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Pachydactylus geitje (SPARRMAN, 1778)

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Higher TaxaGekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Ocellated Thick-Toed Gecko, Cradock Thick-toed Gecko 
SynonymLacerta geitje SPARRMAN 1778: 75
Stellio geitie — SCHNEIDER 1792: 34 (invalid emendation)
Gekko Geitje — MEYER 1795: 26
Gecko ocellatus CUVIER 1817 (fide LOVERIDGE 1947)
Gecko inunguis CUVIER 1817 (part.)
Anoplopus inunguis — WAGLER 1830
Pachydactylus bergii WIEGMANN 1834: 19 (fide LOVERIDGE 1947)
Platydactylus ocellatus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1836: 298
Cantinia Ascensionis GRAY — GRAY 1845: 167
Pachydactylus ocellatus — BOULENGER 1885: 205
Pachydactylus monticolus FITZSIMONS 1943
Pachydactylus monticolus — LOVERIDGE 1947: 368
Pachydactylus geitje — LOVERIDGE 1947: 350
Pachydactylus geitje — WERMUTH 1965: 118
Pachydactylus monticolus — WERMUTH 1965: 121
Pachydactylus monticolus — KLUGE 1993
Pachydactylus geitje — KLUGE 1993
Pachydactylus geitje — RÖSLER 2000: 98
Pachydactylus monticolus — RÖSLER 2000: 98
Pachydactylus monticolus — MASHININI & MAHLANGU 2013
Pachydactylus geitje — BATES et al. 2014: 130 
DistributionRepublic of South Africa (Cape Province, S Ascension)

Type locality: South Africa (“Goorees Rivier ?” fide WERMUTH 1965).

monticolus: South Africa (Cape Province); Type locality: Assegaibos, near the origin of the Berg River, Lamotte Foerestry Station, Fransch Hoek Mountains, Cape Province.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: NRM 318
Holotype: DNMNH (= TM) 19698 [monticolus] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): Pachydactylus species range in size from approximately 35–85 mm in adult maximum SVL. Most species have a medium build, with bodies generally rounded in cross section in terrestrial species to depressed in some rock-dwelling species. Tails are variable – sometimes relatively narrow but other times quite thick. As in all gekkonids, eyelids do not function. Most species are patterned in shades of muted shades of brown, most often with additional markings such as spots, blotches, or bands; these markings make a few species quite handsome. Species are distinguished from other gekkonid geckos by the following combination of characteristics: hyperphalangy of digit I of the manus and pes; hyoid with second ceratobranchial cartilages; eye with vertical pupil; eyelids not functional; digits with undivided adhesive subdigital lamellae or granular scales; claws minute or absent; dorsal scalation small, granular, with or without larger keeled or unkeeled tubercles; preanal and femoral pores absent; precloacal spurs present; no significant dermal co-ossification of head (Loveridge 1947; Kluge 1983; Branch 1998, Bauer and Lamb 2005). 
CommentType species: Pachydactylus bergii WIEGMANN 1834 is the type species of the genus Pachydactylus WIEGMANN 1834.

Phylogenetics: Heinicke et al. 2017 presented an extensive phylogenetic analysis in which they grouped the genus in multiple groups and provided body and range sizes as well as microhabitat data for almost all species.

Synonymy partly after BAUER & LAMB 2005, RÖSLER et al. 2012, and A. Bauer, pers. comm, 4 Oct 2014. There is no type material for Gecko inunguis CUVIER 1817, so it is unclear what exactly it is (RÖSLER et al. 2012). RÖSLER 2000 lists P. monticolus with a question mark. BAUER & LAMB 2005 did not mention P. monticolus at all. Cantinea GRAY 1840 is probably a misspelling of Cantinia and a nomen nudum (Rösler et al. 2018, forthcoming). 
References
  • Bates, M.F.; Branch, W.R., Bauer, A.M.; Burger, M., Marais, J.; Alexander, G.J. & de Villliers, M.S. (eds.) 2014. Atlas and Red List of the Reptiles of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Suricata 1. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, 512 pp.
  • Bauer, A.M. 2000. Comments on the types and type localities of South African reptiles collected by Heinrich Bergius and Ludwig Krebs. African Journal of Herpetology 49:53-60 - get paper here
  • Bauer, A.M. & Lamb, T. 2005. Phylogenetic relationships of southern African geckos in the Pachydactylus group (Squamata: Gekkonidae). African Journal of Herpetology 54 (2): 105-129 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. Geckonidae, Eublepharidae, Uroplatidae, Pygopodidae, Agamidae. London: 450 pp. - get paper here
  • Branch, William R. 1993. A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 144 S.
  • Bustard, R.H. 1963. Notes on the eyed gecko (Pachydactylus geitje) with special reference to incubation. Copeia 1963 (2): 433-434 - get paper here
  • Cuvier, G. 1816. Le règne animal distribué d’après son organisation, pour servir de base a l’historire naturelle des animaux et d’introduction a l’anatomie comparée. Vol. 2. Les reptiles, les poissons, les mollusques et les annélides. Déterville, Paris [often cited as 1817 but see Roux 1976: 31] - get paper here
  • Duméril, A.M. C. and G. Bibron. 1836. Erpetologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete des Reptiles. Vol. 3. Libr. Encyclopédique Roret, Paris, 528 pp. - get paper here
  • FitzSimons, V.F. 1943. The lizards of South Africa. Transvaal Museum Memoir No.1 (Pretoria), 528 pp.
  • Fraser M. 2023. Reptiles and Amphibians of the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, Western Cape, South Africa. Biodiversity Observations 13: 162–185. 14 March 2023 - get paper here
  • Girard, Francis 2002. Maintenance and Captive Reproduction of Two Small, South African Geckos Pachydactylus geitje (SPARRMAN, 1778) and Pachydactylus weberi Raux, 1907. Gekko 3 (1): 14-18
  • Heinicke, Matthew P.; Jackman, Todd R.; Bauer, Aaron M. 2017. The measure of success: geographic isolation promotes diversification in Pachydactylus geckos. BMC Evolutionary Biology 17 (1):9; 10.1186/s12862-016-0846-2 - get paper here
  • Lamb, Trip and Aaron M. Bauer 2002. Phylogenetic relationships of the large-bodied members of the African lizard genus Pachydactylus (Reptilia: Gekkonidae). Copeia 2002 (3) :586-596 - get paper here
  • Loveridge, A. 1947. Revision of the African lizards of the family Gekkondiae. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 98: 1-469 - get paper here
  • Mashinini, P. L. and Mahlangu, L. M. 2013. An annotated catalogue of the types of gekkonid lizards (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) in the Herpetology collection of the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, South Africa. Annals of the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History 3: 165-181
  • Meyer, F.A.A. 1795. Synopsis Reptilium, novam ipsorum sistens generum methodum, nec non Gottingensium huius ordinis animalium enumerationem. Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, Göttingen, 32 pp [for current names see Rösler & Böhme 2021] - get paper here
  • Rösler, H. 2000. Kommentierte Liste der rezent, subrezent und fossil bekannten Geckotaxa (Reptilia: Gekkonomorpha). Gekkota 2: 28-153
  • Rösler, Herbert & Wolfgang Böhme 2021. Das Leben von Friedrich Albrecht Anton Meyer (1768 – 1795) und die Herpetologie in seinen Schriften, unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der „Synopsis Reptilium“. Sekretär 21: 83-129
  • Rösler, Herbert; Frank Glaw, JoseF F. ScHmidtler & Roger Bour 2012. Bemerkungen zur Identität und Taxonomie von Gecko inunguis Cuvier, 1817 (Sauria, Gekkonidae, Phelsuma). Vertebrate Zoology 62 (3): 425 – 434 - get paper here
  • Schneider, J. G. 1797. Amphibiorum Physiologiae Specimen Alterum Historiam et Species Generis Stellionum seu Geckonum Sistens. Frankfurt (Oder), C. L. F. Aitzi (2): 54 pp. - get paper here
  • Sparrman, A. 1778. Befkrifning och berättelfe om LACERTA GEITJE, en obekant och giftig ÖDLA ifrân Goda Hopps Udden. Det Götheborgska Wetenskaps och Witterhets Samhallets Handlingar. Wetenskaps Afdelningen Forsta Stycket, Götheborg, pp. 75-78
  • Wiegmann,A.F.A. 1834. Herpetologia Mexicana, seu descriptio amphibiorum novae hispaniae , quae itineribus comitis de Sack, Ferdinandi Deppe et Chr. Guil. Schiede im Museum Zoologicum Berolinense Pervenerunt. Pars prima, saurorum species. Berlin, Lüderitz, iv + 54 pp. - get paper here
 
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