Rhacodactylus willihenkeli KÖHLER, SAMEIT, SEIPP & GEISS, 2024
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Rhacodactylus willihenkeli?
Rhacodactylus willihenkeli
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| Higher Taxa | Diplodactylidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Rhacodactylus willihenkeli KÖHLER, SAMEIT, SEIPP & GEISS 2024 Rhacodactylus cf. leachianus (houailou, N) — VENCES et al., 2001 |
| Distribution | New Caledonia Type locality: about 12.5 airline km NE Bourail (GPS coordinates ca. -21.517°, 165.606°; about 750 m above sea level), central New Caledonia |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. SMF 105137, an adult female, collected September 1987 by Friedrich Wilhelm henkel und Joachim Sameit. Paratypes. one adult male (SMF 106563) and one adult female (SMF 107305), same collecting data as holotype, still alive at the time of writing (Fig. 6), to be deposited in the collection of Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut Frankfurt, Germany, after they have died. ZFMK 73575 (adult male), same collecting data as holotype. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. A species of the genus Rhacodactylus (sensu Bauer et al. 2012a) that differs from all congeners except R. leachianus by the following combination of characters (1) adult SVl >200 mm; (2) skin of head coossified with skull; (3) webbing between digits IV and V present; (4) folds of loose skin on posterior surface of hind limb; (5) folds of skin at mandibular margins. Rhacodactylus willihenkeli differs from R. leachianus by having a darker overall coloration with almost no discernable pattern (versus a wide range of color variation, usually with a bold reticulated body pattern and also usually with distinct pale ocellated blotches along flanks in R. leachianus; Figs. 2, 3, 6). In addition, the two taxa are genetically divergent with a genetic distance of 5.0% in the 16S gene fragment and 8.5% in the ND2 fragment, respectively. |
| Comment | Genome: Köhler et al. 2024 |
| Etymology | Named after Friedrich Wilhelm Henkel, nickname “Willi”, who has studied geckos of the genus Rhacodactylus in their natural habitat during about a dozen excursions to New Caledonia and while keeping and breeding these fascinating animals in terrariums for decades. |
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