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A new species of giant gecko of the genus Tarentola (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Jamaica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 1998

R. G. Sprackland  and
G. N. Swinney
R. G. Sprackland
Affiliation:
Department of Natural History, National Museums of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF, Scotland, U.K. Department of Natural Sciences, Post Stop 177, College of Notre Dame, 1500 Ralston Avenue, Belmont, California 94002, U.S.A.: Email [email protected]
G. N. Swinney
Affiliation:
Department of Natural History, National Museums of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF, Scotland, U.K.
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Abstract

A new species of gecko of the genus Tarentola is described from a single specimen in the herpetological collection of the National Museums of Scotland. The gecko was part of a presentation made in 1884 by a resident of Jamaica, and is presumed to be a Jamaican endemic, possibly now extinct. Though clearly a member of the predominantly African genus Tarentola, the new species bears no specific affinity with the only other known New World species, and is very distinct in lepidosis from similar African taxa. A complete description is given for this new species, and it is named Tarentola albertschwartzi. Its possible relationship to the fossil Aristelliger titan Hecht, 1951, is discussed.

Keywords

new speciesGekkonidaeTarentolaJamaica
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Zoology , Volume 245 , Issue 1 , May 1998 , pp. 73 - 78
Copyright
© 1998 The Zoological Society of London

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