Last updated 3 April 2013: added as separate page for new classification.

A look at the

Infraorder GEKKOTA - Geckos

Family PHYLLODACTYLIDAE



Family PHYLLODACTYLIDAE - the Leaf-Toed Geckos

This family came into being under the recent reclassification of geckos and represents the "leaf-toed" geckos.

With the exception of Tarentola, few of these geckos are common within the herpetocultural hobby, at least within the UK.

Scientific Name

Common Name

Distribution

# of Species

Notes

Asaccus

 

Middle East and Turkey 

7

 

Gymnodactylus

Naked Toe Geckos

Brazil 

3

Formerly a much larger genus: many species now broken off into other genera

Haemodracon

 

Yemen (Socotra Island)

2

Both formerly part of the genus Phyllodactylus 

Homonota

Marked Geckos

South America, also Antilles 

10

 

Phyllodactylus

Leaf-Toed Geckos 

South and Central America as far north as S USA

47

Formerly a much larger genus, but Old World members were reclassified into other genera.

Phyllopezus

 

Brazil

2

 

Ptyodactylus

Fan-Fingered Geckos

North Africa and Middle East

6

Name derives from enlarged circular pad at tip of each toe

Tarentola

Wall Geckos*

Spain, N & W Africa and Atlantic Islands, Caribbean

20

T. mauritanica and T. annularis often offered within the pet trade: robust species

Thecadactylus

 

Americas from Mexico to Brazil and Bolivia

1

 



Bibliography

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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