Aristelliger lar, also known commonly as the Hispaniolan giant gecko and the spotted Caribbean gecko, is a species of lizard in the family Sphaerodactylidae. The species is endemic to the island of Hispaniola.
Etymology The specific name, lar, refers to a Lar, an ancient Roman household god.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Aristelliger lar, p. 151).
Geographic range A. lar is found in disjunct populations on Hispaniola, in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti.Schwartz A, Thomas R (1975). A Check-list of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 216 pp. (Aristelliger lar, p. 108).
Habitat The preferred natural habitat of A. lar is forest, but is also found in man-made structures in or near forest, such as houses and hotels.
Description A. lar attains a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of about .Boulenger GA (1885). Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume I. Geckonidæ .... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 436 pp. + Plates I–XXXII. (Aristelliger lar, p. 147).
Reproduction A. lar is oviparous.
References
Further reading Bauer AM, Russell AP (1993). "Aristelliger lar ". Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (570): 1–3. Cope ED (1862). "On the Genera Panolopus, Centropyx, Aristelliger and Sphærodactylus ". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 13: 494–500. (Aristelliger lar, new species, p. 497). Hecht MK (1951). "Fossil Lizards of the West Indian Genus Aristelliger (Gekkonidae)". American Museum Novitates (1538): 1–33. (Aristelliger titan, new species). Schwartz A, Henderson RW (1991). Amphibians and Reptiles of the West Indies: Descriptions, Distributions, and Natural History. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press. 720 pp. . (Aristelliger lar, p. 363).