Leschenault's Leaf-toed Gecko

Taxobox | name = Leschenault's Leaf-toed Gecko
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Reptilia
ordo = Squamata
subordo = Sauria
familia = Gekkonidae
genus = "Hemidactylus"
species = "H. leschenaultii"
binomial = "Hemidactylus leschenaultii"
binomial_authority = Duméril & Bibron, 1836

Leschenault's Leaf-toed Gecko "Hemidactylus leschenaultii" is a species of gecko found in South Asia and parts of West Asia. It is often found inside homes. Its scientific name commemorates the French botanist Jean Baptiste Leschenault de la Tour.

Description

Snout longer than the distance between the eye and the ear-opening, 1.3 to 1.4 times the diameter of the orbit; forehead concave,the supraorbital ridges prominent m full-grown specimens ; ear-opening rather large, oval, vertical. Body and limbs moderate. A slight fold of the skin on the side of the belly, from axilla to groin. Digits free, strongly dilated, inner well developed; 6 or 7 (rarely 5) lamellae under the inner digits, 9 to 11 under the median. Head covered with minute granules posteriorly, with larger ones anteriorly; rostral four-sided, not twice as broad as deep, with median cleft above; nostril pierced between the rostral, three nasals, and generally the first labial; 10 to 12 upper and 8 or 9 lower labials; mental large, triangular or pentagonal; two pairs of chin-shields, the inner the larger and in contact behind the mental. Upper surface of body covered with small granules, uniform or intermixed with more or less numerous scattered round tubercles. Abdominal scales moderate, cycloid, imbricate. Male with a series of femoral pores interrupted on the preanal region; 12 to 16 pores on each side. Tail depressed, flat below, covered above with small smooth scales and six longitudinal series of conical tubercles; beneath with a median series of transversely dilated plates. Grey above, with darker markings, forming undulating cross-bars, rhomboidal spots on the middle of the back, or regular longitudinal bands; a dark band from the eye to the shoulder; lower surfaces white. [Boulenger, G. A. (1890) Fauna of British India. Reptilia and Batrachia.]

From snout to vent 3.2 inches; tail 3.25.

Distribution

S India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Oman, Malay Peninsula.Type locality: Ceylon

Notes

References

* Blanford,W.T. 1870 Notes on some Reptilia and Amphibia from Central India. J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 39: 335-376
* Duméril, A.M. C. and G. Bibron. 1836 Erpetologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete des Reptiles. Vol.3. Libr. Encyclopédique Roret, Paris, 528 pp.
* 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.
* Scheuerer, Hans 1985 "Hemidactylus leschenaultii" (Dumeril & Bibron, 1836) ein g Gecko aus Sri Lanka. Sauria 7 (3): 29-30

External links

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* http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Hemidactylus_leschenaulti.jpg
* http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Hemidactylus_leschenaulti2.jpg
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