TAMAÑO MÁXIMO DE LA SALAMANQUESA DE CABO SAN LUCAS, Phyllodactylus unctus

Gerardo Marrón; Adam G. Clause; Emmanuel Javier Vázquez

doi:10.22201/fc.25942158e.2025.4.1378

Authors

Gerardo Marrón UABCS https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2385-1329
Adam G. Clause Department of Herpetology, San Diego Natural History Museum https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4605-4368
Emmanuel Javier Vázquez Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas, México

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22201/fc.25942158e.2025.4.1378

Keywords:

Endemic herpetofauna, morphometrics, Phyllodactylidae, Sexual dimorphism, Squamata

Abstract

The San Lucan Leaf-toed Gecko, Phyllodactylus unctus, is endemic to the Cape Region, Mexico. The maximum size of the species has been inconsistently documented, and existing data are suggestive of male-biased sexual size dimorphism. In 2024 and 2025, we found two adult female P. unctus at private ranches west of La Ventana, municipality of La Paz, Baja California Sur. Both females had snout-to-vent lengths of 60 mm, equaling the largest recorded male of the species. The first female weighed of 4.8 g, and the second had a total length of 128 mm; both measurements are the largest reported for the species to date. Although the data are limited, these findings are inconsistent with sexual size dimorphism, because the size of these females is comparable to that of the largest recorded male. Furthermore, these specimens are consistent with a prior assertion that P. unctus from our sampling area reach larger sizes than those from other populations, but more study is needed.

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