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Reptilia    Squamata (part-other lizards)    Sphaerodactylidae  
Ocellated Gecko
Sphaerodactylus argus Gosse, 1850
SFEER-oh-DAK-til-us — AR-gus
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SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Native to Cuba, Jamaica, and The Bahamas. It was introduced via cargo during the 1940s and is established on Key West and Stock Island, Monroe County, Florida (Savage, 1954, Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 57: 326–334; Duellman and Schwartz, 1958, Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History. Biological Sciences. 3: 181–324; Wilson and Porras, 1983, University of Kansas Special Publication : 1–89; Lawson et al., 1991, Herpetological Review 22: 11–12; Krysko and Sheehy, 2005, Caribbean Journal of Science 41: 169–172; Alfonso and Krysko, 2019, Sphaerodactylus argus argus. Pages 345–346 in Krysko et al. (Editors) Amphibians and Reptiles of Florida. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida). The English name West Caribbean Ocellated Geckolet is used by Hedges et al. (2019, Caribbean Herpetology (67): 1–53). (Krysko, Kenneth and Travis W. Taggart. 2025. Established Exotic Species. Pages 64-87 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

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Open icons indicate questionable records, including those with coordinate uncertainty greater than 10,000 m (approximately 6 miles). Click a marker to view metadata.
Occurrences:; 731 Total; 673 Museum; 58 Other

The locality database contains 8,094,832 records, and geographic and taxonomic errors exist. Logged-in, registered users may report a potential issue directly from the marker popup.
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Province/State Distribution:
United States: Florida

Taxonomic Etymology:
A spotted gecko Named for a many-eyed mythological figure.
Sphaerodactylus — From Greek sphaira (σφαῖρα), “sphere,” and daktylos (δάκτυλος), “finger.” The name means “spherical finger,” referring to the rounded toe tips of these small geckos.
argus — Refers to Argus Panoptes, the many-eyed giant from Greek mythology. The name alludes to the ocelli (eye-like spots) on the lizard’s body and tail.

First instance(s) of published English names:
West Caribbean Ocellated Geckolet (Sphaerodactylus argus: Hedges, S. Blair, Robert Powell, Robert W. Henderson, Sarah Hanson, and John C. Murphy. 2019. Definition of the Caribbean Islands biogeographic region, with checklist and recommendations for standardized common names of amphibians and reptiles. Caribbean Herpetology (67):1–53);


Selected References:
1850 Gosse, Philip H. Description of a new genus and six new species of saurian reptiles. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 2(6):344-348
1954 Savage, Jay M. Notulae herpetologicae- 1-7. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 57(3):326-334
1958 Duellman, William E. and Albert Schwartz. Amphibians and reptiles of southern Florida. Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History. Biological Sciences. 3(5):181–324
1962 King, F. Wayne. Systematics of Lesser Antillean Lizards of the genus Sphaerodactylus. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 7(1):1-52
1973 Schwartz, Albert. Sphaerodactylus.. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (142):1-2
1983 Wilson, Larry D. and Louis Porras. The ecological impact of man on the South Florida herpetofauna. University of Kansas Special Publication 9(9):1-89
1991 Lawson, Robin, Philip G. Frank, and David L. Martin. A new gecko to the United States herpetofauna, with notes on geckoes of the Florida Keys. Herpetological Review 22(1):11-12
2019 Hedges, S. Blair, Robert Powell, Robert W. Henderson, Sarah Hanson, and John C. Murphy. Definition of the Caribbean Islands biogeographic region, with checklist and recommendations for standardized common names of amphibians and reptiles. Caribbean Herpetology (67):1–53

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