Thecadactylus rapicauda Houttuyn 1782
Creators: name: Ribeiro-Júnior, Marco A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Phyllodactylidae
Thecadactylus
Thecadactylus rapicauda

description: Thecadactylus rapicauda (Houttuyn, 1782)
Type-locality. West-Indies, restricted by Smith & Taylor (1950) to Chichén Itzá, Mexico, and changed to Paramaribo, Suriname, by Hoogmoed (1973).
Pertinent taxonomic references. Houttuyn (1782), Schneider (1792), Daudin (1802), Cuvier (1816), Bory de St. Vincent (1828), Duméril & Bibron (1836), Fitzinger (1843), Gray (1845), Hallowel (1854), Guichenot (1855), Schlegel (1858), Boulenger (1885), Boettger (1893), Smith & Taylor (1950), Cunha (1961), Vanzolini (1968), Hoogmoed (1973), McBee et al. (1984), Schwartz & Henderson (1991), Ávila-Pires (1995), Vitt & Zani (1997), Russell & Bauer (2002), Kronauer et al. (2005), Bergmann & Russell (2003, 2007), Gamble et al. (2011b), K ӧhler & Vesely (2011).
Distribution and habitat. Thecadactylus rapicauda is distributed from southern North America, through Central America and Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, to northern South America, occurring in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, British Virgin Islands, United States Virgin Islands, Netherlands Antilles, Saint Barthelemy, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Guadaloupe, Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Grenada, Curacao, Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, and Colombia (Fig. 3 —shows primarily the South American part of this distribution). In Brazil it occurs only in Amazonia, and it is known from the states of Amapá, Pará, Maranhão, Amazonas and Roraima, with an eastern Amazonian distribution, and restricted in the west to lower Japurá, Purus and Madeira rivers (Fig 3). Thecadactylus rapicauda is arboreal/scansorial and nocturnal, inhabits primary, secondary and varzea forests, patches of forest in open savannas, caves, xerophytic environments, and perianthropic areas not far from forest (Kappler 1887; Barbour 1930a; 1930b; 1935; 1937; Gaige 1938; Smith 1938; Beebe 1944; Swanson 1945; Marcuzzi, 1954; Maslin 1963; Roze 1964; Duellman 1965; 1966; Vanzolini 1968; Donoso-Barros, 1968; Meyer & Wilson, 1973; Bullock & Evans 1990; Ávila-Pires 1995; Vitt & Zani 1998; Turvey & Cooper 1999; Howard et al. 2001; Molina et al. 2004). It is usually found on tree and palm trunks (under bark), and in man-made structures, from close to the ground to 6 meters high (Ruthven 1922; Barbour 1930a; 1930b; 1935; 1937; Marcuzzi 1954; Test et al. 1966; Donoso-Barros 1968; Hoogmoed 1973; Rivero-Blanco & Dixon 1979; Gasc 1981; 1990; Bullock & Evans 1990; Rand & Myers 1990; Hoogmoed & Ávila-Pires 1991; Martins 1991; Ávila-Pires 1995; Gorzula & Senaris 1999; Vitt & Zani 1998; Howard et al. 2001). It is also found on branches and bromeliad leaves (Russell & Bauer 2002), in fallen tree trunks, rock crevices, lianas and on understory vegetation (Barbour 1930a; 1930b; 1935; 1937; Beebe 1944; Ávila-Pires 1995; Vitt & Zani 1997— identified as eastern T. rapicauda; Vitt et al. 1999; Ribeiro-Júnior et al. 2006; Vitt et al. 2008).
description: Published as part of Ribeiro-Júnior, Marco A., 2015, Catalogue of distribution of lizards (Reptilia: Squamata) from the Brazilian Amazonia. II. Gekkonidae, Phyllodactylidae, Sphaerodactylidae, pp. 1-55 in Zootaxa 3981 (1) on pages 7-8, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3981.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/289009