Two house gecko species?

[slygecko]

My girlfriend recently bought two House Geckos from the local Petsmart. I took a close look at them for health and sexing, and I realized they are likely two different species. Any Hemidactylus experts out there willing to comment?

Hemi A:
Looks quite like what I consider a typical House Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus). Very flattened overall, with folds of skin along the sides and tail:

Hemi B:
Different in pattern to start, but that is likely variable. Overall, more round-bodied, with a round tail with little spikes.

Any assistance identifying these guys would be greatly appreciated
I can get more detailed photos if needed.

Thanks,
Nick

 

[danscantle]

Species A: Hemidactylus platyurus (formerly Cosymbotus)

Species B: H. garnotii

 

[Brian]

Already replied on another forum, but I suggest asking Dan.

 

[slygecko]

Species A: Hemidactylus platyurus (formerly Cosymbotus)

Species B: H. garnotii

Thanks! Now... care to divulge how you know? :wink:

How about care info for both species?

Cheers,
Nick

 

[yuri]

I respectfully disagree on the identification of the second Hemidactylus. H. garnotii's tail is very different that the photographed animal.

I believe this to be H. frenatus. The tail of frenatus has rows of spines running down the length of the tail, similar to the pictured animal (more detailed photos of H. frenatus here http://www.geckoweb.org/profile/hemidactylus-frenatus).

The tail of garnotii is quite different in my experience, more flattened and not rounded in diameter (have a look here for more detailed photos to compare your gecko tohttp://www.geckoweb.org/profile/hemidactylus-garnotii). Also, if your animals is a male, this further helps rule out H. garnotii - as H garnotii is a parthenogenic (all-female) species.

Species A: Hemidactylus platyurus (formerly Cosymbotus)

Species B: H. garnotii

 

[danscantle]

Good to disagree. H. garnotii and H. frenatus are all too easily confused. You are right, H. garnotii does have a flattened tail, but both species have ventrolateral spines. It's had to tell from this photo how flat the tail actually is. The H. garnotii on the link you included is very skinny (its hips and spine are easily seen). This means the condition of the tail is likely exaggerated to do their being few fat reserves in the tail.


Like I said, both species have ventrolateral spines on the tail. On H. garnotii, these are the only spines on the tail. H. frenatus also has additional rows of dorsal spines between the ventrolateral rows on the tail. Again, hard to see with detail just how many rows of spines there are in this photo.

H. frenatus does not have completely divided scansors on the hind feet, as these animals appear to have. Only H. garnotii has completely divided scansors.

H. garnotii also frequently has a yellowish ventral coloration, as the animal in question seems to have (at least on my computer).

Maybe if sly could post some brighter pictures of the dorsal tail, and the feet we can settle this for good.

Cheers,
Dan

 

[slygecko]

Maybe if sly could post some brighter pictures of the dorsal tail, and the feet we can settle this for good.

Sure, I'll get on it when I can. Thanks for all this great info

~ Nick

 

[Starrynightexotics]

Just my two cents, every garnotii Ive caught in the wild has had a pink underside to its tail, not sure if thats a tell tail sign, but i always thought it was. Sounds like either one of you guys would know better!

 

[gymnodactylus]

The second gecko has a H. garnoti-like snout but the toes look like H. frenatus. As Yuri mentioned, the tail spines in H. frenatus tend to encircle the tail but that's not entirely clear from the picture. Good photos of the chin should clear things up as H. garnoti has its infrlabial scales separated from the postmental chin shields by one or more small scales while the outer pair of postmental chin shields boarder the infralabials in H. frenatus.
I hope this helps.

 

[slygecko]

Okay, here's more photos:

The chin

Rear foot

Tail

Hope this clears things up, if not, I'll just shoot some more

Thanks!
Nick

 

[yuri]

Ventral view of the foot and tail tell me it is H. frenatus.

 

[yuri]

Also, looks to be a male, so that should rule out H. garnotii (an all-female species).

 

[danscantle]

Yep, right on. The chin scales match up, multiple rows of spines on the tail, and the distal lamellae are undivided. Sorry to confuse anyone, Yuri was right all along.

 

[yuri]

I think the original photos had incorrect white balance settings, so the belly photos looked very yellow - indicating garnotii.

I had the added advantage of working with these very recently as well as photographing the field characters very recently and studying the these photos in addition to working with text descriptions of their field charcters. So, I had an unintentional study session prior to viewing these photos.

Yep, right on. The chin scales match up, multiple rows of spines on the tail, and the distal lamellae are undivided. Sorry to confuse anyone, Yuri was right all along.

 

[danscantle]

Yeah, I did too. 2 weeks looking and hundreds of Hemidactylus specimens this summer, and I still made an ass of myself!

 

[yuri]

Hey man, you are being too hard on yourself. I am more often wrong than right, I got lucky this time.

Yeah, I did too. 2 weeks looking and hundreds of Hemidactylus specimens this summer, and I still made an ass of myself!

 

[coolclay]

Hey guys question, so we covered how to tell H. garnotii from H. frenatus. But how about H. mabouia. All three look so similar, is there any method of positive field identification? Thanks Clayton
www.coolclay.info

 

[yuri]

The answer is in the toes. With H. mabouia (Amerafrican House Gecko), look at the ventral side of the fourth toe. Here the toepad does not extend to the base of the toe. With the fourth toe of H. turcicus (Mediterranean Gecko) the pad does reach to the base of the toe.

Both H. mabouia and H. turcicus have enlarged tubercles across their backs . H. garnotii has small tubercles that may be on its back or restricted to dorsal lateral rows.

Hey guys question, so we covered how to tell H. garnotii from H. frenatus. But how about H. mabouia. All three look so similar, is there any method of positive field identification? Thanks Clayton
www.coolclay.info

 

[coolclay]

Excellent, and thanks for the link, thats got to be I think the best ID page for anything I have ever seen.

 

[cincigecko]

ID's

The top one with skin folds looks like Cosymbotus platyurus. The bottom one is a Hemidactylus garnotii.