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Pachydactylus capensis (SMITH, 1846)

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Higher TaxaGekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Cape Gecko, Cape Thick-toed Gecko 
SynonymTarentola capensis SMITH 1846: 50
Pachydactylus elegans GRAY 1845 (fide LOVERIDGE 1947)
Pachydactylus capensis — SMITH 1849
Pachydactylus capensis — BOULENGER 1885: 202
Pachydactylus obscurus [THOMINOT 1889]
Pachydactylus tessellatus WERNER 1910 (non P. laevigatus tesselatus FITZS.)
Pachydactylus leopardinus STERNFELD 1911: 418 (fide LOVERIDGE 1947)
Pachydactylus mentalis HEWITT 1926: 475 (fide LOVERIDGE 1947)
Pachydactylus capensis levyi FITZSIMONS 1933
Pachydactylus capensis capensis — FITZSIMONS 1935: 528
Pachydactylus capensis levyi — LOVERIDGE 1947
Pachydactylus capensis — FITZSIMONS & BRAIN 1958
Pachydactylus capensis levyi — WERMUTH 1965: 117
Pachydactylus capensis capensis — AUERBACH 1987: 83
Pachydactylus capensis — KLUGE 1993
Pachydactylus capensis — RÖSLER 2015
Pachydactylus capensis — SCHLEICHER 2020 
DistributionRepublic of South Africa (S Longhope, Great Fish River), Lesotho, Congo (Upemba See/Mabwe), Democratic Republic of the Congo = Zaire (Shaba), Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique (Lake Nyassa), Malawi, Zambia

Type locality: South Africa.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesType: BMNH 1865.5.4.51 (and possibly additional specimens).
Syntypes (2): PEM R8453, R8375 (formerly AMG 5008) [mentalis] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (40 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentThe former subspecies oshaughnessyi and katanganus have been elevated to full species and subspecies of oshaughnessyi, respectively. P. c. tigrinus and P. c. vansoni also have been elevated to full species. Not corrected for the removal of oshaughnessyi.

Variation: this species is quite variable; see Barts et al. 2013 for a series of photos illustrating pattern and color variants. 
References
  • Auerbach, R.D. 1987. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Botswana. Mokwepa Consultants, Botswana, 295 pp.
  • Barts, M., J. BOONE & F. MÜLLER 2013. Die Dickfingergeckos des südlichen Afrikas – Teil XIV: Der Kap-Dickfingergecko Pachydactylus capensis (SMITH, 1846). Sauria 35 (1): 31-44 - get paper here
  • Bates, M. F. 1988. Life History Note: Pachydactylus capensis capensis: Aggressive behaviour. J. Herp. Assoc. Africa (34): 49-49 - get paper here
  • Bates, M.F.; Branch, W.R., Bauer, A.M.; Burger, M., Marais, J.; Alexander, G.J. & de Villliers, M.S. (eds.) 2014. Atlas and Red List of the Reptiles of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Suricata 1. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, 512 pp.
  • Bauer, A.M. & Lamb, T. 2005. Phylogenetic relationships of southern African geckos in the Pachydactylus group (Squamata: Gekkonidae). African Journal of Herpetology 54 (2): 105-129 - get paper here
  • Bauer, A.M., and Lamb, T. 2002. Phylogenetic relationships among members of the Pachydactylus capensis group of southern African geckos. African Zoology 37: 209-220. - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G. A. 1896. Descriptions of two new lizards from the Transvaal. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6) 17: 21—22 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. Geckonidae, Eublepharidae, Uroplatidae, Pygopodidae, Agamidae. London: 450 pp. - get paper here
  • Branch, William R.; Aaron M. Bauer, Todd R. Jackman, and Matthew Heinicke 2011. A New Species of the Pachydactylus weberi Complex (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Namibrand Reserve, Southern Namibia. Breviora (524): 1-15. - get paper here
  • Broadley, D.G. 1977. A Review of the Northeastern Forms of the Pachydactylus capensis Complex (Sauria:Gekkonidae). Arnoldia 8 (18): 1-19
  • Broadley, D.G. 1998. The reptilian fauna of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa). In: Schmidt, K.P. and Noble, G.K., Contributions to the Herpetology of the Belgian Congo... [reprint of the 1919 and 1923 papers]. SSAR Facsimile reprints in Herpetology, 780 pp.
  • CONRADIE, W., DOUCETTE-RIISE, S., VANHOOYDONCK, B., ENGELBRECHT, H., MEASEY, G.J., & TOLLEY, K. 2011. Herpetological survey of Rooipoort Nature Reserve, Northern Cape, South Africa. African Herp News (53): 35-41 - get paper here
  • Conradie, Werner; Brian Reeves , Neil Brown, & Jan A. Venter 2016. Herpetofauna of the Oviston, Commando Drift and Tsolwana nature reserves in the arid interior of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Indago 32: 81-98 - get paper here
  • CONRADIE, WERNER; WILLIAM R. BRANCH, & GILLIAN WATSON 2019. Type specimens in the Port Elizabeth Museum, South Africa, including the historically important Albany Museum collection. Part 2: Reptiles (Squamata). Zootaxa 4576 (1): 001–045 - get paper here
  • FitzSimons, V. F. 1935. Notes on a collection of reptiles and amphibians made in the Southern Kalahari, Bushmanland, and Great and Little Namaqualand. Annals Transvaal Mus., Pretoria 17: 519-550 - get paper here
  • Fitzsimons, V.F.M.; Brain, C.K. 1958. A Short account of the Reptiles of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. Koedoe, 1(1): 99-104 - get paper here
  • FitzSimons, VIVIAN 1933. Description of five new lizards from the Transvaal and Southern Rhodesia. Annals Transvaal Mus. 15 (2): 273-280. - get paper here
  • Gray, J. E. 1845. Catalogue of the specimens of lizards in the collection of the British Museum. Trustees of die British Museum/Edward Newman, London: xxvii + 289 pp. - get paper here
  • Herrmann, H.-W.; W.R. Branch 2013. Fifty years of herpetological research in the Namib Desert and Namibia with an updated and annotated species checklist. Journal of Arid Environments 93: 94–115 - get paper here
  • Hewitt, J. 1910. A Key to the South African Species of Geckonidae, Scincidae, Gerrhosauridae, and Lacertidae, together with some Notes on the Specific Characters and a Brief Summary of the Known Facts of their Distribution. Annals Transvaal Mus. 2 (3): 77-115. - get paper here
  • Hewitt, J. 1926. Some new or little-known reptiles and batrachians from South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 20: 473—490
  • Hewitt, J. 1927. Further descriptions of reptiles and batrachians from South Africa. Rec. Albany Mus. (Grahamstown) 3 (5): 371-415
  • Hewitt, John 1911. Records of South African Lacertilia and Amphibia, Addenda and Corrigenda. Annals Transvaal Museum 3 (1): 42-55. - 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
  • Loveridge, A. 1953. Zoological Results of a fifth expedition to East Africa. III. Reptiles from Nyasaland and Tete. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 110 (3): 142-322. - get paper here
  • Pianka, Eric R. 1971. Lizard species density in the Kalahari Desert. Ecology 52 (6): 1024-1029 - get paper here
  • Roux,J. 1907. Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Fauna von Süd-Afrika. Ergebnisse einer Reise von Prof. Max Weber im Jahre 1894. VII. Lacertilia (Eidechsen). Zool. Jahrb., Abt. Syst., Geogr. Biol. Tiere (Jena), 25: 403-444 - get paper here
  • Rösler, Herbert 2015. Bemerkungen über einige Geckos der Zoologischen Staatssammlung München. Gekkota, Suppl. (2): 3-54
  • Schleicher, Alfred 2020. Reptiles of Namibia. Kuiseb Publishers, Windhoek, Namibia, 271 pp.
  • Smith, A. 1838. Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa, consisting chiefly of Figures and Descriptions of the Objects of Natural History collected during an Expedition into the Interior of South Africa, in the years 1834, 1835, and 1836 . . . Vol. 3, Reptilia. Smith, Elder, and Co., London [This series was published in 28 parts; see Waterhouse 1880, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880:489-491, and Jentink 1893, Notes Leyden Mus. 15:182, for publication dates and contents.] - get paper here
  • Smith, A. 1846. Illustrations of the zoology of South Africa, Reptilia. Smith, Elder, and Co., London - get paper here
  • Stebbins, Robert C. 1961. Body temperature studies in South African lizards. Koedoe 4 (1): 54-67 - get paper here
  • Sternfeld, R. 1911. Zur Herpetologie Südostafrikas. Mitteilung aus dem Zoologischen Museum in Berlin, 5: 413-420. - get paper here
  • Thominot, A. 1889. Observations sur quelques reptiles et batraciens de la collection du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris. Bulletin de la Société Philomathique de Paris (8) 1:21—30 - get paper here
  • Tolley KA, Telford NS, Makhubo BG, Power RJ, Alexander GJ 2023. Filling the gap: Noteworthy herpetological discoveries in North West Province, South Africa. Zoosystematics and Evolution 99(1): 101-116 - get paper here
  • Witte, G. F. de 1953. Reptiles. Exploration du Parc National de l'Upemba. Mission G. F. de Witte en collaboration avec W. Adam, A. Janssens, L. Van Meel et R. Verheyen (1946–1949). Institut des Parcs Nationaux du Congo Belge. Brussels, vol. 6, 322 pp. - get paper here
 
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