Little-scaled least gecko

Little-scaled Least Gecko
	1921 illustration of specimen from Saint Lucia
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Sphaerodactylidae
Genus:	Sphaerodactylus
Species:	S. microlepis
Binomial name
	Sphaerodactylus microlepis; Reinhardt & Lütken, 1862
Subspecies
	S. m. microlepis; S. m. thomasi;
Synonyms
	Sphaerodactylus melanospilos

The little-scaled least gecko (Sphaerodactylus microlepis) is a gecko species mainly found on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia, where it was once thought to be endemic. It has falsely been recorded on St. Croix, Martinique, Monito Island, the British Virgin Islands, and Costa Rica, but does not exist there.^[1]^[2]

Both sexes reach a length of 34 mm snout-to-vent. Its color pattern is variable, usually with six or seven dark bands between its limbs and a light brown or gray ground color; these markings may fade in some adults. Its tail is bright pink to pale orange with ladder-shaped markings. Its ventral surface is white or yellow, with dark stripes extending from its chin to its throat or chest. The top of its head is light brown or yellow, with dark stripes extending from behind its eyes and joining behind its neck.

Notes

^ "Sphaerodactylus microlepis".
^ Though it has been recorded on Dominica as well, this was on the basis of one specimen with no precise locality information, so its presence there has not yet been verified.

References

Malhotra, Anita; Thorpe, Roger S.; Hypolite, Eric; James, Arlington (2007). "A report on the status of the herpetofauna of the Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies". Appl. Herpetol. 4 (2): 177–94. doi:10.1163/157075407780681365.
Malhotra, Anita; Thorpe, Roger S. (1999). Reptiles & Amphibians of the Eastern Caribbean. Macmillan Education Ltd. pp. 50, 93–94. ISBN 0-333-69141-5.

External links

Media related to Sphaerodactylus microlepis at Wikimedia Commons
Sphaerodactylus microlepis at the Encyclopedia of Life
Sphaerodactylus microlepis at the Reptile Database
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[1] "Sphaerodactylus microlepis".

[2] Though it has been recorded on Dominica as well, this was on the basis of one specimen with no precise locality information, so its presence there has not yet been verified.

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