Brooke's House Gecko | Hemidactylus brookii Gray, 1845
Hemidactylus is a genus belongs to the common gecko family, Gekkonidae and the species of this genus is also termed as house geckos. Almost 90 species of this genus has been described so far and new ones are being documented every year. These are found in almost every tropical region of the world, extending their habitat to the subtropical parts of world also. They like to be alive in and out of residential areas of the human population. Generally known as house geckos, because of their promptness to adapt to and coexist with humans. Lorenz Oken in 1817 originally described it for the first time, for the species at that time known as Hemidactylus tuberculosus, which is now called as the tropical house gecko (Hemidactylus mabouia) by Raddi, 1823. The actual origin of the genus Hemidactylus is still not clear, as the higher level phylogeny is still not very well resolved. Furthermore, in this group still much diversity remains to be discovered.
The dorsal lepidosis in species of this genus is either uniform or heterogeneous where the pupil of the eye is vertical. Males of the genus bear pre-anal or femoral pores. On their appendages, each finger/toe is having a slender distal clawed joint, which is bent and rising.
Recently, I came across one of the species of this genus, Hemidactylus brookii,
I found a juvenile beautifully camouflaged on bark of a tree & well as a natural enthused I have clicked some shots of the baby lizard.
Hemidactylus brookii, Gray, 1845 (Brooke's house gecko or spotted house gecko), is a well distributed species the genus around the world.
Hemidactylus brookii
Description: Snout of the species is to some extent longer than the distance between the ear-opening and eye, which is nearly double the diameter of the orbit; forehead is concave; ear-openings are small, vertical, oval and about one third of the diameter of the eye; small round tubercles are present dorsally. Quadrangular rostral, with a median cleft; rostral bordered the nostril. There are 8-9 upper labials and 7-9 lower labials present; mental is found large and triangular; there are 2-3 pairs of chin-shields. Throat has granular scales. The whole body is covered with small granules, intermixed with keeled tubercles (trihedral) which are prearranged in 16-20 longitudinal series, the keels of the species of the outer ones are indistinguishable where the diameter of the largest tubercles on the flanks is more than the diameter of the ear-opening. On ventral side the ventral scales are larger than the scales of the throat. Males of the species are having 7-20 femoral pores on each side. Tail is depressed having rows of 8/6 spine-like tubercles. Limbs are granular while the upper portion of the hind limb is having large keeled tubercles; with digits free, the free distal joint, there are 3-6 lamellae are present under the inner & 6-8 on the inner side of median toes.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Gekkonidae
Genus: Hemidactylus
Species: brookii
Binomial Name
Hemidactylus brookii Gray, 1845
The body is yellowish-brown above having irregular dark spots and 1-2 dark lines are present on the head laterally passing through eye & lips with dark bars. Lower parts of the specimens were white; the scales found are spotted with dark brown color. The young specimens were having cross lines of white tubercles on the dorsal side & all white on the tail. The maximum snout to vent length of the species is 118 mm (58 mm; tail 60 mm). Mating involves the short courtship where male approaches and touches the female with his snout & may bite or hold her by neck. Breeding may differ according to season. All this process start with mating calls. It is an oviparous species.
Distribution: Africa: Mauritania, Ghana, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Senegal,Togo, Tanzania, Gambia, Angola, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Mali, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Western Sahara, Sudan, Kenya & Comoro Islands (Anjouan). Asia: Maledives, Bhutan, Thailand, Myanmar, Pakistan, India (Himalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra , Assam, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir (Jammu division) & Kerala), Malaysian Peninsula Hong Kong, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia (Borneo, Flores).
Literature Cited:
Boulenger, G.A. (1890). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor and Francis
Hemidactylus brooki ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemidactylus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemidactylus_brookii
Lizards of the World (2004): Hemidactylus. Version of 2004-FEB-08. Retrieved 2018-June-25.
Manhas, A., Kotwal, A., Wanganeo, R.R. and Wanganeo, A., 2015. Diversity, Threats and Conservation of Herpetofauna in and around Barkatullah University, Bhopal (MP), India. Int. J. Adv. Res. 3: 1546-1553.
Manhas, A., Raina, R., and Wanganeo, A., 2016. An assessment of reptilian diversity and their distribution in Jammu and Kashmir state from Jammu city in northern India: A case study. IJFBS 3: 20-23.
Manhas, A., Raina, R., and Wanganeo, A. 2016. An addition to the reptilian diversity of Barkatullah University campus, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Int. J. Pure Appl. Zool., 4 (4): 306-309.
