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Gehyra oceanica (LESSON, 1830)

IUCN Red List - Gehyra oceanica - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaGekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Pacific Dtella 
SynonymStellio 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 
DistributionPapua 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.


 
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: 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] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): (modified after de Rooij 1915) Limbs pentadactylic; digits strongly dilated, free or webbed at the base; inferior transverse lamellae undivided, grooved or medially di- vided; distal phalanges free, elongate, com- pressed, clawed, rising from within the ex- tremity of the dilated part; inner digits without free distal phalange, clawless, or with a very indistinct retractile claw; dorsal surface cov- ered with small juxtaposed scales; ventral surface with cycloid imbricate scales; pupil vertical; males with femoral or preanal pores (from King & Horner 1989). 
CommentDistribution: 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. 
References
  • Bassett, Lawrence Grant; Ferris Eric-Hisham Zughaiyir, Michael R. J. Forstner 2021. Description of an abnormal tail bifurcation in Gehyra oceanica (Lesson, 1830). Herpetology Notes 14: 588-589 - get paper here
  • Bauer, A.M. 1994. Liste der rezenten Amphibien und Reptilien: Gekkonidae I (Australia). Das Tierreich, Vol. 108, W. de Gruyter & Co. (Berlin)
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