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A new species of giant gecko of the genus Tarentola (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Jamaica
Author(s) -
Sprackland R. G.,
Swinney G. N.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of zoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1469-7998
pISSN - 0952-8369
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1998.tb00073.x
Subject(s) - gekkonidae , gecko , squamata , biology , lizard , genus , zoology , taxon , ecology
A new species of gecko of the genus Tarentola is described from a single specimen in the herpetological collection of the National Museums of Scotland. The gecko was part of a presentation made in 1884 by a resident of Jamaica, and is presumed to be a Jamaican endemic, possibly now extinct. Though clearly a member of the predominantly African genus Tarentola , the new species bears no specific affinity with the only other known New World species, and is very distinct in lepidosis from similar African taxa. A complete description is given for this new species, and it is named Tarentola albertschwartzi . Its possible relationship to the fossil Aristelliger titan Hecht, 1951, is discussed.