The Maio wall gecko (''Tarentola maioensis'') 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 ...

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 ...

s 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 ...

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

, where it occurs on the island of Maio. The species was named by

Hans Hermann Schleich Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi a ...

in 1984. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''maioensis'' refers to the island of Maio, the type locality.

Taxonomy

Previously a subspecies ''

Tarentola rudis ''Tarentola rudis'' is a species of geckos in the family Phyllodactylidae. The species is endemic to Cape Verde, where it occurs in the southern part of the island of Santiago and on the Ilhéu de Santa Maria. The species was described as a vari ...

maioensis'', it was elevated to species status in 2012.Vasconcelos, Perera, Geniez, Harris & Carranza,
An integrative taxonomic revision of the Tarentola geckos (Squamata, Phyllodactylidae) of the Cape Verde Islands.
' Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, vol. 164, no. 2, p. 328-360

Taxonomy

References

Further reading