Yellow-headed gecko

Gonatodes albogularis, which has been called a number of vernacular names in English, is a smallish species of gecko found in warm parts of Central and South America, Cuba, Hispaniola and Jamaica. They prefer to live in tropical dry forest habitats. It is sexually dimorphic: the male is colourful, while the female is a more drab grey. The fingers do not have lamellar pads for climbing smooth surfaces like many other geckos but instead have normal claws like most lizards. At one time the species had a breeding population in southern Florida, especially Key West, but this population appears to have died out by the early 1990s. They are believed to be able to tell the difference between brightness and hues of conspecifics. Males are incredibly aggressive with territory defense against both other males and potential predators.

Taxonomy

This gecko was first scientifically described by André Marie Constant Duméril and Gabriel Bibron in 1836 using a few specimens sent to Paris by Auguste Plée from Martinique. They also were able to examine numerous specimens collected in Cuba by the anarchist polymath Ramón de la Sagra, who had arrived in Paris from that island the previous year with many objects of natural history.

Gonatodes albogularis is the type species for the genus Gonatodes, because when Leopold Fitzinger defined the genus in 1843 he included three species in it: G. gravenhorstii, G. laevis and G. albogularis, because the first two names were nomina nuda, G. albogularis remains the only valid name for a type species by monotypy.