''Gehyra australis'', the Australian house gecko, northern dtella or top-end dtella, is a species of

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 ...

native to northern and eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is also widespread in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, alongside

common house gecko The common house gecko (''Hemidactylus frenatus'') is a gecko native to South and Southeast Asia. It is also known as the Asian house gecko, Pacific house gecko, wall gecko, house lizard, tayoto, chipkali or moon lizard. Most geckos are nocturn ...

s and four-clawed geckos. ''Gehyra australis'' is primarily an

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the Animal locomotion, locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. Th ...

gecko inhabiting woodlands and coastal and riverine forests. It can also occur near human dwellings and gardens. It is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...

Systematics

In 2020, as a result of molecular genetic analysis, three new species were proposed for lineages of the ''Gehyra australis'' species complex: '' G. arnhemica'' (east Arnhem Land), '' G. gemina'' (northern deserts), and '' G. lauta'' (gulf, NT–Qld border). Names for the new species were registered in Zoobank.Publication I
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:9EA86EF0-DB81-40ED-9DB9-58DBEF9B59D6
/ref> Under this definition, the range of ''G. australis

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

'' is limited to the western Top End region of the Northern Territory, from Darwin surrounds to

Port Essington Port Essington is an inlet and historic site located on the Cobourg Peninsula in the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. It was the site of an early attempt at British settlement, but now exists only as a remote ...

, and

Gregory National Park Judbarra National Park, formerly Gregory National Park, is a national park in the Northern Territory of Australia, 359 km south of Darwin. The park is the second largest national park in the Northern Territory, after Kakadu National Park, ...

To Eva Valley at the edge of the Arnhem Plateau. Members of the ''australis'' species complex are generally arboreal, and tend to be smaller than the rock-dwelling (saxicolous) ''koira'' group, though ''G. lauta'' is larger-bodied. '' G. chimera'' is adapted to an arboreal lifestyle: it had previously been classified in ''G. australis'', but genetically clusters with ''G. koira''. Adult males of ''G. australis sensu stricto'' have 10–14 pre-cloacal pores, whereas ''G. arnhemica'' and ''G. lauta'' have 21-26 and 22–32 respectively. The various new species also differ in details of their scale patterns, particularly on the chin. Along with the ''G. australis'' and ''G. koira''

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

es, the related species ''

Gehyra borroloola The Borroloola dtella (''Gehyra borroloola'') is a species of gecko in the genus ''Gehyra ''Gehyra'' is a genus of geckos in the family ''Gekkonidae''. They are known as web-toed geckos or dtellas, and most species within the genus bear clo ...

'', '' Gehyra robusta'', and '' Gehyra pamela'' form a

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

that is referred to as the "Gehyra australis group".

Nomenclature

Gray's original 1845 description of ''G. australis'' was based on two specimens in the Natural History Museum of the UK. In 1983, Cogger, Cameron, and Cogger designated the Port Essington (NT) specimen as a

lectotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

and the Swan River (WA) specimen as a paralectotype. The location and pore count of the lectotype are consistent with the "australis 2" clade, which as a result is identified with the name ''Gehyra australis'' Gray, 1845.

References

Gehyra Geckos of Australia Reptiles described in 1845 Taxa named by John Edward Gray {{Gehyra-stub

Systematics

Nomenclature

See also

References