Indo-Pacific Gecko
 |
This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. See the talk page for details. Consider associating this request with a WikiProject. (May 2009) |
| Indo-Pacific Gecko | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Sauria |
| Family: | Gekkonidae |
| Genus: | Hemidactylus |
| Species: | H. garnotii |
| Binomial name | |
| Hemidactylus garnotii Duméril and Bibron, 1836 |
|
Indo-Pacific Gecko, Garnot's House Gecko or Fox Gecko Hemidactylus garnotii is a species of gecko found in India, the Philippines, Southeast Asia, Australia, and throughout Polynesia. Adults are about 4 to 5 inches long, seen as dark gray or brown with light markings in daylight and a pale, translucent colour at night. The belly is orange or yellow. The head has a long, narrow snout, hence the name Fox Gecko. The flattened tail has a row of spiny scales on the lateral edges. The species is parthenogenic - all individuals are female and lay eggs that hatch without requiring male fertilisation.[1]
In Hawaii, the species is thought to be a long term resident. Formerly considered a house gecko, it has been displaced to natural habitats by the more recently arrived Common House Gecko.[1] In Florida and Georgia it has become established as an invasive species of concern.[2][3]
Contents |
[edit] Description
Snout obtusely pointed, longer than the distance between the eye and the ear-opening, 1.5 to 1.6 times the diameter of the orbit; forehead slightly concave; ear-opening small, rounded. Body and limbs moderate. A slight but distinct fold of the skin along the flanks, and another bordering the hind limb posteriorly. Digits free or with a very slight rudiment of web, moderately dilated, inner well developed; infradigital lamella oblique, 6 or 7 under the inner digits, 10 to 12 under the fourth finger, and 11 to 14 under the fourth toe. Upper surfaces and throat covered with minute granular scales, a little larger on the snout; abdominal scales moderate, imbricate. Rostral subquadraugular, with median cleft above; nostril pierced between the rostral and three nasals; 12 or 13 upper and 9 to 11 lower labials; mental large, triangular, in contact posteriorly with a pair of pentagonal chin-shields, followed by a second smaller pair; the anterior pair of chin-shields in contact with the first infralabial, and with each other mesially; the posterior pair separated from each other, and also completely or nearly completely from the labials. Tail depressed, flat beneath, with sharp denticulated lateral edge; the scales on the upper surface very small, equal; those on the lower surface larger, imbricate, with a median series of large, transversely dilated plates. Brownish grey above, uniform or with more or less distinct brown and whitish spots; lower surfaces uniform whitish.[4]
From snout to vent 2.3 inches; tail 2.6.
A parthenogenetic species.[5]
[edit] Distribution
Sikkim, Burma, Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, South Pacific Islands.
NE India (Darjeeling, Assam, Sikkim), Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Myanmar (= Burma), Malaysia, S China (Hong Kong, Guangdong, Hainan, S Yunnan), Taiwan, Philippine Islands, New Zealand (introduced), Indonesia (Sumatra, Nias, Borneo, Java), New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands, Polynesia, Fiji, Western Samoa.
Introduced into Hawaii, Florida, and the Bahamas.[6]
Type locality: "l'Ile de Taiti [=Tahiti, French Polynesia]"
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b "Birds and Plants of Kauai: The Gecko", by Linda Pascatore, 26 June 2008, accessed 6 February 2011
- ^ Everglades CISMA Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area website, "Indo-Pacific Gecko" page, accessed 6 February 2011
- ^ Georgia Invasive Species Task Force website, "Other Invasive Species of Concern in Georgia", accessed 6 February 2011
- ^ Boulenger, G. A. (1890) Fauna of British India. Reptilia and Batrachia.
- ^ Kluge, A.G. & Eckardt, "Hemidactylus garnotii Duméril & Bibron, a tripoid, all-female species of gekkonid lizard. Copeia 1969 (4): 651-664
- ^ "Indo-Pacific Gecko". geckoweb. Finding species. http://geckoweb.org/profile/hemidactylus-garnotii. Retrieved 2009-01-29.[dead link]
[edit] References
- Crawford, Daniel M.; Somma, Louis A., 1993 "Hemidactylus garnotii (Indo-Pacific gecko)". USA: Florida Herpetological Review 24 (3): 108-109
- Meshaka, Walter E., Jr., "Hemidactylus garnotii". Herpetological Review 26 (2): 108
- Stoliczka, F., "Notes on new or little-known Indian lizards". Proc. asiat. Soc. Bengal (Calcutta) 1871: 192-195
[edit] External links
.png){kind=small} |
This article about a gecko is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
