The peninsula least gecko (''Sphaerodactylus clenchi'') 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
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...
.
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 ...
, ''clenchi'', is in honor of American
malacologist
Malacology, from Ancient Greek μαλακός (''malakós''), meaning "soft", and λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (molluscs or mollusks), the second-largest ...
William James "Bill" Clench,
[ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Sphaerodactylus clenchi'', p. 55).] who collected 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 ...
.
[
]
Habitat
The preferred natural habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, 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 manifestation of its ...
of ''S. clenchi'' is 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, ...
, at elevations from sea level to .[
]
Reproduction
''S. clenchi'' 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 ...
.[
]
Subspecies
Two subspecies
In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. ...
.[
*'' Sphaerodactylus clenchi apocoptus''
*'' Sphaerodactylus clenchi clench''
]
References
Further reading
* Schwartz A (1983). "Part 1. ''Sphaerodactylus difficilis'', ''S. clenchi'', and ''S. lazelli'' ". pp. 5–30. ''In'': Schwartz A, Thomas R
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas t ...
(1983). "The ''difficilis'' complex of ''Sphaerodactylus'' (Sauria, Gekkonidae) of Hispaniola". ''Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as CMNH) is a natural history museum in the Oakland (Pittsburgh), Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded by List of people from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, Pit ...
'' (22): 1-60. (''Sphaerodactylus clenchi apocoptus'', new subspecies).
*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 clenchi'', p. 478).
*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 clenchi'', p. 146).
* Shreve B (1968). "The ''notatus'' group of ''Sphaerodactylus'' (Sauria, Gekkonidae) in Hispaniola". ''Breviora'' (280): 1-28. (''Sphaerodactylus clenchi'', new species, pp. 21–23).
Sphaerodactylus
Reptiles of the Dominican Republic
Endemic fauna of the Dominican Republic
Reptiles described in 1968
Taxa named by Benjamin Shreve
{{Sphaerodactylus-stub