Sphaerodactylus parvus King, 1962

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 : 162

Sphaerodactylus parvus King, 1962

Figure 8

Holotype — UF 10034.1

Type locality: “the island of St. Martin, 2-½ miles west, ¼ mile north of Philipsburg.”

Diagnosis: This species was originally described as a subspecies of S. macrolepis by King (1962) and was elevated by Powell & Henderson (2001) who differentiated this species on the basis of 1) dorsal scales with hair bearing scale organs, with only one hair each along the dorso-distal edge; 2) maximum SVL size of 24 mm (18–24 mm, x̅ = 21.7); 3) having a higher mean number of midbody scale rows (48.4 ± 1.5); and 4) weak sexual dichroma- tism nor ontogenetic variation ( King 1962; Thomas & Schwartz 1966). Nava et al. (2002) described six additional differences with other members of the S. macrolepis species complex: 5) less bulky habitus; 6) ventral scales keeled on the sides of abdomen of some specimens ( King 1962); 7) less densely pigmented throat; 8) less conspicuous head patterns; 9) smaller scapular patch on females; and 10) ten toe lamellae on the fourth toe (9–11; King 1962). Our work shows that only characters 2, 3, 4, and 9 are actually diagnostic (Appendix 2). SVL Min/Max is 12.17/ 26.39 mm. Additional diagnostic traits for S. parvus include a scapular patch that can be brown and black (also present in S. macrolepis ); males and females with no well-defined occipital spots and postorbital line; pale or yellowish ocelli from the scapular patch very close or united; males and females with no well-defined head patterns; males and females without dorsal lines, color pattern more ‘salt and pepper’. Females seem to have a more defined gular pattern than males.

Color in life: Color of male and female varies from pale pink to brown, with scattered dark brown scales ( Thomas & Schwartz 1966) producing a salt and pepper effect on dorsum. Head and tail color usually lighter than the body, scapular patch bicolored (brown anteriorly and black posteriorly) with light margin surrounding the patch. Males and females with a marked pattern on throat.

Distribution: The only member, aside from S. macrolepis , of the S. macrolepis species complex found outside of the Puerto Rican Bank. This species is found exclusively on the Anguilla Bank near the northern end of the Lesser Antilles, including the islands of Anguilla, St.-Barthélémy, St.-Martin, Tintamarre I., and Dog. I.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Adult specimens of Sphaerodactylus parvus. A–B, Female from Saint Maarten (MPM23023), C–D male from Saint Barthélemy (MPM23053).