''Cyrtodactylus'' (Greek κυρτος ''kurtos'' "curved", from κυπτω ''kuptō'' "to stoop"; δακτυλος ''daktulos'' "finger, toe") is a diverse

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of Asian

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos ar ...

s, commonly known as bent-toed geckos, bow-fingered geckos, and forest geckos. The genus has about 300 described

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

as of 2020, which makes it the largest of all gecko

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

Description

Instead of possessing dilated digits like other geckos, members of ''Cyrtodactylus'' have slender, curved toes to which the common names for the genus can be attributed.

Taxonomy

The phylogenetic relationships with this genus and the genus ''Geckoella'' has not been resolved to date. Based on morphology, suggested that it was a subgenus of ''Cyrtodactylus'' but a phylogenetic study by , though with inadequate sampling of taxa, restored it to generic status once again. All species of ''Geckoella'' have been placed here pending a more definitive study.

Phylogeny

The following phylogeny is from Pyron, et al. (2013), and includes 22 ''Cyrtodactylus'' species. ''Cyrtodactylus'' is a

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

of '' Hemidactylus''.

Species

The genus ''Cyrtodactylus'' contains about 300 described species. In 2019, six new species of the ''Cyrtodactylus intermedius'' complex were identified in the Cardamom Mountains and Associated Highlands region of Southeast Asia.

References

External links