Gehyra oceanica (LESSON, 1830)
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Gehyra oceanica
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Pacific Dtella |
| Synonym | Stellio argyropus TILESIUS VON TILENAU 1820 (nomen oblitum) Gecko oceanicus LESSON 1830: 42 (in DUPERREY) Gehyra Pacifica GRAY 1834: 100 (fide MCCANN 1955) Hemidactylus Oualensis DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1836: 350 Gehyra gularis — GRAY 1842 (nom. nud. fide CHRAPLIWY et al. 1961) Gehyra oceanica — GRAY 1842 Peropus (Perodactylus) oualensis — FITZINGER 1843 Gehyra oceanica — BOULENGER 1885: 152 Hemidactylus ovalensis WERNER 1900 Gehyra oceanica — GARMAN 1901: 3 Peropus oceanicus — BARBOUR 1912 Gehyra oceanica — DE ROOIJ 1915: 44 Hemidactylus ovalensis — CAMP 1923: 409 Gehyra oceania — BROWN 1956 Gehyra oceanica — WERMUTH 1965: 35 Gehyra oceanica — DRYDEN & TAYLOR 1969 Gehira oceanica — COCHEREAU 1974 Gehyra oceanica — KLUGE 1993 Gehyra oceanica — RÖSLER 1995: 118 Gehyra oceanica — COGGER 2000: 240 Gehyra oceanica — FLECKS et al. 2012 |
| Distribution | Papua New Guinea, Guam ?, Society Islands, most island groups in Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia (incl. Toga, Loh, Tegua, Hiu, Uman District Islands), Australia (questionable records from the islands of Torres Strait, questionable records from Queensland and Northern Territory), Nauru, Vanuatu, Cook Islands (Rarotonga), Western Samoa, Solomon Islands [McCoy 2000], Fiji, Rotuma, Tonga (most islands); Indonesia (Halmahera), Palau Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan) (Hileman et al. 2020) Type locality: Tahiti and Borabora, Oceania. Type locality: Ovalan Island = Kusai, Caroline archipelago 08°00'N 14°00'E (MNHN 1776, 6608); Tongatabu Tonga, 20°00'S 175°00'W (MNHN 2293), fide King & Horner 1989. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Syntypes: MNHN-RA 2293, Tongatabou; MNHN-RA 1776, Oualan, MNHN-RA 6608, Oualan (based on Brygoo's list of gecko types in the Paris collection). The illustration of this species appeared prior to the description, and hence it is the illustration rather than the written description that must be considered the definition of the species. The illustration cannot be matched with any of these specimens (Lescure, 2015), and none are from O-Taïti (Tahiti) or Borabora, the only localities specified by Lesson in the written description. It is possible that the specimen that was used for the illustration was lost prior to the expedition's return, as the first part of the collection was sent from Sydney, and the ship carrying that part of the collection was wrecked off the Cape of Good Hope (Weijola et al., 2017). Holotype: MNHN-RA 1776, from Oualan [Hemidactylus oualensis] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus): (modified after de Rooij 1915) Limbs pentadactylic; digits strongly dilated, free or webbed at the base; inferior transverse lamellae undivided, grooved or medially divided; distal phalanges free, elongate, compressed, clawed, rising from within the extremity of the dilated part; inner digits without free distal phalange, clawless, or with a very indistinct retractile claw; dorsal surface covered with small juxtaposed scales; ventral surface with cycloid imbricate scales; pupil vertical; males with femoral or preanal pores (from King & Horner 1989). Additional details (1496 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Distribution: Records from Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island are erroneous. Records from New Zealand are accidental, non-established introductions. Tonione et al. (2015) found evidence for six independent evolutionary lineages (candidate species) within G. oceanica that diverged between the Pliocene and the early Pleistocene, with high diversity through northern Melanesia. Conservation: Populations on Guam may now be extinct as a result of predation by the introduced snake Boiga irregularis. Nomenclature: see discussion in Bauer (1994) for nomenclatorial issues. Kealley et al. (2018) argued in favor of Gehyra over dtella as the common name “as the generic name is already available and just as easy or difficult to remember than an additional name fabricated for use as a common name.” The name ‘dtella’, however, is not fabricated but appears to be the indigenous name for Gehyra from the Chillagoe region of north-eastern Queensland (Broom 1898). Type species: Gehyra Pacifica GRAY 1834: 100 is the type species of the genus Gehyra GRAY 1834. |
| Etymology | Presumably named after the Latin oceanus (ocean) plus the suffix -ica (from), relating to the species coming from the islands of Pacific Oceania. (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024) The genus name was possibly a meaningless but euphonious combination of letters, as Gray often produced (Glenn Shea, pers. comm., 7 July 2024). |
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