B R E V I R A. Museum of Comparative Zoology us ISSN 0006-9698 , , ^^ a nT-> Cambridge, Mass. 2 February 1994 Number 496 ' A NEW SPHAERODACTYLUS (SAURIA: GEKKONIDAE) FROM BEQUIA, GRENADA BANK, LESSER ANTILLES James Lazell' Abstract. A new species of Sphaerodactylus of small size (25 mm SVL) is described from Bequia, Grenada Bank, Lesser Antilles. It is without keeled scales; with large, subimbricate lateral dorsals (10-12 in standard distance at midbody) and slightly smaller, convex middorsals (12-15 in standard distance); with large, imbricate, cycloid ventrals (8 in standard distance); and with a blotchy, obsolete pattern in somber colors. Its discovery fills a long-standing biogeographical gap. / believe sufficient collecting will demonstrate sphaerodactyls to be present. Wayne King (1962) INTRODUCTION The small geckos of the genus Sphaerodactylus are nearly ubiq-uitous in the West Indies. They occur on tiny fragments of land less than a hectare in area (e.g., Watson Rock in the British Virgin Islands: Museum of Comparative Zoology [MCZ] 176729). There are dozens of species on some of the larger Greater Antilles (Haas, 1991). The absence of a species o{ Sphaerodactylus from the Gre-nada Bank, southernmost of the Lesser Antilles, has long been a sore point for biogeographers (King, 1962; Williams, 1989; Haas, 1991). In 1964, I first went down through the Grenadines— small is-lands on the northern two-thirds of the Grenada Bank— collecting specimens. I travelled on the sloop Flamingo, a St. Vincent gov-ernment fishing vessel. My trip was arranged by Dr. I. Earle Kirby, then St. Vincent government veterinarian, and always an avid naturalist. In November 1989 I returned with Thomas Sinclair, of The Conservation Agency, and Christopher Luginbuhl, of the 'Associate, Department of Herpetology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, and The Conservation Agency, 6 Swinburne St., Jamestown, Rhode Island 02835.
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