The Chilean marked gecko (Garthia gaudichaudii) is a species of lizard in the family Phyllodactylidae. The species is endemic to Chile, in the Chilean matorral ecoregion (Hogan & World Wildlife Fund 2013). There are three recognized subspecies.
Taxonomy This organism was first described by André Marie Constant Duméril and Gabriel Bibron in the year 1836 as a new species of lizard, Gymnodactylus gaudichaudii. Over the years the species has been assigned to several different genera by various authorities. Most recently, it has been placed in the genus Garthia.
Etymology The specific name, gaudichaudii, is in honor of French botanist Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Homonota gaudichaudii, p. 99). The subspecific name, klugei, is in honor of American herpetologist Arnold G. Kluge.Donoso-Barros R (1970). "Catálogo herpetológico chileno". Boletín del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santiago de Chile 31: 49–124. (Garthia gaudichaudii klugei, new subspecies, p. 83). (in Spanish).
Geographic range G. gaudichaudii is found in the Chilean regions of Antofagasta, Atacama, Coquimbo, and Valparaíso.
Habitat The preferred natural habitats of G. gaudichaudii are desert and shrubland, at altitudes from sea level to .
Behavior G. gaudichaudii is terrestrial, saxicolous, and nocturnal.
Reproduction G. gaudichaudii is oviparous.
Subspecies Three subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.
Garthia gaudichaudii dorbignii Garthia gaudichaudii gaudichaudii Garthia gaudichaudii klugei
Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Garthia.
References
External links Hogan, C. Michael, & World Wildlife Fund (2013). Chilean matorral. ed. M.McGinley. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC Encyclopedia of Life (2013). Homonota gaudichaudii
Further reading Donoso-Barros R, Vanzolini PE (1965). "Garthia. El genero Garthia Donoso-Barros & Vanzolini y los geckos gimnodactylides afines ". Noticiario Mensual del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santiago de Chile 103: 5–8. (Garthia gaudichaudii, new combination, p. 6). (in Spanish). Duméril AMC, Bibron G (1836). Erpétologie générale ou Histoire naturelle complète des Reptiles, Tome troisième [General Herpetology or Complete Natural History of the Reptiles, Volume 3]. Paris: Roret. iv + 517 pp. (Gymnodactylus gaudichaudii, new species, pp. 413–414). (in French). Reyes-Olivares, Claudio; Campos-Cifuentes, Fabián (2019). "First report of tail regeneration rate in the endemic Chilean gecko Garthia gaudichaudii (Duméril & Bibron 1836) (Squamata, Phyllodactylidae)". Boletín Chileno de Herpetología 6: 19–22. (in English, with an abstract in Spanish).