Hemidactylus bayonii BOCAGE, 1893
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Hemidactylus bayonii
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Barboza's Leaf-toed Gecko |
| Synonym | Hemidactylus bayonii BOCAGE 1893: 116 Hemidactylus bayonii — FRADE 1963 Hemidactylus bayoni — LAURENT 1964: 30 Hemidactylus bayonii — WERMUTH 1965: 70 Hemidactylus bayonii — KLUGE 1993 Hemidactylus bayonii — RÖSLER 2000: 85 Hemidactylus bayonii — RÖSLER 2015 Hemidactylus bayonii — CERIACO et al. 2020: 20 Hemidactylus cf. bayonii — SANTOS et al. 2021 |
| Distribution | Angola (Luanda, Bengo, Kwanza Sul, Benguela, Namibe) Type locality: Dondo near Bayão, Quanza River, Angola. Neotype locality: Kawa Camp, Kissama National Park (-9.18303°, 13.37063°, 136 m), Luanda Province, Republic of Angola |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Neotype. CAS 263354 (field number AMB 10095; Fig. 4; Table 4 in Ceriaco et al. 2020), adult male, collected by Luis M.P. Ceríaco, David C. Blackburn and Aaron M. Bauer on 15 December 2015. The original holotype is lost, was MB (Museu Bocage) (probably lost in fire 1978) |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A small sized Hemidactylus, maximum snout-vent length 36.2 mm (Fig. 3). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous, with 14–16 irregularly arranged longitudinal rows of subtrihedral, striated, keeled tubercles at midbody. Two well-developed pairs of postmentals, the inner pair longer than the outer pair, but about the same size as the mental, usually in contact behind mental, but sometimes with an additional enlarged postmental scale separating the two main postmentals. ventrolateral folds distinct, about 28–32 scale rows across venter. Five to six divided scansors beneath first digit manus, four to seven to that of pes, seven to eight beneath fourth digit of manus, eigth to ten beneath the fourth digit of pes. Six to nine continuous precloacal pores in males. Original tail slightly cyclo-tetragonal, strongly spinose; scales on the tail dorsum slightly larger than dorsals of body, striated, imbricate, with a longitudinal series of two enlarged, strongly keeled, striated, pointed tubercles on either side of the median dorsal furrow. Subcaudal scales small, about one fourth of the tail width. Body dorsum with a series of dark marking dorsolaterally, and cream-colored stripe extending from snout to behind the eyes; tail with distinct alternating light and dark bands. Note that the number of dorsal tubercle rows we report is not consistent with the original description of this species because it is not possible to determine the point at which Bocage began counting these rows. |
| Comment | Similar species: H. longicephalus. The Hemidactylus specimens of the vernay Angola Expedition remained misidentified as Hemidactylus longicephalus until Ceriaco et al. 2020. Loveridge (1947) considered H. bayonii as juvenile Hemidactylus brookii angulatus Habitat: The species was only found on the ground, mostly on sandy soils with leaf litter cover. Specimens were located under cover by day and moving on the ground just before, but especially after dusk. The habitat in Kissama National Park, where the neotype was collected, is a typical western Angolan savan- nah, with sandy soils dominated by Adansonia digitata, Euphorbia conspicua, Acacia welwitschi and Combretum spp., together with a good grass coverage. Sympatry: sympatrically with Hemidactylus mabouia and H. longicephalus, although these were never found on the ground. |
| Etymology | Named after Francisco Antonio Pinheiro Bayão, a Portuguese planter and administrator whose family had settled in Angola in the 17th century where he also collected many specimens. |
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