Hemidactylus brookii

Hemidactylus brookii, commonly known as Brooke's house gecko or spotted house gecko, is a widespread species of gecko.

Hemidactylus brookii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Gekkonidae
Genus: Hemidactylus
Species:
H. brookii
Binomial name
Hemidactylus brookii
Gray, 1845
Synonyms
  • Gecko tytleri
  • Hemidactylus guineensis
  • Hemidactylus affinis
  • Hemidactylus stellatus
  • Hemidactylus togoensis
  • Hemidactylus luzonensis
  • Hemidactylus neotropicalis
  • Hemidactylus trokii
  • Hemidactylus mahendrai
  • Hemidactylus brooki
  • Hemidactylus murrayi

Etymology

The specific name, brookii, is in honor of British adventurer James Brooke.[1]

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.[2]

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

Brooke's house gecko in Madhya Pradesh, India

Geographic range
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References
  1. 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 brookii, p. 39).
  2. Rooij, Nelly de (1915). The Reptiles of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. I. Lacertilia, Chelonia, Emydosauria. Leiden: E.J. Brill. xiv + 384 pp. ("Hemidactylus brooki [sic]", pp. 32-33 + Figure 20).

Further reading
  • Annandale N (1905). "Notes on some Oriental geckos in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, with Descriptions of new Forms". Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Seventh Series 15: 26-32.
  • Bauer AM, 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 AM, Pauwels OSG, Sumontha M (2002). "Hemidactylus brookii brookii, distribution". Herpetological Review 33: 322.
  • Das I (2006). A Photographic Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Borneo. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 144 pp. ISBN 0-88359-061-1. (Hemidactylus brookii, p. 101).
  • Gleadow F (1887). "Description of a new lizard from the Dangs". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 2: 49-51.
  • Gray JE (1845). Catalogue of the Specimens of Lizards in the Collection of the British Museum. London: Trustees of the British Museum. (Edward Newman, printer). xxviii + 289 pp. (Hemidactylus brookii, new species, p. 153).
  • Mitchell JC, Zug GR (1988). "Ecological observations on the gecko Hemidactylus brookii in Nepal". Amphibia-Reptilia 9: 405-413.
  • Powell R, Maxey SA (1990). "Hemidactylus brookii ". Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles. No. 493.
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