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Hemidactylus foudaii BAHA EL DIN, 2003

IUCN Red List - Hemidactylus foudaii - Least Concern, LC

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Higher TaxaGekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos)
Subspecies 
Common Names 
SynonymHemidactylus foudaii BAHA EL DIN 2003: 39
Hemidactylus foudaii — CARRANZA & ARNOLD 2006
Hemidactylus foudaii — RÖSLER 2015 
DistributionSE Egypt, NE Sudan (Jumhūriyyat) (near the Egypt-Sudan border), Eritrea

Type locality: Wadi Aideib, Gebel Elba, Egyp.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: FMNH 259977 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: A rather small slender gecko. Maximum recorded SVL 44 mm. Displays the main characters of the genus Hemidactylus as defined by Loveridge (1947): Digits clawed, with dilated pads basally; lamellae on ventral side of pads divided longitudinally; distal phalanges free, rising angularly from within dilated basal portion. Pupil vertical; upper palpebral fold distinct, lower vestigial. Males with preanal pores.
The combination of small granular dorsal scales intermixed with large, strongly keeled, tubercles and a slender, cylindrical tail (not constricted basally) distinguish the new species from north-east African and Arabian Hemidactylus with uniform or imbricate dorsal scales (15 species); with small feebly keeled dorsal tubercles (11 species); or with root shaped basally constricted tails (3 species).
Generally, H. foudaii can be distinguished from the more similar north-east African and Arabian Hemidactylus species (14 species), which share with it the possession of strongly keeled dorsal tubercles and a slender, cylindrical tail by the following combination of characters: very short terminal (free) phalanges, moderately dilated digital pads, coarse dorsal scalation and a distinct dorsal pattern of numerous narrow transverse bands. Table 1. summarizes some of the morphometric characters of similar Hemidactylus species from north-east Africa and Arabia.
Specifically, these species also differ as follows: H. arnoldi lacks contact of upper nasals, has larger number of labials and subdigital lamellae, is larger in size and has a distinctive dorsal pattern of four broad dark bands; H. bavazzanoi has a striking dorsal pattern of three well defined blackish bands on a bright pink background; H. barodanus lacks contact of upper nasals, is larger in size and has a dorsal pattern of four broad dark bands; H. brookii lacks contact of upper nasals, has larger number of preanal/femoral pores, relatively small dorsal tubercles, and reaches larger size; H. granchii lacks contact of upper nasals, first upper labial excluded from nostrill, has smaller number of preanal pores and reaches larger size; H. granti Boulenger 1899 (endemic to Sokotra Archipelago) has a larger number of preanal pores, relatively small dorsal tubercles, reaches larger size and has a dorsal pattern of four indistinct broad dark bands; H. klauberi Scortecci 1948 has incompletely divided subdigital lamella, and tri-carinate dorsal tubercles; H. macropholis lacks contact of upper nasals, is larger in size and has a dorsal pattern of four indistinct broad dark bands and spots; H. oxyrhinus Boulenger 1899 (endemic to Sokotra Archipelago) has the back covered with large juxtaposed tubercles; H. robustus mostly lacks contact of upper nasals, has relatively small dorsal tubercles, an almost smooth tail (without tubercles), a dorsal pattern of indistinct spots, and numerous ill defined tail bands; H. turcicus lacks contact of upper nasals, has on average fewer preanal pores, a dorsal pattern of four indistinct broad dark bands and spots, and reaches larger size; H. sinaitus has a small number of subdigital lamella, relatively small dorsal tubercles, subcaudal scales are uniform, cycloid (not laterally expanded), and dorsal pattern is indistinct.
Both African and Yemeni populations of yerburii (referred to y. pauciporosus and the nominate taxon respectively) differ from H. foudaii in largely lacking contact of upper nasals, have long terminal (free) phalanges that extend well beyond a notably dilated basal portion of the digits, have a dorsal pattern of four indistinct broad dark bands (often reduced to a series of large spots in adults), and reach a much larger size. Additionally, the Yemeni populations have a large number of preanal pores. Some of the variable Hemidactylus populations from Oman, tentatively referred to the yerburii complex by Arnold (1980), share with H. foudaii its slender aspect and smaller number of preanal pores, but differ from it in the same characters as the Yemeni and African populations of yerburii.
Hemidactylus citernii from Somalia shares the character of short terminal phalanges with H. foudaii, from which it differs in lacking upper nasal contact, having smaller number of subdigital lamella and preanal pores, smaller dorsal tubercles and a dorsal pattern of four indistinct broad bands of large dark spots. 
CommentDistribution: See map in Smid et al. 2019: 32 (Fig. 3). 
EtymologyThe species is named after a colleague and friend of the author, Dr. Moustafa Mokhtar Fouda, Director of the Nature Conservation Sector, Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, in acknowledgement of the efforts and sacrifices he has made and continues to make to conserve Egypt's biodiversity and natural heritage. 
References
  • Baha el Din, S. 2006. A guide to the reptiles and amphibians of Egypt. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo. xvi + 359 pp.
  • BAHA EL DIN, S. M. 2003. A new species of Hemidactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Egypt. African Journal of Herpetology 52 (1): 39-47 - get paper here
  • Baha El Din, Sherif M. 2005. An overview of Egyptian species of Hemidactylus (Gekkonidae), with the description of a new species from the high mountains of South Sinai. Zoology in the Middle East 34: 11-26 - get paper here
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Carranza, S. and E.N. Arnold 2006. Systematics, biogeography, and evolution of Hemidactylus geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) elucidated using mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 38 (2): 531-545 - 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
  • Rösler, Herbert 2015. Bemerkungen über einige Geckos der Zoologischen Staatssammlung München. Gekkota, Suppl. (2): 3-54
  • Sindaco, R. & Jeremcenko, V.K. 2008. The reptiles of the Western Palearctic. Edizioni Belvedere, Latina (Italy), 579 pp. - get paper here
  • Sindaco, R., Razzetti E., Ziliani U., Wasonga V., Carugati C., Fasola M. 2007. A New Species of Hemidactylus from Lake Turkana, Northern Kenya (Squamata: Gekkonidae). Acta Herpetologica 2 (1): 37-48 - get paper here
  • Sindaco, Roberto; Ugo Ziliani; Edoardo Razzetti; Caterina Carugati; Cristina Grieco; Fabio Pupin; Badr Awadh Al-Aseily; Francesca Pella; Mauro Fasola 2009. A misunderstood new gecko of the genus Hemidactylus from Socotra Island, Yemen (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) . Acta Herpetologica 4 (1): 83-98 - get paper here
  • Šmíd, Jiří; Salvador Carranza, Lukáš Kratochvíl, Václav Gvoždík, Abdul Karim Nasher, Jiří Moravec 2013. Out of Arabia: A Complex Biogeographic History of Multiple Vicariance and Dispersal Events in the Gecko Genus Hemidactylus (Reptilia: Gekkonidae). PLoS One 8(5): e64018 - get paper here
  • Spawls, Stephen; Tomáš Mazuch & Abubakr Mohammad 2023. Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of North-east Africa. Bloomsbury, 640 pp. - get paper here
  • Šmíd, Jiří, Mazuch, Tomáš, Nováková, Lucie, Modrý, David, Malonza, Patrick K., Abdirahman Elmi, Hassan Sh, Carranza, Salvador & Moravec, Jiří 2020. Phylogeny and Systematic Revision of the Gecko Genus Hemidactylus from the Horn of Africa (Squamata: Gekkonidae). Herpetological Monographs 33 (1): 26-47 [paper says 2019 on title page, but the fine print on page 45 says “Published on 13 March 2020] - get paper here
 
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