Last updated 24 August 2022: updated Cosymbotus, Dravidogecko and Teratolepis and added links to Calodactylodes and Perochirus.
This subfamily represents the "typical" geckos, ie its species have the climbing pads, arboreal behaviour, lack of eyelids and often vocal abilities that to most people characterised geckos. It is also by far the largest, containing several genera and about 950 species, despite losing several genera to the families Phyllodactylidae and Sphaerodactylidae.
Due to the huge size of this subfamily, the following list of genera is arranged alphabetically. In one way this is a pity, since an alphabetical arrangement does not correspond to the importance of some genera and the rarity of others. Therefore I have placed a '*' at the end of each genus listing which is most likely contain species that are regularly offered for sale.
|
Scientific Name |
Common Name |
Distribution |
# of Species |
Notes |
|
Afroedura |
Rock Geckos |
Southern Africa |
9 |
|
|
Afrogecko |
|
Southern Africa |
3 |
|
|
Spider Geckos |
Middle East & C Asia |
4 |
Common name derives from strikingly thin limbs. |
|
|
Seychelles Skin-Sloughing Geckos |
Seychelles (Indian Ocean) |
3 |
|
|
|
Straight-Fingered Geckos |
C Asia and Indian subcontinent |
7 |
|
|
|
Altiphylax |
|
C Asia, Indian subcontinent and W China |
8 |
|
|
Malagasy Velvet Geckos |
Madagascar |
3 |
Placed by some authorities in the genus Homopholis. |
|
|
Bunopus |
|
Middle East inc. Arabia, C Asia |
4 |
|
|
Golden Geckos |
India and Sri Lanka |
2 |
|
|
|
Comb-Fingered Geckos |
Namibia |
1 |
|
|
|
|
Australia |
2 |
|
|
|
Cnemaspis |
|
W & E Africa, India and SE Asia |
43 |
Absence from Middle East and C Asia may be explicable by requirement for tree cover and humidity. |
|
Kalahari Ground Gecko |
Southern Africa |
1 |
|
|
|
Cosymbotus |
|
India and SE Asia, USA (introduced into Florida) |
2 |
Now normally considered to be synonymous with Hemidactylus. |
|
Comb-Toed Geckos |
C Asia and Indian subcontinent |
2 |
|
|
|
Coastal Leaf-Toed Geckos |
Republic of South Africa |
1 |
|
|
|
Cyrtodactylus |
Bent-/ Bow-Toed Geckos |
|
76 |
|
|
Thin-Toed Geckos |
S Europe, C Asia to Indian subcontinent |
35 |
|
|
|
|
Thailand |
5 |
|
|
|
Southern Forest Gecko |
India |
1 |
Synonymised by some authorities with Hemidactylus. |
|
|
Malagasy Geckos |
Madagascar, Tanzania and Mauritius |
2 |
|
|
|
Elasmodactylus |
C & SE Africa |
2 |
Formerly part of the genus Pachydactylus. |
|
|
Geckoella |
|
India and Sri Lanka |
7 |
Currently disputed: listed by Reptile Database under Cyrtodactylus. |
|
Geckolepis |
|
Madagascar |
3 |
|
|
Helmet Geckos |
North Africa |
1 |
Now reassigned. |
|
|
Sugar Geckos |
Indo-Pacific |
34 |
|
|
|
True or Calling Geckos* |
Asia |
30 |
Large, colourful and vocal geckos: includes the Tokay Gecko G. gecko |
|
|
Goggia |
Leaf-Toed Geckos |
Southern Africa |
8 |
|
|
Leaf-Toed Geckos* |
Originally Africa: now distributed also in Asia, Australia and the Americas |
78 |
A few species of this large genus are offered frequently in the pet trade. |
|
|
Hemiphyllodactylus |
Half-Leaf-Fingered Geckos |
India, China, SE Asia, Oceania: introduced into Japan and Hawaii |
4 |
|
|
African Velvet Geckos |
Sub-Saharan Africa |
3 |
|
|
|
Kolekanos |
|
SW Angola |
1 |
|
|
Lakigecko |
|
Iran |
1 |
|
|
Dwarf Geckos |
SE Asia, Oceania and Australia, introduced into the Americas |
31 |
L. lugubris, the most widespread species of the genus, is parthenogenetic in at least some populations. |
|
|
Wolf Geckos |
Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia |
8 |
|
|
|
Dwarf/Painted Geckos |
Africa and Madagascar |
63 |
|
|
|
Matoatoa |
|
Madagascar |
2 |
|
|
Mediodactylus |
Europe, Middle East and Central Asia |
13 |
Former Carinatogecko/Cyrtopodion/Cyrtodactylus species. |
|
|
Microgecko |
|
|
|
Former Tropiocolotes species. |
|
Nactus |
|
Mauritius, Oceania, Indonesia and Australia |
8 |
Most species in this genus were formerly members of others. Some parthenogenetic populations. |
|
Festive Geckos |
Namibia |
1 |
|
|
|
Thick-Fingered Geckos* |
Southern Africa |
39 |
Includes the popular P. ocellatus, formerly often mistakenly labelled P. bibroni. |
|
|
Web-Footed Geckos |
Namibia |
1 |
Now considered by some authorities to belong to Pachydactylus. |
|
|
Paragehyra |
|
Madagascar |
2 |
|
|
Paroedura |
Big-Headed Geckos * |
Madagascar |
15 |
|
|
Parsigecko |
|
Iran |
1 |
|
|
Saw-Tailed Geckos |
Micronesia |
03/05/22 |
|
|
|
Day Geckos* |
Madagascar, Indian Ocean and occasionally Africa |
40 |
Extremely colourful and popular diurnal lizards. Some are tricky to maintain in captivity. |
|
|
Pseudoceramodactylus |
|
Middle East (Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait) |
1 |
Formerly assigned to Stenodactylus. |
|
False Geckos |
Philippines |
4 |
|
|
|
Ptenopus |
Barking Geckos |
Southern Africa |
3 |
Vocal geckos |
|
Flying/Gliding Geckos |
SE Asia |
6 |
Species glide by means of skin flaps between limbs and body |
|
|
Ramigekko |
|
Republic of South Africa |
1 |
Formerly assigned to Afrogecko. |
|
Rhinogecko |
Middle East and Central Asia |
2 |
Former Agamura species. |
|
|
Rhoptropella |
Namaqua Day Gecko |
Namibia and RSA |
1 |
|
|
Rhoptropus |
Namib Day Geckos |
Southern Africa |
7 |
Found in other countries besides Namibia. |
|
Short-Fingered Geckos |
Middle East, Arabia, North Africa, Horn of Africa and Kenya |
11 |
|
|
|
Tenuidactylus |
C Asia |
7 |
Former Cyrtodactylus/Cyrtopodion species. |
|
|
Teratolepis |
Viper Geckos |
India |
2 |
Now considered part of Hemidactylus. |
|
Trachydactylus |
|
Oman, United Arab Emirates, Yemen |
2 |
Former Bunopus species. |
|
Trigonodactylus |
|
Middle East |
4 |
|
|
Dwarf/Pygmy Geckos* |
N Africa |
8 |
1 species regularly offered in pet trade |
|
|
Urocotyledon |
|
W & E Africa, Seychelles |
5 |
|
|
Uroplatus |
Leaf-Tailed Geckos* |
Madagascar |
14 |
Fascinating if somewhat bizarre-looking animals: not for beginners |
General Care and Maintenance of Tokay Geckos and Related Species, McKeown and Zaworski, Herpetocultural Library 1997. If you want to keep any of the Gekko, Ptychozoon or Cyrtodactylus species, I thoroughly recommend this book.
Lizards of the World, Mattison
Keeping and Breeding Lizards, Mattison
Lizard-Keeper's Handbook, de Vosjoli, Herpetocultural Library Series, 1994.
Lizard Care from A to Z, Bartlett and Bartlett, Barrons 1997.
Echsen [Lizards] 1, Rogner, Ulmer 1992.
Geckos: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual, Bartlett and Bartlett, Barrons 1995.
Geckos: Keeping and Breeding Them in Captivity, Walls and Walls, TFH 1999.
Breeding and Keeping Geckos, Coborn, TFH 1995. Both Coborn and the Walls' book offer excellent information on many of the gecko species, including some useful descriptions of the rarer Australo-Pacific species, as does Rogner's book.
Grzimek, Volume 6, Reptiles. (see Bibliography on the main Gecko page).
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