Record breaker

I always try to make blog entries interesting and for the most part try to achieve this by providing a bit of information or an interesting picture of organisms which common or rare have a unique or fascinating quality. Often a number of other species share these qualities but sometimes I get to tell you about things which surpass all or almost all others in a certain regard. You know the rarest plant in the world or the world's second biggest fish, that sort of thing.

This is one of those times as the animal above may be the smallest land vertebrate in the world.
Its (almost certainly) some sort of Sphaerodactylus gecko and the holder of the aforementioned record is Sphaerodactylus parthenopion...which is present where this was taken. Truth be told I'm not sure what it is. It is most likely S. macrolepsis which is a little bigger and also found here but absent a decent field guide I'm basically guessing. Whatever it is it is absolutely tiny - something the extreme macro I got from my Fuji e900 with add on lenses doesn't really do justice to.

One thing to note is the round pupils which distinguish Sphaeros from other geckos like this little fellow photographed on the same kitchen table. Also check out the black eyespot on the top of the head. This seems to be fairly common in this group of lizards.