A NEW SPECIES OF GIANT GECKO OF THE GENUS TARENTOLA (REPTILIA, SQUAMATA, GEKKONIDAE) FROM JAMAICA

A new species of gecko of the genus Tarentola is described from a sing le specimen in the herpetological collection of the National Museums o f Scotland. The gecko was part of a presentation made in 1884 by a res ident of Jamaica, and is presumed to be a Jamaican endemic, possibly n ow extinct. Though clearly a member of the predominantly African genus Tarentola, the new species bears no specific affinity with the only o ther known New World species, and is very distinct in lepidosis from s imilar African taxa. A complete description is given for this new spec ies, and it is named Tarentola albertschwartzi. Its possible relations hip to the fossil Aristelliger titan Hecht, 1951, is discussed.