Hemidactylus whitakeri MIRZA, GOWANDE, PATIL, AMBEKAR & PATEL, 2018

Find more photos by Google images search:

Higher Taxa	Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Whitaker’s termite hill gecko
Synonym	Hemidactylus whitakeri MIRZA, GOWANDE, PATIL, AMBEKAR & PATEL 2018: 15 Hemidactylus subtriedrus — BAUER et al. 2010 Hemidactylus triedrus — BANSAL & KARANTH 2010
Distribution	India (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu) Type locality: “near Kodalagurki village, Bangalore rural district, Karnataka, India (13.297508°N, 77.700259°E), elevation 950 m”
Reproduction	oviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022)
Types	Holotype: NCBS AU712, female, collected by Mayuresh Ambekar & Gaurang Gowande on November 20th, 2017. Paratypes: NCBS AU713, female, same locality as holotype, collected by Rishikesh Patil and Zeeshan Mirza; two males NCBS AU719 & AU720, GKVK campus, Bangalore Karnataka, India (13.072962N, 77.581215E, elevation 932 m), collected by Akshay Khandekar on April 16th, 2018.
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: A medium sized fairly stout gecko, adults ranging 45–60 mm in SVL. Dorsum in a shade of light brown with paired, thin black edged white bands at regular intervals. Dorsal scalation on trunk granular, intermixed with enlarged, keeled 16–17 sub-trihedral tubercle rows arranged in fairly regular longitudinal series on dorsum. Seven lamellae (rarely six) under digit I of pes and manus, eight to nine under digit four of manus and pes. An angular series of seven to eight precloacal femoral pores separated at a mid-pelvic by a diastema of three non-pored scales.
Comment	Distribution: see Figure 6 in Mirza et al. 2018: 15.
Etymology	The specific epithet is a patronym honoring Romulus Earl Whitaker for his valuable contribution toward the study and conservation of reptiles of India.
References	Bansal, Rohini; K. Praveen Karanth 2010. Molecular phylogeny of Hemidactylus geckos (Squamata: Gekkonidae) of the Indian subcontinent reveals a unique Indian radiation and an Indian origin of Asian house geckos. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 57 (1): 459-465 - get paper here Bauer, Aaron M.; Todd R. Jackman, Eli Greenbaum, Varad B. Giri, Anslem de Silva 2010. South Asia supports a major endemic radiation of Hemidactylus geckos. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 57 (1): 343-352 - get paper here Ganesh, S.R.; S. Bhupathy, P. Karthik, G. Babu Rao & S. Babu 2020. Catalogue of herpetological specimens from peninsular India at the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History (SACON), India. JoTT 12 (9): 16123–16135 - get paper here KALKI, YATIN & SACHIN GOWDA. 2021. HEMIDACTYLUS WHITAKERI (Whitaker’s Termite Hill Gecko). DIET. Herpetological Review 52 (3): 649–650. - get paper here Khanduri, S., Thirumurugan, V., CS, V., Chinnasamy, R., Das, A., & Talukdar, G. 2022. A note on opportunistic records of reptiles from the Moyar River Valley Landscape, Tamil Nadu, southern India. Journal of Animal Diversity 4 (4) - get paper here Kwet, A. 2019. Liste der im Jahr 2018 neu beschriebenen Reptilien. Elaphe 2019 (3): 52-72 Mirza ZA, Gowande GG, Patil R, Ambekar M, Patel H. 2018. First appearance deceives many: disentangling the Hemidactylus triedrus species complex using an integrated approach. PeerJ 6:e5341 - get paper here Zimin, A., Zimin, S. V., Shine, R., Avila, L., Bauer, A., Böhm, M., Brown, R., Barki, G., de Oliveira Caetano, G. H., Castro Herrera, F., Chapple, D. G., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Doan, T. M., Glaw, F., Grismer, L. L., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton 2022. A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–16 - get paper here
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information Google images

Is it interesting? Share with others:

As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Hemidactylus&species=whitakeri

without field 'search_param'. Field 'search_param' is used for browsing search result.

Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator