mesic habitat, a type of habitat See also *Mesić (disambiguation) *Mešić Mešić is a Bosnian surname, a patronymic derived from the masculine given name '' Meša'', it ...

and xeric forests, beaches, hillsides ,and houses. During the day, it can be found (active) on piles of organic debris and leaf litter (in shaded situations). Also hiding under stones, logs, and piles of debris.

Habitat

File:Batalie Bay, Dominica 003.jpg, Habitat of ''Sphaerodactylus fantasticus fuga'' in Batali beach, western Dominica. File:Tanetane-Dominica.jpg, Habitat of ''Sphaerodactylus fantasticus fuga'' in Cabrits National Park, north-western Dominica. File:Pointe de la Grande Vigie (Anse-Bertrand).jpg, Habitat of ''Sphaerodactylus fantasticus tartaropylorus'' in Pointe de la Grande Vigie, north-eastern Guadeloupe.

References

* *

External links

*
Sphaerodactylus fantasticus
at the Encyclopedia of Life
Sphaerodactylus fantasticus
at the Reptile Database {{Taxonbar, from=Q146454 Sphaerodactylus Lizards of the Caribbean Reptiles of Dominica Reptiles of Guadeloupe Reptiles of Montserrat Reptiles described in 1836 Taxa named by Gabriel Bibron Taxa named by André Marie Constant Duméril