Some Hemidactylus Species

[danscantle]

Terrestrial North African species:

H. albopunctatus. Check out how big the head is compared to the forearms. Like a little T-rex.

Unidentified species from Somalia. Similar to H. modestus. Reminds me of a Diplodactylus.

Tropical Atlantic Species:

H. greefi. Big with a spiny tail that would give any Strophrurus species a run for their money. From Sao Tome.

H. ansorgii from Cameroon. Long, narrow heads seem to distinguish members of the Tropical Atlantic clade. This specimen has some damage to it's mouth, but is still a very unusual looking Hemidactylus.

Some Asian Forms:

H. lemurinus. The Proffesional Breeders series Geckos of the World book has a photo incorrectly labled as this species. These guys are half Ptyodactylus and half Hemidactylus. Arnold discribes this species as being identical to Ptyodactylus in habits, and their overall form is strikingly reminescent. The long, spindly limbs, and the distinctive head sets this form apart.

H. reticulatus. Closely related to Teratolepis (there will be a name change in the coming months...) and Asian H. brookii. This is my favorite Hemidactylus species. Reminds me of several other geckos, all rolled into one small terrestrial form.

 

[Reptiluvr]

Pretty awesome stuff. Most of us would never see these geckos. Are these species rare or just rare in captivity?? Can you tell me more about H. greefi and H. reticulatus? Those catch my eye, but I've never heard of them. Honestly I'm quite ignorant on Hemidactylus.

 

[danscantle]

Most people have no clue how diverse this genus is. They're pretty amazing. Hemidactylus plus the other cyrtodactyls (Cyrtodactylus, Cyrtopodion, Crossobamon, Agamura, etc) make up some 300 species, and account for nearly 30% of all extant gecko taxa. They are by far the most successful group of living geckos and the most over looked by hobbyists.

I'm not sure how rare these species are in the wild. I suspect they are locally abundant. I've read H. ansorgii is not very common, but it could live in hard to reach habitat. All of these species are rare in captivity. I suspect they are all nonexistent. H. greefi is from Sao Tome and Principe in the Atlantic. They are found on rocks, bridges, etc, but always away from human habitation (so I am told). They get to be rather large - 6-8". H. reticulatus is from India so you won't be seeing any of those in captivity. At least legally.

 

[ptenopus]

very good stuff dan

 

[SDPete]

Quite nice Dan! Bummer they were in jars and not in the wild, but still great. If I can ask, are you working on your dissertation, something else, and where?
Thanks,
Peter

 

[Nathan Hall]

Excellent stuff, D!

 

[Tariq Stark]

Excellent material Dan, thank you so much for sharing!

Tariq, also a Hemidactylus fan

 

[Geckophile Admin]

How about fixing those links, Dan :lol:

 

[danscantle]

Yeah, I need to upload them again. The webspace.utexas site is a set amount of storage place given to students. If I keep all my pictures on it I can't use it for school/work related stuff.

 

[GeckoFiend]

Dan, If you want, I'll look into setting up an FTP account on my webspace for you. I could probably start you off with about 1GB or more. Just shoot me a PM, and I'll figure it out.

 

[GeckoFiend]

We'll give dan a week or two, then no more excuses for lack of photo space. I just gave him 3 gigs to play with

 

[Brian]

Dan, just delete your sequences. :wink: