''Tarentola rudis'' 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), ...

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates. They range from . Geckos are unique among lizards ...

s 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 ...

. 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 ...

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

, where it occurs in the southern part of the island of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

and on the Ilhéu de Santa Maria. The species was described as a variety of '' Tarentola delalandii'' by

George Albert Boulenger George Albert Boulenger (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botani ...

in 1906 based on several specimens collected by

Leonardo Fea Leonardo Fea (Turin 24 July 1852 – Turin 27 April 1903) was an Italian explorer, zoologist, painter, and naturalist. Biography Fea was born in Turin, a son of Paolo Fea, who was professor of painting at Accademia Albertina, and Anna Roda. In ...

Taxonomy

The following former subspecies were elevated to species status in 2012:Vasconcelos, Perera, Geniez, Harris & Carranza,
An integrative taxonomic revision of the Tarentola geckos (Squamata, Phyllodactylidae) of the Cape Verde Islands.
' Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, vol. 164, no. 2, p. 328-360 *''Tarentola rudis boavistensis'': '' Tarentola boavistensis'' *''Tarentola rudis maioensis'': '' Tarentola maioensis'' *''Tarentola rudis protogigas'': '' Tarentola protogigas'' The subspecies ''Tarentola rudis hartogi'' became a subspecies of ''Tarentola protogigas'' as ''Tarentolas protogigas hartogi''.

References

rudis Geckos of Africa Endemic vertebrates of Cape Verde Reptiles described in 1906 Fauna of Santiago, Cape Verde Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger {{gecko-stub