The island least gecko (''Sphaerodactylus sputator'') 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 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 else ...
to the
Lesser Antilles
The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc bet ...
in the
Caribbean.
Geographic range
''S. sputator'' can be found on
Anguilla
Anguilla ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The terr ...
(and some of its satellites),
Saint Martin,
Saint Barthélemy
Saint Barthélemy (french: Saint-Barthélemy, ), officially the Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Barthélemy, is an overseas collectivity of France in the Caribbean. It is often abbreviated to St. Barth in French, and St. Barts in English ...
,
Saint Kitts
Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...
,
Nevis
Nevis is a small island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute one country: the Federation of Saint Kitts and ...
, and
Sint Eustatius.
Description
Populations of ''S. sputator'' on Anguilla have a pale pink
dorsal
Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to:
* Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism
* Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage
* Dorsal c ...
surface, with between five and eight pale crossbands on the back. The throat is pale yellow, and the ventral surface is light cream-colored. It has a gold iris, with a yellow
canthal line.
On Saint Martin, it has a tan dorsal color, with a pearl-colored ventral surface. The tail is pale yellow to orange, and the iris is bronze-colored.
References
Further reading
*
Boulenger GA (1885). ''Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume I. Geckonidæ ...'' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 436 pp. + Plates I-XXXII. (''Sphærodactylus sputator'', pp. 219–220).
*Malhotra, Anita; Thorpe, Roger S. (1999). ''Reptiles & Amphibians of the Eastern Caribbean''. Oxford, England:
Macmillan Education Ltd. 144 pp. . (pp. 53, 55–56, 58, 60, 65, 66).
*
Schwartz A,
Thomas R
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
(1975). ''A Check-list of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles''.
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as CMNH) is a natural history museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Pittsburgh-based industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1896.
Housing some 22 million ...
Special Publication No. 1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 216 pp. (''Sphaerodactylus sputator'', p. 162).
*
Sparrman A (1784). "Lacerta sputator ''und'' Lacerta bimaculata, ''zwey neue Eideren aus Amerika'' ". ''Königlich-Schwedischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Neue Abhandlungen aus der Naturlehre Haushaltungkunst und Mechanik'' 3 (1): 166-169 + Plate IV. (''Lacerta sputator'', new species, p. 169 + Plate IV, figures 1–3). (in German and Latin).
External links
*
''Sphaerodactylus sputator''at the
Encyclopedia of Life
The ''Encyclopedia of Life'' (''EOL'') is a free, online encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It is compiled from existing trusted databases curated by experts and with the assistance of ...
''Sphaerodactylus sputator''at the Reptile Database
Sphaerodactylus
Lizards of the Caribbean
Reptiles described in 1784
{{Sphaerodactylus-stub