''Sphaerodactylus ariasae'', commonly called the Jaragua sphaero or the Jaragua dwarf gecko, is the smallest

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 appropriat ...

of lizard 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 ...

Sphaerodactylidae The Sphaerodactylidae are a family of geckos (Gekkota) distributed in North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, as well as in Southern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and into Central Asia. The family contains 12 li ...

Description

''Sphaerodactylus ariasae'' is the world's smallest known reptile. The second-smallest is '' S. parthenopion'', native to the

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Brit ...

. The Jaragua sphaero measures 14-18 mm (0.55-0.71 in) from the snout to the base of the tail and can fit on a US 25-cent coin. It has an average weight of just 0.13 g (0.00455 of an ounce). By contrast, the blue whale is 1,600 times longer and more than 1 billion times heavier.

Geographic range

The geographic range of ''S. ariasae'' is believed to be limited to Jaragua National Park, in the southernmost tip of the Barahona Peninsula, in the extreme southwest of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

and nearby forested

Beata Island Beata Island ( es, Isla Beata) is a small island on the Caribbean Sea, located southwest from Cape Beata. Some southwest of it lies the smaller Alto Velo Island. It is politically part of the Dominican Republic, and is roughly triangle-shaped a ...

Habitat

The preferred natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

of ''S. ariasae'' is the leaf litter of the forest floor of dry forests with limestone substratum.

Reproduction

''S. ariasae'' is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and m ...

Taxonomy

''S. ariasae'' was first described by Blair Hedges, a

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State becam ...

evolutionary biologist Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes (natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of the history of life for ...

, and

Richard Thomas Richard Thomas or Dick Thomas may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Dick Thomas (singer) (1915–2003), American singing cowboy and actor * Richard Thomas (actor) (born 1951), American actor * Richard Thomas (author) (born 1967), American ...

, a

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and ...

biologist, in the December 2001 issue of the ''

Caribbean Journal of Science The ''Caribbean Journal of Science'' is a triannual peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal publishing articles, research notes, and book reviews related to science in the Caribbean, with an emphasis on botany, zoology, ecology, conservation ...

''.

Etymology

The Jaragua sphaero's

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bo ...

was chosen in honor of

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians ( gymnophiona)) and rep ...

Yvonne Arias, the leader of the Dominican conservation organization Grupo Jaragua, which was instrumental in securing the environmental protection of Jaragua National Park.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Sphaerodactylus ariasae'', p. 11).

References

External links

*
National Geographic: Smallest Known Lizard Found in CaribbeanAt the Lower Size Limit in Aminote Vertebrates: A New Diminutive Lizard from the West Indies
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1938610 A Lizards of the Caribbean Endemic fauna of the Dominican Republic Reptiles of the Dominican Republic Reptiles described in 2001 Taxa named by Stephen Blair Hedges Taxa named by Richard Thomas (herpetologist)