Hemidactylus Bowringii

The Oriental leaf-toed gecko (''Hemidactylus bowringii''), also known commonly as the Asian smooth gecko, Bowring's gecko, Bowring's smooth gecko, and the Sikkimese dark-spotted gecko, is a species of lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species is native to East Asia.

Etymology

The specific name, ''bowringii'', is in honor of either John Charles Bowring, who was a British amateur naturalist and businessman in Hong Kong, or his father John Bowring, who was a British diplomat and a governor of Hong Kong. Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Hemidactylus bowringii'', p. 36).

Description

Boulenger (1885) described ''H. bowringii'' as follows: "Snout longer than the distance between the eye and the ear-opening, 1.4 times the diameter of the orbit; forehead slightly concave; ear-opening small, roundish. Body and limbs moderate; a slight fold of the skin along the flank. Digits free, moderately dilated, inner well developed; infradigital lamellae obliquely curved, 5 under the thumb, 7 or 8 under the fourth finger, 5 or 6 under the first toe, and 9 or 10 under the fourth toe. Upper surfaces covered with uniform small granular scales, largest on the snout, smallest on the occiput. Rostral four-sided, twice as broad as deep, with median cleft above; nostril pierced between the rostral, the first labial, and three or four nasals; 9 to 11 upper and 7 or 8 lower labials; mental large, triangular, followed by a pair of chin-shields; an outer pair of much smaller chin-shields. Abdominal scales moderate, cycloid, imbricate. Male with a series of preanal pores, interrupted mesially, composed of 13 pores on each side. Tail depressed, rounded, oval in section, covered above with uniform small scales, beneath with a median series of transversely dilated plates. Light brown above, with darker spots, having sometimes a tendency to form four longitudinal bands on the back; frequently small whitish spots on the body and limbs; a dark streak passing through the eye; tail above with small chevron-shaped markings; lower surfaces whitish.

From snout to vent ; tail ."
Boulenger GA (1890). ''The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia.'' London: Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xviii + 541 pp. (''Hemidactylus bowringii'', p. 93).

Geographic range

''Hemidactylus bowringii'' is found in East Asia, including Bhutan, Nepal, southern China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam (Ha Noi; Hon Thom Island), and Japan (Ryukyu Islands = Okinawa).

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of ''H. bowringii'' is forest, at altitudes from sea level to , but it has also been found in plantations and around man-made structures in urban areas.

Reproduction

''Hemidactylus bowringii'' is oviparous. Clutch size is 2–3 eggs, which hatch after 30 days of incubation.

References

Further reading

* Boulenger GA (1885). ''Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume I. Geckonidæ ...'' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 436 pp. + Plates I-XXXII. (''Hemidactylus bowringii'', new combination, p. 139 + Plate XII, figure 2).
* Gray JE (1845). ''Catalogue of the Specimens of Lizards in the Collection of the British Museum.'' London: Trustees of the British Museum. (Edward Newman, printer). xxviii + 289 pp. (''Doryura bowringii'', new species, p. 156).
*Liang, Yun-Sheng; Wang, Chin-Shiang (1973). "Comparative study of osteology on the House Geckos, ''Hemidactylus bowringii'' (Gray) and ''Hemidactylus frenatus'' Dumeril & Bibron, from Taiwan". ''Fu Jen Studies'' (7): 63-123.
* McMahan CD, Zug GR (2007). "Burmese ''Hemidactylus'' (Reptilia, Squamata, Gekkonidae): geographic variation in the morphology of ''Hemidactylus bowringii'' in Myanmar and Yunnan, China". ''Proceedings of the California Academy of Science'' 58: 485–509.
* Xu D-D, Ji X (2007). "Sexual dimorphism, female reproduction and egg incubation in the oriental leaf-toed gekko (''Hemidactylus bowringii)'' from southern China". ''Zoology'' 110 (1): 20–27.

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1037324

Hemidactylus
Reptiles of Japan
Reptiles described in 1845
Taxa named by John Edward Gray