Guichard's rock gecko (''Pristurus guichardi)'' 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), ...
of
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 ...
Sphaerodactylidae
The Sphaerodactylidae are a Family (biology), 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 fam ...
. 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 island of
Socotra
Socotra, locally known as Saqatri, is a Yemeni island in the Indian Ocean. Situated between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea, it lies near major shipping routes. Socotra is the largest of the six islands in the Socotra archipelago as ...
of
Yemen
Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...
.
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 ...
, ''guichardi'', is in honor of British entomologist
Kenneth Mackinnon Guichard.
[ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Pristurus guichardi'', p. 111).]
Habitat
The preferred natural habitats of ''P. guichardi'' are
forest
A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...
and
shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...
, at altitudes of .
Behavior
''P. guichardi'' is
arboreal
Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...
.
Reproduction
''P. guichardi'' 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 ...
.
[
]
References
Further reading
* Arnold EN (1986). "New species of semaphore gecko (''Pristurus'': Gekkonidae) from Arabia and Socotra". ''Fauna of Arabia'' 8: 352–377. (''Pristurus guichardi'', new species).
* Fasola, Mauro; Razzetti, Edoardo; Sindaco, Roberto; Ziliani, Ugo; Delle Monache, Daniele; Pellitteri-Rosa, Daniele; Carranza, Salvador (2020). "Ecological preferences of the endemic reptile community of Socotra". ''Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali'' 31: 687–701.
* Garcia-Porta J, Morales HE, Gómez-Díaz E, Sindaco R, Carranza S (2016). "Patterns of diversification in islands: A comparative study across three gecko genera in the Socotra Archipelago". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 98: 288–299.
* Rösler H (2000). "''Kommentierte Liste der rezent, subrezent und fossil bekannten Geckotaxa (Reptilia: Gekkonomorpha)''". ''Gekkota'' 2: 28–153. (''Pristurus guichardi'', p. 106). (in German).
*Rösler H, Wranik W (2004). "A key and annotated checklist to the reptiles of the Socotra archipelago". ''Fauna of Arabia'' 20: 505–534.
Pristurus
Reptiles described in 1986
{{Gecko-stub