Gekkonidae (the common geckos) is the largest family 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 ...

s, containing over 950 described species in 64

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 ...

. Members of the Gekkonidae comprise many of the most widespread gecko species, including house geckos ('' Hemidactylus''), tokay geckos ('' Gekko''), day geckos ('' Phelsuma''),

mourning gecko ''Lepidodactylus lugubris'', known as the mourning gecko or common smooth-scaled gecko, is a species of lizard, a gecko of the family Gekkonidae. Description ''Lepidodactylus lugubris'' measure 8.5-10 cm in length including tail (4-4.4 cm snou ...

s ('' Lepidodactylus'') and dtellas (''

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 close resemblance to geckos from the genus '' Hemidactylus''. Geographic range ''Gehyra'' spe ...

''). Gekkonid geckos occur globally and are particularly species-rich in tropical areas. Hemidactylus geckos are one of the most species-rich and widely distributed of all reptile genera. Carranza, S., and E. .. Arnold. "Systematics, Biogeography, and Evolution of Hemidactylus Geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) Elucidated Using Mitochondrial DNA Sequences." Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, vol. 38, no. 2, Elsevier Inc, 2006, pp. 531–45, .

Fossils

The earliest known gekkonidae fossil record '' Yantarogekko'' was found in Eocene-Aged Baltic amber.

Distribution

Species within the Gekkonidae family can be located in every warm land area, furthermore, many genera are capable of widespread geographical habitation. Genus ''Hemidactylus'' alone supports this claim as it can be identified in all sub-tropical areas of the world. However, many other genera exist that are endemic, for example, genera ''

afroedura ''Afroedura'' is a genus of African geckos, lizards in the family Gekkonidae. Member species are collectively known as rock geckos or flat geckos. In 2021, four new species of ''Afroedura'' were described from Angola. Species The genus ''Afroe ...

'', and ''

afrogecko The marbled leaf-toed gecko (''Afrogecko porphyreus'') is a gecko found in southern and southwestern South Africa (including many offshore islands) and in Namibia. It is a flat, medium-sized gecko. Description It has a mottled, greyish body, a l ...

'', are distributed in the continent of Africa. The range of genus ''Lepidodactylus'' stretches from South Asia to Oceania; this genus also accounts for several island species. The genera listed here do not account for all Gekkonidae subspecies and are used only as examples of distribution, for a full list see section 'Genera'.

Genera

Gekkonidae contains the following genera: Possibly belonging to the family: '' Yantarogekko'' (fossil)

Phylogeny

Pyron, et al. (2013)Pyron, R Alexander, Frank T Burbrink and John J Wiens. 2013. A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata, including 4161 species of lizards and snakes. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:93. presents the following classification of ''Gekkonidae'' genera, based on molecular phylogenetics.

References

Lizard families Taxa named by John Edward Gray Geckos Extant Eocene first appearances {{Gekkonidae-stub bcl:Tukô