Hemidactylus brookii

Hemidactylus brookii, also known commonly as Brooke's house gecko and the spotted house gecko, is a widespread species of lizard in the family Gekkonidae.

Hemidactylus brookii
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Gekkota
Family:	Gekkonidae
Genus:	Hemidactylus
Species:	H. brookii
Binomial name
Hemidactylus brookii Gray, 1845
Synonyms
Gecko tytleri Hemidactylus guineensis Hemidactylus affinis Hemidactylus stellatus Hemidactylus togoensis Hemidactylus luzonensis Hemidactylus neotropicalis Hemidactylus trokii Hemidactylus mahendrai Hemidactylus brooki Hemidactylus murrayi

Etymology

The specific name, brookii, is in honor of British adventurer James Brooke.^[2]

Description

Snout somewhat longer than the distance between the eye and the ear-opening, nearly twice the diameter of the orbit; forehead concave; ear-opening small, oval, vertical, about one third the diameter of the eye; on the occiput very small round tubercles. Rostral quadrangular, with a median cleft; nostril bordered by the rostral, the first upper labial and three nasals, the upper not in contact with its fellow. Eight to ten upper and seven to nine lower labials; mental large, triangular; two or three pair of chin-shields, median forming - a suture. Scales of the throat granular. Body covered with small granules, intermixed with large keeled trihedral tubercles, arranged in 16-20 longitudinal series, the keels of the outer ones indistinct; the diameter of the largest tubercles on the flanks exceeds the diameter of the ear-opening. Ventral scales larger than those on the throat, cycloid, imbricate. Male with 7-20 femoral pores on each side. Tail depressed, annulate, with rows of 8 or 6 spine-like tubercles, below with a series of transversely dilated plates. Limbs granular, the upper part of the hind limb with large keeled tubercles; digits free, dilated, the free distal joint long, 3-6 lamellae under the inner, 6-8 under the median toes.

Yellowish-brown above with irregular dark spots; one or two dark lines on the side of the head, passing through the eye; lips with dark bars. Lower parts white; all the scales finely dotted with dark brown. Young specimens have cross lines of white tubercles on the back; those on the tail all white.^[3]

Length of head and body 58 millimetres (2.3 in), tail 60 millimetres (2.4 in).

Brooke's house gecko in Madhya Pradesh, India

Geographic range

By subspecies:

• brookii
  • Senegal, Togo, Angola, Cape Verde, Tanzania, [South Africa], Gambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Sudan (Dagana + Goree Dondo/Cuanza River Atakpame).
  • India (Himalaya), Bhutan, Thailand (HR 33: 322), Maldives, Malaysian Peninsula, Sri Lanka, Myanmar (= Burma) (Tsagain), Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia (Borneo).
  • Mexico, Honduras, Haiti, Antilles, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Port-Au-Prince, Trinidad, Colombia
• angulatus: Sudan, Uganda, south to Tanzania, west to Senegal. Zanzibar, Pemba Island.
  • Type locality: West coast of Africa = Gabon [angulatus]
• leightoni: Venezuela (Zulia), Colombia
  • Type locality: "Ada Foah (Guinea)" [= Ghana] [Hemidactylus guineensis PETERS 1868]