''Chondrodactylus bibronii'', commonly known as Bibron's thick-toed gecko, Bibron's sand gecko, or simply Bibron's 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 ...

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...

in the

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

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 ge ...

. The species is native to southern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. ''C. bibronii'' has been used as an animal model in bioastronautic research examining the effects of spaceflight on the morphology and physiology of vertebrates.Gulimova VI et al. (2006
"Effect of 16-Day Spaceflight on the Morphology of Thick-Toed Geckos (''Pachydactylus bibronii'' Smith, 1846)"
''Journal of Gravitational Physiology'' 13 (1): 197-200. Retrieved February 25, 2020.

Etymology

The specific name, ''bibronii'', is in honor of French

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and rept ...

Gabriel Bibron Gabriel Bibron (20 October 1805 – 27 March 1848) was a French zoologist and herpetologist. He was born in Paris. The son of an employee of the Museum national d'histoire naturelle, he had a good foundation in natural history and was hir ...

, as are several common names.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("''Pachydactylus bibroni'' ic, p. 25).

Geographic range

Bibron's gecko is distributed across the southern part of the

n continent in

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, and

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

. It is common in

, where it is one of the largest gecko species. ''C. bibronii'' has been introduced in the southeastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Populations have been found in

Manatee County, Florida Manatee County is a county in the Central Florida portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 US Census, the population was 399,710. Manatee County is part of the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its county ...

. Powell R, Conant R, Collins JT (2016). ''Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, FourthEdition''. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. xiv + 494 pp., 47 Plates, 207 Figures. . (''Chondrodactylus bibronii'', p. 259, Figure 116).

Description

A moderate-sized gecko, ''C. bibronii'' reaches a total length (including tail) of . It has a stockier build than most other geckos. The female is generally smaller than the male. Its base color is brown, and it has a beaded pattern

dorsally Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

, with black crossbars. The male has white dots; the female may, as well. The belly is white or very light brown. The newly hatched Bibron's gecko has solid line and color patterns, while the adult's patterns are more broken.

Behavior

Bibron's thick-toed gecko is arboreal and ground-dwelling. It is territorial, and males are very aggressive toward each other. Individuals can commonly be found missing appendages in the wild.

Reproduction

An adult female ''C. bibronii'' usually lays two

clutches A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts) ...

per year, with two eggs per clutch.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q856720 Chondrodactylus Geckos of Africa Reptiles of Eswatini Reptiles of Mozambique Reptiles of Namibia Reptiles of South Africa Reptiles described in 1846 Taxa named by Andrew Smith (zoologist)