Added 23 September 2001. Last updated 21 February 2026: added details for L. sanctaemartae and L. xanthostigma.
The genus Lepidoblepharis comprises several species distributed throughout the Central and northern South America, from Nicaragua and Costa Rica to Colombia and Ecuador. All are small and few if any are seen in the pet trade. There is little information readily available in print or on the Internet on this genus, and this page is included mainly for completeness.
Peracca gave the characteristics of the genus as follows: toes thin, compressed at the tips, with the last two phalanges raised, forming an angle with the basal portion of the digits, covered below by equal transverse lamellae; claws on all digits are entirely hidden in a large, compressed sheath, formed by five scales, opening below; pupil round; lower eyelid rudimentary, upper eyelid laminar, protruding outward in a crescent shape, and not covering the eye; body is subcylindrical, covered above by granules and below by cycloid scales; tail is cylindrical and pointed; parietals are fused; vertebrae are procoelous.
The only care details I have found so far for this genus are included in the section on Sphaerodactylinae in “Geckos” by Henkel/Schmidt, and even then the details are restricted to the basic lifestyle of the genus and the corresponding terrarium required (here, A and III/IV, which in the book’s schema means that the geckos are terrestrial and need a planted rainforest setup).
QUICK INDEX |
||
L. festae, Brown Dwarf Gecko |
||
L. grandis, Greater Dwarf Gecko |
||
L. montecanoensis, Paraguanen Ground Gecko |
||
|
|
|
Scientific Name |
Common Name |
Distribution |
Size |
Notes |
|
||||
|
Ecuador |
?" |
? |
|
|
Columbia |
?" |
? |
|
|
Ecuador |
|
|
|
|
Columbia |
?" |
? |
|
|
Panama |
|
|
|
Brown Dwarf Gecko |
Ecuador, Peru, Brazil inc. Amazon, Colombia |
TL approx 6 cm, SVL approx 3 cm |
Capo piccolo, spesso; muso subacuto, corto, eguagliante in lunghezza la distanza che intercede tra l’occhio ed il meato uditivo ed una volta e mezza circa il diametro orizzontale dell'orbita; regione superiore del muso e del capo convessa in ogni senso; apertura uditiva piccolissima, rotonda, grande all’incirca due volte la narice. Corpo mediocre, subrotondo in sezione; estremità di moderata lunghezza, gracili e snelle; dita assai lunghe, cilindriche a ie o alla base, compresse alla estremità, ricoperte inferiormente da lamelle trasversali, tutte eguali tra di loro e solo decrescenti in larghezza dalla base vado del dito alla estremità. Unghie a tutte le dita, completamente è nascoste da un astuccio costituito da una lunga e stretta scaglia mediana superiore e da due scaglie laterali sovrapposte la superiore all’inferiore; il margine superiore della scaglia laterale superiore rimane coperto dal margine laterale della scaglia mediana superiore. Rostrale assai grande, con un incavo a V nella sua parte superiore ed una incisione mediana che partendo dal margine posteriore occupa tutta la lunghezza dell’incavo sopradetto. Narice aprentesi tra il rostrale, il primo labiale, tre scudetti sopranasali, di cui i due posteriori grandi come le scaglie granulari dalla parte superiore del capo. Tre labiali superiori, di cui il primo lungo quanto gli altri due presi insieme, percorsi longitudinalmente da una carena parallela al margine del labbro; mentale larghissimo, foggiato a V coll’apice rivolto in avanti, seguito da due labiali (inferiori) di cui il secondo piccolissimo. Palpebra circolare, quasi invisibile nella parte anteriore, inferiore e posteriore dell’occhio, sviluppatissima e sporgente in forma di lamina semilunare superiormente; il margine libero di essa è visibilmente denticolato e coperto anteriormente da un largo scudetto seguito, sul margine libero della palpebra, da una serie di scudetti più piccoli; la rimanente parte della palpebra è coperta, come la faccia superiore del capo, la faccia superiore e laterale del corpo e la faccia superiore delle estremità, da minute scaglie rilevate e sub-coniche in contatto tra di loro ma non ricoprentesi. La gola è coperta da minute scaglie granulari, il ventre da larghe scaglie cicloidali embricate. La faccia superiore della coda è coperta di scaglie mediocri romboidali, liscie, leggermente embricate, più piccole delle ventrali; la sua faccia inferiore è coperta da scaglie cicloidali grandi come le ventrali, di cui la serie mediana è più grande di circa il doppio delle serie laterali. L'animale è di un color nero brunastro superiormente : sull’occipite notasi una macchia bruno chiara in forma di W, ed una sottile striscia dello stesso colore parte dall’occhio e si estende lateralmente lungo il collo perdendosi sui fianchi. Gola di color brunastro più chiara nel centro, macchiata irregolarmente di bianco sudicio. Parti inferiori di un nero acciaio scuro. [SOURCE: Peracca 1897] |
|
Greater Dwarf Gecko |
Ecuador |
?" |
? |
|
? |
Brazil inc. Amazon, French Guiana |
?" |
Click here for a picture. |
|
Spotted Dwarf Gecko |
Brazil inc. Amazon, N Peru |
?" |
? |
|
|
Columbia, NW Ecuador |
?" |
? |
|
|
Costa Rica, Columbia |
?" |
? |
|
|
Columbia |
Avg SVL approx 2 cm |
Description: 8-10 lamellae beneath 4th toe; dorsal scales flattened and overlapping; mental large with transverse posterior margin nearly straight, lateral edges almost parallel, gular granules minute, uniform; 1st sublabial large, nearly as long as the first two supralabials; 18-20 ventral scales in diagonal row at midbody; tail with pale orange dot at tip. Differs from L. sanctaemartae via extremely large 1st sublabial, strigate supraciliaries, lack of cleft on posterior edge of mental, higher number of ventrals, and tail coloration. [SOURCE: Lamar] |
|
Paraguanan Ground Gecko |
Venezuela |
|
Common name is derived from its locality in Venezuela - not to be confused with Paraguay, the country. This species is considered endangered. |
|
|
Colombia |
|
Described in 2016: see Reptile Database entry. |
|
|
Ecuador |
?" |
See the EMBL database entry for the uncertain status of this species. |
|
|
SW Columbia |
?" |
|
|
|
Panama |
|
Described in 2015: see Reptile Database entry. |
|
|
Ecuador, Columbia |
?" |
?. |
|
|
Panama (Barro Colorado Island) Columbia (Santa Mara Mtns) |
SVL approx 2 cm |
Description: Size small. Head about one-fourth of the length, exclusive of tail, its width five-sevenths of its length; snout less than twice the diameter of the orbit, equal to or a little shorter than the distance between the ear and orbit; ear opening moderate. Body depressed. Scalation details: dorsal scales rounded, imbricate, smooth. Rostral large, cleft above, bounding the nostril anteriorly. Supralabials 3-4, the first very large; sublabials three, the first the largest. Mental large, deeply grooved; gular scales small, tubercular ; abdominal scales rounded, smooth, imbricate, a little larger than the dorsals. Caudal scales rounded, smooth, imbricate. Coloration: male dark brown above with a yellowish white head band which begins at the tip of the snout, extends to the orbit along the canthus rostralis and is continued from the posterior mar- gin of the orbit across the temporal and occipital regions. Belly, chin and throat white or pale yellow, the scales of the belly, chin and throat margined with small brown spots, those of the pelvic region and sometimes those of the axillary region more generally spotted. Posterior side of the thighs dark brown with large white spots. Female paler, the upper region of the head pale brown with an indistinct paler band across the occipital and temporal regions. Throat and lips banded with white and brown. [SOURCE: Ruthven] |
|
|
Panama |
|
Described in 2015: see Reptile Database entry. |
|
|
Colombia (Cordillera central) |
?" |
Description: granular or subconical dorsal scales; 10–13 subdigital lamellae under 4th toe; postmental border slightly or strongly projecting backwards, followed by 2–5 (usually 3) postmentals; and 20–31 scales across snout at lst/2nd supralabial suture. [SOURCE: Calderón-Espinosa & Medina-Rangel] |
|
Orange-tailed Gecko, Litter Gecko |
Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama Colombia |
|
Description: head slightly more than one and one-half times as long as broad; snout as long as the distance from the ear to the orbit. Scalation details: dorsal scales very small, rounded, slightly tubercular; nasals followed by a group of three small post-nasals; mental moderate in size, followed by several small scales; 5 supralabials, 4 sublabials; ventral scales very much larger than the dorsals. [SOURCE: Noble] |
|
“Viaggio del Dr. Enrico Festa nell’Ecuador e regioni vicine [Travels of Dr Enrico Festa in Ecuador and neighbouring regions]”, M G Peracca, Bolletino dei Musei di Zoologia ed Anatomia comparata della R. Università di Torino, Vol XII, 16 August 1897. Gives definition of genus and details of L. festae.
William Lamar
“A new.genus and species of lizard from Colombia, with remarks on the genus Pseudogonatodes”, Alexander G Ruthven, Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology Number 21, University of Michigan, February 10 1916. Gives details of L. sanctaemartae.
“A new Lepidoblepharis lizard (Squamata: Sphaerodactylidae) from the Colombian Guyana shield”, Martha Lucia Calderón-Espinosa and Guido Fabian Medina-Rangel, Zootaxa 4067 (2), 2016. Gives details of L. williamsi. (Abstract only read).
Back to "Ball-Toed" Geckos | Back to Geckos | Back to Lizards | Back to Reptiles | Back to Homepage