''Hemidactylus yerburii'', also known commonly as the southern leaf-toed gecko, Yerbury's gecko, and Yerburi's leaf-toed gecko, is a

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 ...

of lizard in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Gekkonidae Gekkonidae (the common geckos) is the largest family of geckos, containing over 950 described species in 64 genera. Members of the Gekkonidae comprise many of the most widespread gecko species, including house geckos ('' Hemidactylus''), tokay g ...

. The species is native to

Western Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...

Geographic range

''H. yerburii'' is found on the southern Arabian Peninsula in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

and

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

Taxonomy

Populations of ''H. yerburii'' reported from Africa are based on misidentifications ('' H. macropholis''), or have been elevated from subspecies to full species rank, namely '' H. montanus'' and '' H. pauciporus''.

Etymology

The specific name, ''yerburii'', is in honor of amateur entomologist Lieutenant Colonel John William Yerbury (1847–1927), who collected the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

. Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("''Hemidactylus yerburyi'' ic, p. 292).

Habitat

''H. yerburii'', in the sense of including African populations no longer included in this species, occurs in a wide range of

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s from rocky desert areas to well vegetated habitats, including lowland deciduous

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

and shrubland, and also occurs on buildings in settlements. It is found from the sea level to asl.

Reproduction

''H. yerburii'' is oviparous.

Abundance

''H. yerburii'' is very rare; the species was described based on a single female.

References

* Anderson J (1895). "On a Collection of Reptiles and Batrachians made by Colonel Yerbury at Aden and in its Neighbourhood". ''Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London'' 1895: 635–663 + Plates XXXVI–XXXVII. (''Hemidactylus yerburii'', new species, p. 636, 640–641 + Plate XXXVI, figures 1, 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e). * Rösler H (2000). "''Kommentierte Liste der rezent, subrezent und fossil bekannten Geckotaxa (Reptilia: Gekkonomorpha)''". ''Gekkota'' 2: 28–153. ("''Hemidactylus yerburyii'' ic, p. 88). (in German). * Sindaco R, Jeremčenko VK (2008). ''Reptiles of the Western Palearctic. 1. Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Turtles, Crocodiles, Amphisbaenians and Lizards of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia''. (Monographs of the ''Societas Herpetologica Italica''). Latina, Italy: Edizioni Belvedere. 580 pp. . *Sindaco R, Nincheri R, Lanza B (2014). "Catalogue of Arabian reptiles in the collections of the “''La Specola''” Museum, Florence". ''Scripta Herpetologica. Studies on Amphibians and Reptiles in honour of Benedetto Lanza'' 137–164. * Šmíd J, Shobrak M, Wilms T, Joger U, Carranza S (2016). "Endemic diversification in the mountains: genetic, morphological, and geographical differentiation of the ''Hemidactylus'' geckos in southwestern Arabia". ''Organisms Diversity & Evolution'' 17: 267–285. ("''Hemidactylus yerburyi'' ic). Hemidactylus Reptiles of the Arabian Peninsula Reptiles described in 1895 Taxa named by John Anderson (zoologist) {{Hemidactylus-stub