The Kuroiwa's ground gecko (''Goniurosaurus kuroiwae'') (from Japanese: クロイワトカゲモドキ/ 黒岩蜥蜴擬), also known as the Ryukyu eyelid gecko, Kuroiwa's leopard gecko, Kuroiwa's eyelid gecko, Okinawan ground gecko, or Tokashiki gecko, 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 lizards in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Eublepharidae The Eublepharidae are a family of geckos (Gekkota) consisting of 43 described species in six genera. They occur in Asia, Africa and North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within th ...

. 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 else ...

to the

Okinawa Islands The Okinawa Islands ( or ) are an island group in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan and are the principal island group of the prefecture. The Okinawa Islands are part of the larger Ryukyu Islands group and are located between the Amami Islands of Ka ...

in the

Ryukyu Archipelago The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara, Amami Islands, Amami, Okinawa Islands, Okinawa, and Sakis ...

, Japan.

Etymology

The specific name, ''kuroiwae'', is in honor of T. Kuroiwa, collector of the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Goniurosaurus kuroiwae'', p. 148).

Habitat

Kuroiwa's ground gecko occurs in subtropical forests in karst limestone areas at elevations below . It forages on small invertebrates in leaf litter at night.

Etymology

Habitat

References

Further reading