Genus of common geckos
Hemidactylus is a genus of the common gecko family , Gekkonidae .[3] [4] It has 195[5] described species , newfound ones being described every few years. These geckos are found in all the tropical regions of the world, extending into the subtropical parts of Africa and Europe . They excel in colonizing oceanic islands by rafting on flotsam , and are for example found across most of Polynesia . In some archipelagoes , cryptic species complexes are found.[2] Geckos like to live in and out of houses. They have been introduced to Australia .[citation needed ]
This species is closely related to the genus Gehyra , which belongs to the same family in Gekkonidae.
The species are typically known as house geckos , due to their readiness to adapt to and coexist with humans, and can be easily encountered in human habitations.
Taxonomy This genus was originally established by Lorenz Oken in 1817 for the species at that time known as Hemidactylus tuberculosus , and now described as the tropical house gecko (Hemidactylus mabouia ).[2] The species name in turn comes from the Greek words ἡμι hemi "half" and δάκτυλος dáktylos "fingers" because its toes has split or "half" lamella underneath them.[6]
Evolution The origin of the genus Hemidactylus is still unclear as the higher level phylogeny is not well resolved. Moreover, much of the diversity in this group still remains to be discovered.
Feces A house gecko will usually confine its excretions to one area of a house. This is sometimes considered a nuisance by home owners, and may stain certain surfaces.[7] The feces are approximately five (5) millimeters in length, two (2) millimeters wide, and dark brown (almost black) in color.
Description Foot upperside (left) and underside of the Oriental leaf-toed gecko (H. bowringii ). The dorsal lepidosis is either uniform or heterogeneous. The pupil of the eye is vertical. Males have pre-anal or femoral pores . Each finger or toe has a slender distal clawed joint , angularly bent and rising from within the extremity of the dilated portion.[8]
The fingers and toes are free, or more or less webbed, and dilated; underneath they bear two[citation needed ] rows of lamellae in a pattern resembling a paripinnate compound leaf .[8] This leads to their other and more ambiguous common name, "leaf-toed geckos " , used mainly for species from South Asia and its surroundings to prevent confusion with the many "leaf-toed" Gekkota not in Hemidactylus .
Underside of a leaf-toed Gecko. Some members of the genus, such as H. platyurus , are able to run quadrupedally across water by a partially surface tension -dependent mechanism distinct from the bipedal gait of basilisks .[9]
Communication Like many other gecko species, species in the genus Hemidactylus are able to communicate with distinct vocalizations. Depending on the species, their vocalizations range from quiet clicks to short squeaks and chirps. For example, the Asian common house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus ) is notable for its distinctive chirping.
Species Juvenile Mediterranean house gecko (H. turcicus ) Juvenile Mediterranean house gecko (H. turcicus ) Adult giant leaf-toed gecko (H. giganteus ) from Dindigul (Tamil Nadu , India ) Common lizard in Chennai , India Hemidactylus aaronbaueri Giri, 2008 – Aaron Bauer's house geckoHemidactylus acanthopholis Mirza & Sanap, 2014 Hemidactylus achaemenidicus Torki, 2019 Hemidactylus adensis Šmíd et al., 2014 Hemidactylus aemulus Kumar, A. Srinivasulu & C. Srinivasulu, 2022 Hemidactylus afarensis Šmíd et al., 2020 – Afar geckoHemidactylus agrius Vanzolini , 1978 – country leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus albituberculatus J.-F. Trape, 2012 Hemidactylus albivertebralis J.-F. Trape & Böhme, 2012 Hemidactylus albofasciatus Grandison & Soman, 1963 – white-striped viper geckoHemidactylus albopunctatus Loveridge , 1947 – white-spotted gecko, white-spotted leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus alfarraji Šmid, Shobrak, Wilms, Joger & Carranza, 2016 Hemidactylus alkiyumii Carranza & Arnold , 2012 Hemidactylus almakhwah Šmíd, Uvizl, Shobrak, Busais, Salim, R. Algethami, A. Algethami, Alanazi, Alsubaie, Rovatsos, Nováková, Mazuch & Carranza, 2022 Hemidactylus angulatus Hallowell , 1854Hemidactylus ansorgii Boulenger , 1901 – Nigerian leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus aporus Boulenger, 1906 – Annobon leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus aquilonius McMahan & Zug, 2007 Hemidactylus arnoldi Lanza , 1978 – Arnold's leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus asirensis Šmid, Shobrak, Wilms, Joger & Carranza, 2016 Hemidactylus awashensis Šmíd et al., 2014 Hemidactylus barbierii Sindaco, Razzetti & Ziliani, 2007 Hemidactylus barbouri Loveridge, 1942 – Barbour’s leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus barodanus Boulenger, 1901 – enigmatic geckoHemidactylus bavazzanoi Lanza, 1978 – Somali banded gecko, Bavazzano’s geckoHemidactylus bayonii Bocage , 1893 – Barboza's leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus benguellensis Bocage , 1893 – Benguela house geckoHemidactylus beninensis Bauer, Tchibozo, Pauwels & Lenglet, 2006 Hemidactylus biokoensis Wagner, Leaché & Fujita, 2014 – Bioko leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus boavistensis Boulenger, 1906 – Boa Vista leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus bouvieri (Bocourt , 1870) – Bouvier's leaf-toed gecko, Cape Verde leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus bowringii (Gray, 1845) – Oriental leaf-toed gecko, Bowring's gecko, Sikkimese dark-spotted gecko, Asian smooth geckoHemidactylus brasilianus Amaral , 1935 – Amaral's Brazilian geckoHemidactylus brookii Gray, 1845 – Brooke's house gecko, spotted house geckoHemidactylus carivoensis Lobón-Rovira, Conradie, Iglesias, R. Ernst, L. Veríssimo, Baptista & Pinto, 2021 Hemidactylus chikhaldaraensis Agarwal, Bauer, Giri & Khandekar, 2019 – Chikhaldara brookiish geckoHemidactylus chipkali Mirza & Raju, 2017 – Central Indian leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus cinganji Lobón-Rovira, Conradie, Iglesias, R. Ernst, L. Veríssimo, Baptista & Pinto, 2021 Hemidactylus citernii Boulenger, 1912 – speedy leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus coalescens Wagner, Leaché & Fujita, 2014 Hemidactylus craspedotus Mocquard , 1890 – Mocquard's house gecko, frilled gecko, frilled house geckoHemidactylus curlei Parker , 1942 – Parker's gecko, northern leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus dawudazraqi Moravec , Kratochvíl, Amr, Jandzik, Šmíd & Gvoždík, 2011Hemidactylus depressus Gray, 1842 – Sri Lankan leaf-nosed gecko, Kandyan geckoHemidactylus dracaenacolus Rösler & Wranik, 1999Hemidactylus easai S. Das, Pal, Siddharth, Palot, Deepak & Narayanan, 2022 Hemidactylus echinus O'Shaughnessy , 1875 – hedgehog leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus endophis Carranza & Arnold, 2012 Hemidactylus eniangii Wagner, Leaché & Fujita, 2014 Hemidactylus farasani Šmíd, Uvizl, Shobrak, Busais, Salim, R. Algethami, A. Algethami, Alanazi, Alsubaie, Rovatsos, Nováková, Mazuch & Carranza, 2022 – Farasan geckoHemidactylus fasciatus Gray, 1842 – banded leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus faustus Lobón-Rovira, Conradie, Iglesias, R. Ernst, L. Veríssimo, Baptista & Pinto, 2021 Hemidactylus festivus Carranza & Arnold, 2012 Hemidactylus flavicauda Lajmi, Giri, Singh & Agarwal, 2020 – Mahabubnagar yellow-tailed brookiish geckoHemidactylus flaviviridis Rüppell , 1835 – yellow-bellied gecko, northern house geckoHemidactylus forbesii Boulenger, 1899 – Socotra leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus foudaii S. Baha El Din, 2003 Hemidactylus fragilis Calabresi , 1915Hemidactylus frenatus Schlegel , 1836 – common house gecko, Asian house gecko, Pacific house geckoHemidactylus funaiolii Lanza, 1978 – Archer's post gecko, Kenya leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus garnotii A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron , 1836 – Indo-Pacific gecko, Garnot's house gecko, fox gecko, Assam greyish-brown geckoHemidactylus giganteus Stoliczka , 1871 – giant leaf-toed gecko, giant southern tree gecko, giant geckoHemidactylus gleadowi Murray , 1884 – Gleadow's house geckoHemidactylus gracilis Blanford , 1870 – graceful leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus gramineus Ceríaco, Bauer, Kusamba, Agarwal & Greenbaum, 2021 Hemidactylus granchii Lanza, 1978 – Granchi's leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus graniticolus Agarwal, Giri & Bauer, 2011 [10] Hemidactylus granosus Heyden , 1827Hemidactylus granti Boulenger, 1899 – Grant's leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus greeffii Bocage, 1886 – Greeff's gecko,[11] Greeff's giant gecko[12] Hemidactylus gujaratensis Giri, Bauer, Vyas & S. Patil, 2009 – Gujarat geckoHemidactylus hajarensis Carranza & Arnold, 2012 Hemidactylus hegdei Pal & Mirza, 2022 Hemidactylus hemchandrai Dandge & Tiple, 2015 Hemidactylus homoeolepis Blanford , 1881 – Arabian leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus hunae Deraniyagala , 1937 – spotted giant geckoHemidactylus imbricatus Bauer et al., 2008 – carrot-tailed viper geckoHemidactylus inexpectatus Carranza & Arnold, 2012 Hemidactylus inintellectus Sindaco, Ziliani, Razzetti, Pupin, Grieco, 2009 – Socotran rock geckoHemidactylus isolepis Boulenger, 1895 – scaly leaf-toed gecko, uniform-scaled geckoHemidactylus ituriensis Schmidt , 1919 – Ituri leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus jubensis Boulenger, 1895 – Ethiopian gecko, Mrioen leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus jumailiae Busais & Joger, 2011 Hemidactylus kamdemtohami Bauer & Pauwels, 2002 – Kamdem Toham's geckoHemidactylus kangerensis Mirza, Bhosale & R. Patil, 2017 Hemidactylus karenorum (Theobald , 1868) – Burmese spotted gecko, Burmese leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus kimbulae Amarasinghe, Karunarathna, P. Campbell, Madawala & de Silva, 2021 Hemidactylus klauberi Scortecci, 1948 Hemidactylus kolliensis Agarwal, Bauer, Giri & Khandekar, 2019 – Kolli rock geckoHemidactylus kundaensis Chirio & J.-F. Trape, 2012 Hemidactylus kushmorensis Murray, 1884 – Kushmore house geckoHemidactylus kyaboboensis Wagner, Leaché & Fujita, 2014 Hemidactylus laevis Boulenger, 1901 – common leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus lamaensis Ullenbruch, Grell & Böhme, 2010 Hemidactylus lankae Deraniyagala, 1953 – termite hill gecko, Sri Lankan leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus lanzai Šmíd et al., 2020 Hemidactylus laticaudatus L.G. Andersson , 1910 – Andersson's leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus lavadeserticus Moravec & Bohme, 1997 – Syrian house geckoHemidactylus lemurinus Arnold, 1980 – Dhofar leaf-toed gecko, Oman ghost leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus leschenaultii A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1836 – Leschenault's leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus longicephalus Bocage, 1873 Hemidactylus lopezjuradoi Arnold, Vasconcelos, Harris, Mateo & Carranza, 2008 (formerly in H. bouvieri )Hemidactylus luqueorum Carranza & Arnold, 2012 Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonnès, 1818) – tropical house gecko, Afro-American house gecko, cosmopolitan house geckoHemidactylus macropholis Boulenger, 1896 – Boulenger’s gecko, large-scaled leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus maculatus A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1836 – spotted leaf-toed gecko, giant spotted geckoHemidactylus mahonyi Adhikari, Achyuthan, Kumar, Khot, Shreeram & Ganesh, 2022 Hemidactylus makolowodei Bauer, LeBreton, Chirio, Ineich & Talla Kouete, 2006 Hemidactylus malcolmsmithi (Constable, 1949) – Malcolm's bow-fingered gecko,[11] Smith's bent-toed geckoHemidactylus mandebensis Šmíd et al., 2014 Hemidactylus masirahensis Carranza & Arnold, 2012 Hemidactylus matschiei (Tornier , 1901) – Togo leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus megalops Parker, 1932 – Parker's leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus mercatorius Gray, 1842 Hemidactylus mindiae S. Baha El Din, 2005 – Mount Sinai geckoHemidactylus minutus Vasconcelos & Carranza, 2014 Hemidactylus modestus (Günther , 1894) – moderate leaf-toed gecko, Tana River geckoHemidactylus montanus Busais & Joger, 2011 – mountain leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus mrimaensis Malonza & Bauer, 2014 – Kaya geckoHemidactylus muriceus W. Peters , 1870 – Guinea leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus murrayi Gleadow, 1887 – Murray's house geckoHemidactylus multisulcatus – Madurai rock geckoHemidactylus newtoni Ferreira, 1897 – Newton's leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus nicolauensis Vasconcelos, G. Köhler , Geniez & Crochet, 2020 Hemidactylus nzingae Ceríaco et al., 2020 – Queen Nzinga’s tropical geckoHemidactylus ophiolepis Boulenger, 1903 – snake-scaled leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus ophiolepoides Lanza, 1978 – Lanza's leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus oxyrhinus Boulenger, 1899 – sharp-nosed leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus paaragowli Srikanthan, Swamy, Mohan & Pal, 2018 – Travancore rock geckoHemidactylus paivae Ceríaco et al., 2020 – Paiva’s geckoHemidactylus pakkamalaiensis Narayanan, Christopher, Raman, Mukherjee, Prabhu, Lenin, Vimalraj & Deepak, 2023 Hemidactylus palaichthus Kluge , 1969 – Antilles leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus parvimaculatus Deraniyagala, 1953 – spotted house geckoHemidactylus paucifasciatus Mohapatra, Agarwal, Mohalik, Dutta & Khandekar, 2023 Hemidactylus pauciporosus Lanza, 1978 Hemidactylus paucituberculatus Carranza & Arnold, 2012 Hemidactylus persicus J. Anderson , 1872 – Persian leaf-toed gecko, Persian geckoHemidactylus pfindaensis Lobón-Rovira, Conradie, Iglesias, R. Ernst, L. Veríssimo, Baptista & Pinto, 2021 Hemidactylus pieresii Kelaart , 1852Hemidactylus platycephalus W. Peters, 1854 – tree gecko, flat-headed leaf-toed gecko, baobab geckoHemidactylus platyurus (Schneider , 1792) – flat-tailed house gecko, frilled house gecko, Asian house geckoHemidactylus porbandarensis Sharma, 1981 Hemidactylus prashadi M.A. Smith , 1935 – Bombay leaf-toed gecko, Prashad's geckoHemidactylus principensis Miller, Sellas & Drewes, 2012 Hemidactylus pseudomuriceus Henle & Böhme, 2003 [13] Hemidactylus pseudoromeshkanicus Torki, 2019 Hemidactylus puccionii Calabresi, 1927 – Zanzibar leaf-toed gecko, Somali plain geckoHemidactylus pumilio Boulenger, 1899 – pygmy leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus quartziticolus Khandekar, Thackeray, Mariappan, Gangalmale, Waghe, Pawar & Agarwal, 2023 Hemidactylus raya Kumar, A. Srinivasulu & C. Srinivasulu, 2022 Hemidactylus reticulatus Beddome , 1870 – reticulated leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus richardsonii Gray, 1845 – Richardson's leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus rishivalleyensis Agarwal, Thackeray & Khandekar, 2020 – Rishi Valley rock geckoHemidactylus robustus Heyden, 1827 – Heyden's geckoHemidactylus romeshkanicus Torki, 2011 Hemidactylus ruspolii Boulenger, 1896 – farm leaf-toed gecko, Ruspoli's gecko, turnip-tailed black and yellow geckoHemidactylus saba Busais & Joger, 2011 Hemidactylus sahgali Mirza, Gowande, R. Patil, Ambekar & Patel, 2018 – Sahgal’s termite hill geckoHemidactylus sankariensis Agarwal, Bauer, Giri & Khandekar, 2019 – Sankari brookiish geckoHemidactylus sassanidianus Torki, 2019 Hemidactylus sataraensis Giri & Bauer, 2008 – Satara geckoHemidactylus saxicolus Kumar, A. Srinivasulu & C. Srinivasulu, 2022 Hemidactylus scabriceps (Annandale , 1906) – scaly geckoHemidactylus shihraensis Busais & Joger, 2011 Hemidactylus sinaitus Boulenger, 1885 – Red Sea gecko, Sinai leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus sirumalaiensis Khandekar, Thackeray, Pawar & Agarwal, 2020 Hemidactylus siva C. Srinivasulu, A. Srinivasulu & Kumar, 2018 – Hampi rock geckoHemidactylus smithi Boulenger, 1895 – Smith's leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus somalicus Parker, 1932 – Northern Somali leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus squamulatus Tornier, 1896 – Tornier's leaf-toed gecko, Nyika geckoHemidactylus srikanthani Adhikari, Achyuthan, Kumar, Khot, Shreeram & Ganesh, 2022 Hemidactylus stejnegeri Ota & Hikida, 1989 – Stejneger's leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus subtriedrus Jerdon , 1854 – Jerdon's gecko, Madras blotched geckoHemidactylus sushilduttai Giri, Bauer, Mohapatra, C. Srinivasulu & Agarwal, 2017 – Dutta Mahendragiri geckoHemidactylus tamhiniensis Khandekar, Thackeray & Agarwal, 2021 – Tamhini giant rock gecko, basalt giant rock geckoHemidactylus tanganicus Loveridge, 1929 – Tanzanian leaf-toed gecko, Tanzanian diamond gecko, Dutumi geckoHemidactylus tasmani Hewitt , 1932 – Tasmanian leaf-toed geckoHemidactylus taylori Parker, 1932 Hemidactylus tenkatei Lidth de Jeude , 1895Hemidactylus thayene McMahan & Zug, 2007 Hemidactylus treutleri Mahony, 2009 – Treutler's geckoHemidactylus triedrus (Daudin , 1802) – termite hill gecko, Dakota's leaf-toed gecko, blotched house geckoHemidactylus tropidolepis Mocquard, 1888 – Mocquard's leaf-toed gecko, Ogaden geckoHemidactylus turcicus Linnaeus , 1758 – Mediterranean house gecko, Turkish geckoHemidactylus ulii Šmíd, Moravec, Kratochvil, Gvozdik, Nasher, Busais, Wilms, Shobrak & Carranza, 2013 Hemidactylus vanam Chaitanya, Lajmi & Giri, 2018 – Megamalai rock geckoHemidactylus varadgirii Chaitanya, Agarwal, Lajmi & Khandekar, 2019 – Giri’s brookiish gecko, Amboli brookiish geckoHemidactylus vernayi Ceríaco, Agarwal, Marques & Bauer, 2020 – Vernay’s tropical geckoHemidactylus vietnamensis Darevsky , Kupriyanova & Roshchin, 1984 – Vietnam leaf-toed gecko, Vietnam house geckoHemidactylus vijayraghavani Mirza, 2018 Hemidactylus whitakeri Mirza, Gowande, R. Patil, Ambekar & Patel, 2018 – Whitaker’s termite hill geckoHemidactylus xericolus Lajmi, Giri, Singh & Agarwal, 2020 – Nalgonda yellow-tailed brookiish geckoHemidactylus yajurvedi Murthy, Bauer, Lajmi, Agarwal & Giri, 2015 – Kanker rock geckoHemidactylus yerburyi J. Anderson, 1895 – Yerbury’s gecko, Yerburi’s leaf-toed gecko
Phylogeny The following phylogeny is from Pyron, et al. (2013),[14] and includes 47 Hemidactylus species. Hemidactylus is a sister group of Cyrtodactylus .[14]
Similar genera
References ^ "Hemidactylus ". Dahms Tierleben . www.dahmstierleben.de ^ a b c Lizards of the World (2004). "Hemidactylus". Archived from the original on 28 August 2008. Retrieved 4 April 2009 . ^ Uetz, Peter, ed. (2021) [1995]. "Higher Taxa in Extant Reptiles". The Reptile Database . Zoological Museum Hamburg. Retrieved 10 December 2022 . ^ Savage, Melissa (2001). "Hemidactylus ". Animal Diversity Web . University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. Retrieved 10 December 2022 . ^ Genus Hemidactylus at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org. Accessed September 2023. ^ Uetz, Peter, ed. (2023) [1995]. "Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonnès, 1818)". The Reptile Database . Zoology Museum Hamburg. Retrieved 8 March 2024 . ^ "House Geckos". ^ a b Boulenger, G.A. (1890). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma . Reptilia and Batrachia . London: Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xviii + 541 pp. (Genus Hemidactylus , p. 82). Fulltext at the Internet Archive ^ Nirody, J. A.; Jinn, J.; Libby, T.; Lee, T. J.; Jusufi, A.; Hu, D. L.; Full, R. J. (2018). "Geckos Race Across the Water's Surface Using Multiple Mechanisms". Current Biology . 28 (24): 4046–4051.e2. Bibcode :2018CBio...28E4046N. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.10.064 . PMID 30528580. ^ Angarwal I, Giri VB, Bauer AM (2011). "A new cryptic rock-dwelling Hemidactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from south India". Zootaxa 2765 : 21–37. (Hemidactylus graniticolus , new species). ^ a b Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles . Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5 . (Hemidactylus greeffii , p. 107; Cyrtodactylus malcolmsmithi , p. 247). ^ Species Hemidactylus greeffii at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org. ^ Henle K, Böhme W (2003). "A new species of Hemidactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from West Africa, and comments on species hitherto confused with H. muriceus ". African Journal of Herpetology 52 (1) 23–38. (Hemidactylus pseudomuriceus , new species). ^ a b Pyron, R. Alexander; Burbrink, Frank T.; Wiens, John J. (2013). "A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata, including 4161 species of lizards and snakes". BMC Evolutionary Biology 13 (1): 93. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-13-93
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