Sphaerodactylus grandisquamis mimetes, Thomas & Schwartz, 1966

Daza, Juan D., Pinto, Brendan J., Thomas, Richard, Herrera-Martinez, Alexandra, Scantlebury, Daniel P., Padilla García, Luis F., Balaraman, Rajesh P., Perry, Gad & Gamble, Tony, 2019, The sprightly little sphaerodactyl: Systematics and biogeography of the Puerto Rican dwarf geckos Sphaerodactylus (Gekkota, Sphaerodactylidae), Zootaxa 4712 (2), pp. 151-201 : 170-171

Sphaerodactylus grandisquamis mimetes comb. nov. Thomas & Schwartz, 1966

Figures 20–21

Holotype — MCZ R-81036

Type locality: “ 12.3 km SE Patillas, Puerto Rico.” [ Thomas & Schwartz (1966) incorrectly listed the type locality as 12.3 km SE Patillas, but the correct distance is 1.23 km SE Patillas Puerto Rico.]

Diagnosis: SVL Min/Max (13.3/ 33.19 mm); midbody scales 31–40 (x̅ 36.1); nine toe lamellae on the fourth toe; males with salt and pepper dorsal pattern; males with very marked lineated or fragmented head pattern; males with blue head (background color); males with reticulate pattern on the gular area; males with or without scapular patch, ocelli on the periphery or enclosed on the patch. The males of this species are superficially similar to the males of S. macrolepis but lack the bicolored scapular patch and the head pattern is less fragmented than in S. macrolepis .

Color in life ( Fig. 20 ): Female: ground color light brown to pink, head and tail yellow to gray, head pattern well defined, medial lines separated and parallel, ocelli color white. Male ground color light yellow to orange, head blue to gray, tail orange. Iris color red to yellow-brown.

Distribution: Low elevation coastal areas of southeastern Puerto Rico, from Ponce to Maunabo where it transitions to S. g. grandisquamis .

Figures

FIGURE 20. Live specimens of Sphaerodactylus g. mimetes from Patillas, Puerto Rico (A, female and B, male).

FIGURE 21. Adult specimens of Sphaerodactylus g. mimetes from Patillas, Puerto Rico. A–B, Female (SHSUHerp000193), C–D male (SHSUHerp000204).