Kuroiwa's ground gecko (''Goniurosaurus kuroiwae'') (from Japanese: クロイワトカゲモドキ/ 黒岩蜥蜴擬), also known commonly as Kuroiwa's eyelid gecko, Kuroiwa's leopard gecko, the Okinawan ground gecko, the Ryukyu eyelid gecko, and the Tokashiki gecko, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Eublepharidae The Eublepharidae are a family of geckos (Gekkota) consisting of 43 described species in 6 genera. They occur in Asia, Africa, North America, and Central America. Eublepharid geckos lack adhesive toepads and, unlike other geckos, have movable ey ...

. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

Okinawa Islands The are an island group in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, and are the principal island group of the prefecture. The Okinawa Islands are part of the larger Ryukyu Islands group and are located between the Amami Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture to the ...

in the

Ryukyu Archipelago The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

, Japan.

Parasites

Kuroiwa's ground gecko is a common host for the parasite ''

Cryptosporidium serpentis ''Cryptosporidium serpentis'' is a protozoal parasite that infects the gastrointestinal tract of snakes. Sporated oocysts of ''C. serpentis'' are intermittently shed in the feces, and transmission is primarily via fecal-oral route. ''C. serpentis ...

''. This parasite is detrimental to the health of the gecko and causes severe gastrointestinal problems. Symptoms of a ''C. serpentis'' infection include: diarrhea, vomiting, and emaciation.

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 ...

, ''kuroiwae'', is in honor of T. Kuroiwa who was the collector of the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Goniurosaurus kuroiwae'', p. 148).

Habitat

Kuroiwa's ground gecko occurs in subtropical forests in

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

limestone areas at elevations below .

Behavior and diet

''G. kuroiwae'' forages on small

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s in

leaf litter Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall, or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that has fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituen ...

at night.

Reproduction

''G. kuroiwae'' is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...

Clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...

size is one or two eggs, and an adult female may lay as many as three clutches per year.

Parasites

Etymology

Habitat

Behavior and diet

Reproduction

References

Further reading