Two new species of geckos from Honduras and resurrection of Sphaerodactylus continentalis Werner from the synonymy of Sphaerodactylus millepunctatus Hallowell (Reptilia, Squamata, Gekkonoidea, Sphaerodactylidae)
Author
Mccranie, James R.
Author
Hedges, Blair
text
Zootaxa
2012
3492
65
76
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.212157
fb3c04fd-b9ea-411f-aaa4-ad6bbe37d532
1175-5326
212157
23FF1A7C-CAC9-4E23-8E46-6A408D301868
Sphaerodactylus millepunctatus
Hallowell
(
Fig. 6
)
Sphaeriodactylus millepunctatus
Hallowell 1861
: 480
.
Neotype
UMMZ 173053 (designated by
Harris & Kluge 1984
: 18
). Restricted
type
locality “
NICARAGUA
: Río San Juan;
Isla
Mancarrón of the Solentiname Archipiélago,
11°10’N
,
85°02’W
” (
Harris & Kluge 1984: 18
).
Geographic distribution.
Low and moderate elevations from the Mosquitia region of northeastern
Honduras
to northern
Costa Rica
. The species also occurs on
Isla
de Maíz Grande,
Nicaragua
(see
Fig. 3
for
Honduran
localities).
FIGURE 6.
Adult male (FMNH 282793) of
Sphaerodactylus millepunctatus
(SVL 27.3 mm) from Dos Bocas, Gracias a Dios, Honduras. Photograph by J.R. McCranie.
Diagnosis.
Sphaerodactylus millepunctatus
can be distinguished from
S. continentalis
in having slightly larger and fewer dorsal scales (42–57,
x
= 51.7 ± 5.0 in 15
S. millepunctatus
versus 59–70,
x
= 63.5 ±
3.4 in
20
S. continentalis
examined for this study; see Discussion and Appendix I).
Sphaerodactylus millepunctatus
differs from both
S. guanajae
and
S. leonardovaldesi
in lacking a short thin pale yellow line above each pelvis, in usually having distinct dorsal spots that are larger than one scale, and in usually having distinct dark stripes on the posterior end of the head and anterior portion of the body (versus short pale pelvic lines almost always present, only scattered dark spots on body that are confined to one scale, and indistinct dark stripes on head and body in those two species).
Sphaerodactylus millepunctatus
also differs from
S. guanajae
in having more subdigital lamellae on the fourth toe (9–12,
x
= 9.7 ± 0.8 on 30 sides versus 8–9,
x
= 8.6 ± 0.5 on 12 sides in
S. guanajae
) and also differs from
S. leonardovaldesi
in having larger dorsal scales (42–57,
x
= 51.7 ± 5.0 in 15
S. millepunctatus
versus 58–66,
x
= 61.7 ±
2.7 in
13
S. leonardovaldesi
).
Sphaerodactylus millepunctatus
also differs from
S. continentalis
,
S. guanajae
,
and
S. leonardovaldesi
in molecular data (
Fig. 1
).
Sphaerodactylus homolepis
Cope
also narrowly occurs sympatrically with
S. millepunctatus
in southeastern
Nicaragua
and adjacent northeastern
Costa Rica
, but
S. homolepis
has a single supranasal scale and has alternating median subcaudal scales (versus two supranasals and subcaudals aligned in a single series in
S. millepunctatus
).