The American wall gecko (''Tarentola americana'') 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 ...
Phyllodactylidae
The Phyllodactylidae are a family of geckos (Gekkota) consisting of 163 species in 10 genera, distributed throughout the New World, North Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The family was first delineated based on a molecular phylogenetic analys ...
,
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
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
and the
Bahamas
The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...
.
There are two recognized
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 ...
.
Subspecies
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. ...
, two subspecies are recognized as valid.
[
*'' Tarentola americana americana''
*'' Tarentola american warreni''
Gray's trinomial authority in parentheses indicates he originally described ''T. a. americana'' in a different ]genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
.
Etymology
The subspecific name
In biology, trinomial nomenclature is the system of names for taxa below the rank of species. These names have three parts. The usage is different in zoology and botany.
In zoology
In zoological nomenclature, a trinomen (), trinominal name, or ...
, ''warreni'', is in honor of C. Rhea Warren, 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 ...
.Schwartz
Schwartz may refer to:
* Schwartz (surname), a surname (and list of people with the name)
* Schwartz (brand), a spice brand
* Schwartz's, a delicatessen in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
* Schwartz Publishing, an Australian publishing house
*"Danny Schwa ...
(1968).
Geographic range
''T. a. americana'' lives on the island of Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
and associated islets. ''T. a. warreni'' lives on some of the northern islands of the Bahamas
The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...
.[
]
Reproduction
''T. americana'' 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
* Boulenger GA (1885). ''Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume I. Geckonidæ ...'' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 436 pp. + Plates I–XXXII. (''Tarentola americana'' and ''T. cubana'', p. 195).
* Gray JE (1831). "A Synopsis of the Species of the Class Reptilia". Supplement, 110 pp. ''In'': Griffith E (1831). ''The Animal Kingdom Arranged in Conformity with its Organization, by the Baron Cuvier
Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...
, Member of the Institute of France, &c. &c. &c. with Additional Descriptions of All the Species hitherto Named, and of Many not before Noticed, Volume the Ninth''. London: Whitaker, Treacher, and Co. 480 pp. (''Platydactylus americanus'', new species, p. 48).
* Schwartz A (1968). "Geographic variation in the new world gekkonid lizard ''Tarentola americana'' Gray". ''Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington'' 81: 123–142. (''Tarentola americana warreni'', new subspecies, pp. 134–139, Figure 2).
*Schwartz A, Henderson RW (1991). ''Amphibians and Reptiles of the West Indies: Descriptions, Distributions, and Natural History''. Gainesville: University of Florida Press. 720 pp. . (''Tarentola americana'', p. 549).
*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 ...
(1975). ''A Check-list of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles''. 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 ...
Special Publication No. 1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 216 pp. (''Tarentola americana'', pp. 165).
* Stejneger L (1917). "Cuban amphibians and reptiles collected for the United States National Museum from 1899 to 1902". ''Proceedings of the United States National Museum'' 53: 259–291. (''Tarentola cubana'', p. 266, Figures 27–29).
Tarentola
Reptiles described in 1831
Taxa named by John Edward Gray
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