Ramsden's least gecko (''Sphaerodactylus ramsdeni'') is a
species of
lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...
in the
family Sphaerodactylidae. The species is
endemic to
Cuba.
Etymology
The
specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
, ''ramsdeni'', is in honor of herpetologist
Charles Theodore Ramsden (1876–1951),
[Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Sphaerodactylus ramsdeni'', p. 216).] who collected the
holotype in 1914.
[
]
Habitat
The preferred habitat of ''S. ramsdeni'' is forest.
Description
''S. ramsdeni'' has a very large rostral
Rostral may refer to:
Anatomy
* Rostral (anatomical term), situated toward the oral or nasal region
* Rostral bone, in ceratopsian dinosaurs
* Rostral organ, of certain fish
* Rostral scale, in snakes and scaled reptiles
Other uses
* Rostral colu ...
which is bordered posteriorly by six scales. The scales between the orbits are smooth. The dorsal scales are small. The ventrals
In snakes, the ventral scales or gastrosteges are the enlarged and transversely elongated scales that extend down the underside of the body from the neck to the anal scale. When counting them, the first is the anteriormost ventral scale that cont ...
are smooth. The posterior margin of each caudal
Caudal may refer to:
Anatomy
* Caudal (anatomical term) (from Latin ''cauda''; tail), used to describe how close something is to the trailing end of an organism
* Caudal artery, the portion of the dorsal aorta of a vertebrate that passes into the ...
is convex.[Ruibal (1959).]
Reproduction
''S. ramsdeni'' 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 ...
.[
]
References
Further reading
* Rösler H (2000). "''Kommentiert Liste der rezent, subrezent und fossil bekannten Geckotaxa (Reptilia: Gekkonomorpha)''". ''Gekkota'' 2: 28–153. (''Sphaerodactylus ramsdeni'', p. 113). (in German).
* Ruibal R (1959). "A New Species of ''Sphaerodactylus'' from Oriente, Cuba". ''Herpetologica'' 15 (2): 89–93. (''Sphaerodactylus ramsdeni'', new species).
* Schwartz A, Henderson RW (1991). ''Amphibians and Reptiles of the West Indies: Descriptions, Distributions, and Natural History''. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press. 720 pp. . (''Sphaerodactylus ramsdeni'', p. 524).
*Schwartz A, Thomas R (1975). ''A Check-list of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles''. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 216 pp. (''Sphaerodactylus ramsdeni'', p. 160).
Sphaerodactylus
Reptiles of Cuba
Endemic fauna of Cuba
Reptiles described in 1959
{{Sphaerodactylus-stub