Jaragua Sphaero
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| Sphaerodactylus ariasae Hedges & Thomas, 2001 |
The Jaragua Sphaero (Sphaerodactylus ariasae) is a gecko species in the Sphaerodactylus (dwarf gecko) genus. It is one of the world's two smallest known reptiles (the other is the S. parthenopion, native to the British Virgin Islands). The Jaragua Sphaero measures 16 mm from the snout to the base of the tail and can fit on a quarter. Its range is believed to be limited to Jaragua National Park in the extreme southwest of the Dominican Republic and the nearby forested Beata Island (Isla Beata) in Haiti.
The species was first described by Blair Hedges, a Pennsylvania State University evolutionary biologist, and Richard Thomas, a University of Puerto Rico biologist, in the December 2001 issue of the Caribbean Journal of Science.
The Jaragua Sphaero's binomial name was in honor of herpetologist Yvonne Arias, the leader of the Dominican conservation organization Grupo Jaragua, which was instrumental in securing the environmental protection of Jaragua National Park.
