Hemidactylus
Mediterranean house gecko
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Gekkonidae
Genus:	Hemidactylus Oken, 1817
Type species
Gecko tuberculosus
Diversity
Around 90 species, and see text
Synonyms
Aliurus Dunn & Dunn, 1940 Boltalia Gray, 1842 Bunocnemis Günther, 1894 Doryura Gray, 1845 Emydactylus[verification needed] Bocourt, 1870 Eurhous Fitzinger, 1861 Hoplopodion Fitzinger, 1843 Leiurus Gray, 1845 (non Ehrenberg, [1828]: preoccupied) Liurus Cope, 1862 (non Ehrenberg, 1831: preoccupied) Lophopholis Smith & Deraniyagala, 1934 Microdactylus Fitzinger, 1843 (non É.Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1809: preoccupied) Nubilia Gray, 1845 Onychopus Fitzinger, 1843 Pnoepus Fitzinger, 1843 Tachybates Fitzinger, 1843 Velernesia Gray, 1845 [1]

Hemidactylus is a genus of the family of typical geckos, Gekkonidae. It is the second-most^{[verification needed]} speciose genus in the family, with about 90 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.^[1]

They are typically known as house geckos, due to their readyness to adapt to and coexist with humans. This genus was originally established by Lorenz Oken in 1817 for the relatives of the gecko then known as Hemidactylus tuberculosus. That name is nowadays considered to refer to the Tropical House Gecko which is properly known as H. mabouia.^[1]

[edit] 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.^[2]

The fingers and toes are free, or more or less webbed, and dilated; underneath they bear two rows of lamellae in a pattern resembling a paripinnate compound leaf^[2]. 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.

[edit] Species

Juvenile Common House Gecko (H. frenatus)

Juvenile Mediterranean House Gecko (H. turcicus)

Unidentified Hemidactylus adult from Dindigul (Tamil Nadu, India)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hemidactylus

• Gekkonids