Barbados leaf-toed gecko

The Barbados leaf-toed gecko (Phyllodactylus pulcher) is a gecko species endemic to the Caribbean island-nation of Barbados. It is the only known leaf-toed gecko in the Lesser Antilles.

Barbados leaf-toed gecko
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Phyllodactylidae
Genus: Phyllodactylus
Species:
P. pulcher
Binomial name
Phyllodactylus pulcher
Gray, 1830
Synonyms

Phyllodactylus spatulatus - Cope, 1863

It has a maximum snout-to-vent length of 62 mm. It has a cream ground color, with a dark line extending from its nostril, through its eye, to its shoulder. Its dorsal surface has variable markings: either brown mottling, broad brown crossbands, or longitudinal brown lines.[2]

Little is known about the species' habits and distribution. It is presumed nocturnal, arboreal, and insectivorous. It is considered rare, with few known localities, but its range has not yet been systematically studied.[3]

This once presumed extinct species was rediscovered by the founder and first President of the Barbados Herpetological Society - Mr Damon Gerard Corrie, on 2nd October 2011, when he and his three older children (sons Hatuey and Tecumseh, and daughter Sabantho) swam over to the small island outcrop known as 'Culpepper Island', where an adult pair of live specimens were discovered [4]

Notes
  1. Daltry, J.C. 2016. Phyllodactylus pulcher (errata version published in 2017). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T48443321A115401286. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T48443321A48443325.en. Downloaded on 02 February 2019.
  2. Malhotra & Thorpe 1999, p. 104.
  3. Powell & Henderson 2005, p. 71.
  4. https://www.bajanreporter.com/2011/10/once-presumed-extinct-barbados-leaf-toed-gecko-phyllodactylus-pulcher-re-discovered-in-barbados/

References
  • Malhotra, Anita; Thorpe, Roger S. (1999). Reptiles & Amphibians of the Eastern Caribbean. Macmillan Education Ltd. ISBN 978-0-333-69141-0.
  • Powell, Robert; Henderson, Robert W. (2005), "Conservation Status of Lesser Antillean Reptiles", Iguana, 12 (2): 63–77
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