Subfamily EUBLEPHARINAE - Eyelid Geckos

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Hemitheconyx caudinctus, African Fat-Tailed Gecko

Hemitheconyx taylori, Taylor's Fat-Tailed Gecko

Scientific Name 

Common Name 

Distribution

Size 

Notes 

Hemitheconyx

H. caudicinctus

(African) Fat-Tail(ed) Gecko

West Africa

8-10"

Close in popularity after the Leopard. Care very similar but requires slightly more humidity. More captive-bred specimens are now becoming available. See also Fat-Tailed Geckos. The Reptile Database entry gives more precise distribution data. Scalation details: head covered with flat, irregular polygonal tubercles, largest on temples; rostral quadrangular, twice as broad as high, with median cleft above; nostril between several scales, the anterior of which is largely separated from the same on the other side; 8-10 supralabials, about 10 infralabials; mental broadly pentagonal, in contact with two enlarged chin-shields, surrounded by irregular small ones passing gradually into the flat granules of the gular region; body covered dorsally with small irregular flat scales intermixed with numerous suboval obtusely keeled tubercles, which on the sides unite 3 to 3. Other: body stout; limbs short, weak; digits very short; snout as long as distance between eye and ear-opening; ear-opening large, oval, slightly oblique; tail swollen, rounded, tapering at the end, circularly plaited, above with small flat scales and rows of enlarged obtusely keeled tubercles, below with larger flat scales arranged regularly. Coloration: dorsally cream-coloured with broad reddish-brown bands, of which one forms a horseshoe-shaped band from eye to eye across the nape, two broad transverse bands across the back and three across the tail; slight reddish marblings on lips and sides of neck; lower surfaces white. Some individuals have a white dorsal stripe running from between the eyes onto the tail, this apparently being caused by a recessive gene. Reproduction: male distinguished by 13 preanal pores; two eggs laid per clutch: from personal experience it does not seem difficult to induce this species to breed in captivity. B I

H. taylori

Taylor's Fat-Tail(ed) Gecko

East Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia).

SVL up to 14cm; SVL max 11cm

This gecko is rarely seen and little is known of its requirements. In overall appearance it is rather similar to H. caudicinctus, but with more pronounced tubercles that (to this writer anyway) are reminiscent in the head area of sesame seeds on a bun. It is a ground dweller found in arid desert areas and lives in small burrows beneath stones. Prey consists of slow-moving insects. Barts and Boone recommend high temperatures for captives, noting that in one of the valley habitats the temperatures are in the region of 28-38 deg C. Description: snout bluntly rounded, as long as or slightly longer than the distance between the eye and the ear-opening; ear-opening large, round, diameter about half the orbit. Scalation: head covered with regular polygonal swollen scales; temporals not larger than occipitals; nostril round and contacts rostral and 1^st supralabial, separated from its fellow by 4-5 scales; 7-8 supralabials, 6-8 infralabials; body covered with polygonal granular scales, interspersed with numerous enlarged keeled scales. Tail: no marked annular constriction, shorter, more globular, and without enlarged tubercles. Coloration: dorsally pale brown, darker on the snout and sides of the head; broad darker bands run across the nape of the neck, the lumbar region, the tailbase and the middle of the tail. Ventrally white. Reproduction: males have 23-28 preanal and femoral pores and are also territorial, capable of emitting [?]. Presumably 2 eggs laid per clutch: no other information available. [SOURCES: Barts & Boone, Loveridge] B I