0. 27, pp. 305-314 15 August 1975 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON A NEW SPECIES OF THE GENUS ARISTELLIGER (SAURIA: GEKKONIDAE) FROM THE CAICOS ISLANDS By Albert Schwartv; and Ronald I. Crombie Miami-Dade Community College, Miami, Florida 33167, and National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560 The gekkonid lizard genus Aristelliger Cope has its dis-tributional center in the West Indies. The most recent review of the genus (Hecht 1951) recognizes five species: 1) A. georgeensis Bocourt in Belize and the islands off the Central American coast from Isla Cozumel to Isla San Andres; 2) A. praesignis Hallowell on Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, the Swan Islands, the Pedro and Morant Cays; 3) A. cochranae Grant on Navassa Island, Hispaniola (including He de la Gonave), as well as Great Inagua in the southern Bahamas; 4) A. lar Cope on Hispaniola, and 5) an unnamed species from the Caicos Islands. In addition to these extant forms, Hecht (1951: 8) named A. titan, an extinct giant species from Pleistocene or sub-Recent deposits in Jamaica (where the liv-ing form is A. praesignis). There has been little subsequent taxonomic work done on the genus and Hecht's arrangement has remained intact (Wermuth 1965) except for Schwartz's (1968: 261, footnote) decision to regard harhouri as a species distinct from A. cochranae. The undescribed species from the Caicos Islands has remained so. Cochran (1934: 5) first reported Aristelliger (as A. prae-signis) from Six Hill Cay off South Caicos; the record is based on three specimens collected by Paul Bartsch. Hecht (1951: 24-25) noted the existence of a new species of Aristel-liger on the Caicos Islands but did not name it. Rabb and 27— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 88, 1975 (305)
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