THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY
Loading taxon account
Retrieving account information and occurrence data...

Reptilia    Squamata (part-other lizards)    Sphaerodactylidae  
Reef Gecko
Sphaerodactylus notatus Baird, 1859 “1858”
SFEER-oh-DAK-til-us — noh-TAY-tus
Taxon Links
iNaturalist
The Reptile Database
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
NatureServe
GenBank
USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

(,   Museum Voucher) (,   Observation) (,   Literature Record), (,   Citizen Science), (  Fossil)
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:; 1,365 Total; 1,226 Museum; 139 Other

The locality database contains 8,094,850 records, and geographic and taxonomic errors exist. Logged-in, registered users may report a potential issue directly from the marker popup.
Shaded range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH. (Version: 2023.04.10.13.21.19)
Download map data (GeoJSON):
Polygon Range File Museum Literature Fossil Personal Observation Citizen Science

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Florida

Taxonomic Etymology:
A small southeastern gecko Named for its spotted pattern.
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.
notatus — From Latin notatus, meaning “marked” or “spotted.” Refers to the small spots or blotches on the back or flanks.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Florida Gecko (Sphaerodactylus notatus: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Reef Gecko (Sphaerodactylus notatus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Brown-speckled Geckolet (Sphaerodactylus notatus: 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:
1859 "1858" Baird, Spencer F. Description of new genera and species of North American lizards in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 10:253-256
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
1970 Schwartz, Albert. Sphaerodactylus notatus.. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (90):1-2
1973 Schwartz, Albert. Sphaerodactylus.. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (142):1-2
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

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 09 October 2026 23:53 CT
Site concept, design, and programming: Travis W. Taggart (CNAH President/Executive Director).
CNAH usage since 31 August 2026: 248,583 human page views • 136,346 visitors • 124,768 file accesses