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Hemidactylus robustus HEYDEN, 1827

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Higher TaxaGekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Heyden’s gecko 
SynonymHemidactylus robustus HEYDEN 1827
Hemidactylus turcicus parkeri LOVERIDGE 1936
Hemidactylus parkeri LOVERIDGE 1936: 59
Hemidactylus puccionii — LOVERIDGE 1947 (part.)
Hemidactylus parkeri — LANZA 1978
Hemidactylus turcicus parkeri — ARNOLD 1980: 289
Hemidactylus porbandarensis SHARMA 1981
Hemidactylus parkeri — LANZA 1983
Hemidactylus turcicus — ARNOLD 1986: 419 (part.)
Hemidactylus robustus — LANZA 1990
Hemidactylus porbandarensis — KLUGE 1993
Hemidactylus porbandarensis — RÖSLER 2000: 87
Hemidactylus robustus — SINDACO et al. 2007
Hemidactylus porbandarensis — VYAS 2007
Hemidactylus porbandarensis — VYAS 2008
Hemidactylus robustus — SINDACO et al. 2009
Hemidactylus cf. robustus — SINDACO et al. 2014
Hemidactylus porbandarensis — PATANKAR et al. 2014
Hemidactylus robustus — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 95
Hemidactylus parkeri — TORKI 2019 
DistributionEgypt and Sudan (Jumhūriyyat) (Red Sea coasts); Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, extreme NE Kenya; Arabian Peninsula, Qatar, Iraq, coastal Iran and Pakistan, Yemen; Oman, United Arab Emirates (UAE); Introduced on Socotra.

Type locality: “Egypten, Arabien, und Abyssinien”. Restricted to “the Red Sea coast of the State of Eritrea” by Smid et al. 2015.

parkeri: Zanzibar Island

porbandarensis: India (Gujarat)  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: SMF 8720 (designated by Boettger 1893, see also Mertens 1967), also given as holotype: ZSID V/2152, paratypes: ZSID V/2125.
Holotype: MCZ 22976 [parkeri] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Hemidactylus robustus is a member of the Hemidactylus robustus species group within the Arabian radiation of the arid clade of Hemidactylus as evident from mtDNA and nDNA analyses. The species has the following combination of molecular and morphological characters: (1) medium size with maximum recorded SVL 54.6 mm for males and 51.3 mm for females (Carranza & Arnold, 2012); (2) 6-9 infralabials and 8-11 supralabials; (3) snout forming a convex line between eye and nostril from lateral view; (4) infraorbital, parietal and temporal region covered with numerous regularly spaced round unkeeled tubercles; (5) anterior postmentals in wide medial contact; (6) dorsum with 13_18 longitudinal rows of round, weakly keeled and posteriorly pointed tubercles; (7) 5-8 preanal pores in males; (8) 5-8 lamellae under the 1st toe; (9) 8-12 lamellae under the 4th toe; (10) enlarged subcaudals; (11) tail with weakly distinct whorls of tubercles that do not stand out from the tail outline from dorsal view; (12) in life with distinct dark bands from nostrils across eyes to ear openings from where they continue as interrupted lines to shoulder region; the bands form a distinct dark head outline from a dorsal view; dorsum with irregular dark markings sometimes forming indistinct X-shaped marks at midbody, sometimes fusing and forming vertebral stripe on scapulae; tail with widely spaced dark transverse bars restricted to dorsal or dorsolateral part, never extending to ventral part of tail [from SMID et al. 2015]. 
CommentFor a diagnosis see Baha el Din (2005, 2006).

Distribution: for map see Sindaco & Jeremčenko (2008) but note that some populations were split off as new species by SMID et al. 2015. See map in ŠMÍD et al. 2016: Fig. 3. See map in SMID et al. 2014 for distribution in Iran. See map in Burriel-Carranza et al. 2019 for map in UAE. Not listed for Iraq by Mohammed et al. 2017 (RJH 24: 193).

Synonymy: Hemidactylus porbandarensis was synonymized with H. robustus by Bauer et al. 2012.

MorphoBank: M329277-M329312 
References
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