Hemidactylus platyurus (Schneider, 1792)

Kaiser, Hinrich, Carvalho, Venancio Lopes, Ceballos, Jester, Freed, Paul, Heacox, Scott, Lester, Barbara, Richards, Stephen J., Trainor, Colin R., Sanchez, Caitlin & O'Shea, Mark, 2011, The herpetofauna of Timor-Leste: a first report, ZooKeys 109, pp. 19-86 : 36-37

Hemidactylus platyurus (Schneider, 1792) Fig. 13

Common names.

(E) Common Flat-tailed Gecko. *(T) Teki ikun belar (teki = small gecko, belar = flat, ikun = tail).

Identification.

Flat-tailed geckos can be identified by the presence of lateral skin flaps and a flattened tail bearing a fringe of denticulate skin ( Fig. 13 ). Such adaptations provide an increased measure of cryptic morphology for these geckos in addition to their bark-like coloration, as the skin extends almost seamlessly from body to substrate and all but eliminates any shadow these animals may cast.

Collection and natural history.

We collected several specimens by night when they were exposed on the trunks of trees or under bark in forested habitats at elevations of 300 m or less. In one instance, a pair was found in close proximity on the same tree. Geckos like these may also be found in a perianthropic setting or in lowland savannas, where they may be sympatric with Hemidactylus frenatus and Gehyra cf. mutilata . As these other two species, it is likely that Hemidactylus platyurus is not native to Timor but was introduced by human activities in the past.

Taxonomic comment.

Until the revision of geckos in the genus Hemidactylus by Carranza and Arnold (2006), this species was called Cosymbotus platyurus .

Figures

Figure 13. Hemidactylus platyurus. Male from Lore 1 village, Lautem District (USNM [CMD 458], SVL 41 mm, TL 91 mm). Photo by Mark O'Shea.