Added November 2003. Last updated 28 August 2022: corrected layout, updated Bibliography and augmented details for B. cyclura and B. sauvagii.
A small genus that until recently counted as having only 2 species (Rogner, 1992). Two more were proposed in 1998 by Bauer, Whitaker and Sadlier, Bavayia exsuccida and Bavayia pulchella: for the details of this discovery click here. Herp-edia.com lists nine species, but so far I have not found any details of the ones not listed below. These small geckos have virtually the same range as the much bigger Rhacodactylus species: the latter, however, are not found on the Loyalty Islands.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Scientific name |
Common name |
Place of origin |
Size (max) |
Notes |
|
Bavayia |
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
? |
New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands |
4"/TL approx 11.5 cm, SVL approx 6.5 cm |
Small grey- to dark-brown geckos with darker lateral bands or irregular outlined blotches, but distinguishable especially by a yellow area on the sides that becomes pronounced around the rear limbs. These geckos are social creatures and are often found in groups of up to 6 in a hollow trunk. They also seem to dwell alongside the much larger Rhacodactylus species. Their preferred habitat is hollow or dead trees, and Rogner notes that they prefer drier conditions to Bavayia sauvagii. He recommends keeping them in the same manner as Rhacodactylus geckos. Description: [BOULENGER:] Head oviform, longer than broad ; snout a little longer than the distance between the eye and the ear-opening, about once and one third the diameter of the orbit; ear-opening moderate, roundish. Body and limbs moderate. Digits moderate, inner well developed, with a slight rudiment of web ; inferior lamellae numerous, all divided by a median groove, ten or eleven. Upper surfaces and throat covered with very small granular scales, larger on the snout; abdominal scales subimbricate. Rostral quadrangular, twice as broad as high; nostril pierced between the rostral, the first upper labial, and 4-5 small nasals, the upper separated from its fellow by three or five small shields; 9-11 upper and 9-10 lower labials; mental small, subtriangular, shorter than the adjacent labials, followed by a median chin-shield; a few other irregular chin-shields gradually passing into the granules of the throat. Preanal pores in two angular series; these series in contact and containing each 11-16 pores. Tail: cylindrical, covered with small, equal, flat scales arranged in verticils. Coloration: upper surfaces brownish grey, with more or less irregular dark brown bands across the back; sides with more or less distinct small round whitish spots; a more or less indistinct dark streak on the side of the head, passing through the eye; lower surfaces uniform whitish. [SOURCES: Boulenger, Rogner] |
|
|
? |
New Caledonia |
? |
Very recently proposed species - see EMBL and Pacific Science, vol. 52 no. 4, October 1998 for details. From the latter it is clear that at least one of these species has a very restricted range and may be threatened unless its habitat is protected. |
|
|
? |
? |
?" |
Similar to B. cyclura but distinguishable by a single row of preanal pores as opposed to the double row of the other species. |
|
|
? |
? |
? |
??. |
|
|
? |
? |
? |
??. |
|
|
? |
? |
? |
??. |
|
|
? |
New Caledonia |
? |
|
|
|
? |
? |
? |
??. |
|
|
? |
New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands |
4" |
Similar to B. cyclura but distinguishable by a single row of preanal pores as opposed to the double row of the other species. This species resembles exactly B. cyclura in the proportions, scutellation, size, and colour, but differs in the much narrower digits, and the presence of a single series of preanal pores; this is composed of 23 pores. [SOURCE: Boulenger] |
|
|
? |
? |
? |
??. |
|
|
? |
? |
? |
??. |
|