Crenadactylus horni

Crenadactylus horni, the Central Uplands clawless gecko, is a species of gecko endemic to the central desert region of Australia.[3]

Crenadactylus horni
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Diplodactylidae
Genus: Crenadactylus
Species:
C. horni
Binomial name
Crenadactylus horni
(Lucas & Frost, 1895)[2]

Taxonomy

A species proposed by Arthur H. S. Lucas and Charles Frost, given the name Ebenavia horni to ally the taxon to a clawless gecko species found in Madagascar, basing their description on material collected on the Horn expedition to central Australia.[2] The taxon was later placed as a subspecies of Crenadactylus ocellatus, but re-elevated to species status in a revision of the genus that recognised seven distinguishable species.[4] The type locality was identified as Charlotte Waters in the Northern Territory.[2]

The specific epithet horni is named by Lucas and Frost for the sponsor of the scientific expedition that provided the type specimen, the pastoralist William Austin Horn.[2]

Description

A species of Crenadactylus, distinguished by superficial details of the scales and coloration.[4] The snout vent length is recorded up to 34.8 mm, a larger and robust species of the relatively smaller genus of geckos. The stripes running the length of the body contrasts a darker colour against the mostly tan and pale brown of the scales.

Records of the habitat at the collection sites indicate an association with spinifex mounds, a dominant vegetation type of the arid centre of Australia.[3] Crenadactylus horni presumed to have become geographically isolated around twenty to thirty million years ago, shown in evidence of ancient genetic divergence, persisting in micro-habitat that has become separated from sister species by the increasingly dry climate of the continent.[4]

References
  1. Ellis, R., Oliver, P., Teale, R., Melville, J. & Doughty, P. 2017. Crenadactylus horni. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T109451703A109451744. Downloaded on 07 April 2019.
  2. Lucas, A.H.S.; Frost., C. (1895). "Preliminary notice of certain new species of lizards from central Australia". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 7: 264–269.
  3. "Crenadactylus hornis". The Reptile Database. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
  4. Doughty, P.; Ellis, R.J.; Oliver, P.M. (15 September 2016). "Many things come in small packages: Revision of the clawless geckos (Crenadactylus: Diplodactylidae) of Australia". Zootaxa. 4168 (2): 239. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4168.2.2. ISSN 1175-5334.
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