Hemidactylus brookii

Taxobox | name = Brook's House Gecko


regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Reptilia
ordo = Squamata
subordo = Sauria
familia = Gekkonidae
genus = "Hemidactylus"
species = "H. brookii"
binomial = "Hemidactylus brookii"
binomial_authority = Gray, 1845

Brook's House Gecko "Hemidactylus brookii" is a widespread species of gecko.

Description

Snout somewhat longer than the distance between the eye and the ear-opening, nearly twice the diameter of the orbit; forehead concave; ear-opening small, oval, vertical, about one third the diameter of the eye; on the occiput very small round tubercles. Rostral quadrangular, with a median cleft; nostril bordered by the rostral, the first upper labial and three nasals, the upper not in contact with its fellow. Eight to ten upper and seven to nine lower labials; mental large, triangular; two or three pair of chin-shields, median forming - a suture. Scales of the throat granular. Body covered with small granules, intermixed with large keeled trihedral tubercles, arranged in 16-20 longitudinal series, the keels of the outer ones indistinct; the diameter of the largest tubercles on the flanks exceeds the diameter of the ear-opening. Ventral scales larger than those on the throat, cycloid, imbricate. Male with 7-20 femoral pores on each side. Tail depressed, annulate, with rows of 8 or 6 spine-like tubercles, below with a series of transversely dilated plates. Limbs granular, the upper part of the hind limb with large keeled tubercles; digits free, dilated, the free distal joint long, 3-6 lamellae under the inner, 6-8 under the median toes.

Yellowish-brown above with irregular dark spots; one or two dark lines on the side of the head, passing through the eye; lips with dark bars. Lower parts white ; all the scales finely dotted with dark brown. Young specimens have cross lines of white tubercles on the back; those on the tail all white. [Rooij, Nelly de. 1915 The reptiles of the Indo-Australian archipelago. Leiden]

Length of head and body 58 mm.; tail 60 mm.

Distribution

** Senegal,Togo, Angola, Cape Verde, Tanzania, Gambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Sudan (Dagana + Goree Dondo/Cuanza River Atakpame).
** India (Himalaya), Bhutan, Thailand (HR 33: 322), Maledives, Malaysian Peninsula, Sri Lanka, Myanmar (= Burma) (Tsagain), Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia (Borneo).
** Mexico, Honduras, Haiti, Antilles, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Port-Au-Prince, Trinidad, Colombia
* "angulatus": Sudan, Uganda, south to Tanzania, west to Senegal. Zanzibar, Pemba Island.
** Type locality: West coast of Africa = Gabon [angulatus]
* "leightoni": Venezuela (Zulia), Colombia
** Type locality: "Ada Foah (Guinea)" [= Ghana] [Hemidactylus guineensis PETERS 1868]

Notes

References

* Annandale, N. 1905 Notes on some Oriental geckos in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, with descriptions of new tons. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (7) 15:26-32
* Bauer,A.M. & Günther,R. 1991 An annotated type catalogue of the geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) in the Zoological Museum , Berlin. Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin 67: 279-310
* Bauer, A.M., Pauwels, O.S.G., and Sumontha, M. 2002 Hemidactylus brookii brookii. distribution. Herpetological Review 33:322.
* Gleadow, F. 1887 Description of a new lizard from the Dangs. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 2:49-51
* Gray, J. E. 1845 Catalogue of the specimens of lizards in the collection of the British Museum. Trustees of die British Museum/Edward Newman, London: xxvii + 289 pp.
* Mitchell, J. C.;Zug, G. R. 1988 Ecological observations on the gecko Hemidactylus brookii in Nepal Amphibia-Reptilia 9: 405-413
* Powell, R. and S. A. Maxey. 1990 Hemidactylus brookii. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles No. 493

External links

*
* http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Hemidactylus_brooki2.jpg